2 November, 7:10 pm
Rain pattered against the train windows and the clouds grumbled above me as I took what was maybe my 50th local train ride back to college this month. Yet this time felt different. More than a simple commute, it felt like a mission. Placed beside me was a delectable Oreo and chocolate ganache cake, which I had taken responsibility for transporting and protecting every time the train halted abruptly. I told myself it would be worth it, because this wasn’t just any cake; it was a very special birthday cake for a very special person. Or would it be?
The humorous thing about unnoticed things are that they make you think the most, they make you introspect, and that’s why it’s only right to give this cake proper credit before continuing. Throughout the entire journey, one thought kept lingering in my mind: “Would the effort really be worth it?” Or rather, why was I even doing this in the first place when I could be at home?
3 November, 1:00 am
Suddenly, all the discomfort and frustration were worth it. The moment her face lit up like she was six again, as all her worries faded, there it was: the answer. I didn’t come back to college early for a mere food delivery; I came back because I knew what this cake could mean to her. Funnily, this cake is just one example of many, as it’s the number of simple things we do for the people we love that counts, right?
I don’t know if she’s ever going to read this article, or even if I want her to. But I think the real reason I wrote this is to remind you: yes, you! Go out of your way. Trust me, seeing someone smile when you cover the corner of the table so they don’t bump their head, or bringing them soup in your kettle when they’re sick, is the most rewarding feeling. We truly love people through our small gestures, even when they go unrecognized.
3 November, 3:25 am
I love taking walks by myself. They help me think and unpack every thought that wanders across my mind during the day. However, the rain continued, softer now, as if it had run out of things to say since the train. I didn’t mind. I walked slowly with no real destination, and let my thoughts go wherever they pleased. Strangely, the question that had followed me through the entire journey, Would the effort really be worth it?, had gone quiet. I kept waiting for it to come back, and it never did. I realised I was asking the wrong question. ‘Worth it’ is something we calculate more like a transaction, but what went down tonight was nothing that ever needed to be repaid.
3 November 4:00 am
By the time I turned back, the clouds had stopped grumbling. The rain was still falling yet more gently now, the same rain that had pattered against the train windows hours earlier, but it sounded different now. I don’t know if she’ll ever hear about the walk, or the question, or the long journey of one oreo and ganache cake. But I know.
And tonight, that is enough.