What could be the reason? Did she catch a cold, because she had a bad throat? But she sounded better yesterday when we spoke. The thoughts ran through his mind. By this time, we’ve already finished our lesson. She’s always shown-up before. What could the reason be? Did she mind me asking how she was? No, that couldn’t be it!
He looked for the time difference between Los Angeles and Moscow on the internet and found Moscow was ten hours ahead of LA. He calculated the time and realized that when it was 6 am in LA, it was already 4 pm in Moscow.
“Almighty ALLAH, please be with Lena and make sure she’s fine wherever she is,” he said in invocation, as his eyes stared at Lena’s offline status on Hype.
He finally turned off his desktop with several thoughts running through his mind.
*******
Dear AngelInPain, or better said, Lena Volikova,
I hope you’re well, and your throat feels better. It’s been three days since you showed up and I last heard from you, so I’ve finally decided to write you this message.
I have no right to question you about not showing up, but on humanitarian grounds, if possible, please reply at least once to inform me that you’re alright.
I assume you didn’t show up because you weren’t interested in teaching me any longer. Perhaps because I’m not good enough, or maybe because I’m not the professional English trainer you expected.
On the other hand, learning from you has been a wonderful experience for me. You’re very talented and possess excellent skills in teaching and helping others. Your methodology of using English transliterations of Russian words and phrases was nifty in helping me to learn as well. Everything I learned from you, I’ll make sure I remember for the rest of my life, and I’ll keep on learning.
In any case, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, and to apologize, if I said or did something that may have annoyed or upset you.
I wish you good health. Your advice about using honey worked for me, and I’ll follow it from now on, whenever I have a bad throat, instead of the garlic juice I used previously. Just make sure you also avoid cold things and use warm milk. Please, continue learning English no matter who you choose to train with. You’re very good at it, and just need a slight push to nail it. Stay blessed, and I wish you much success in your endeavors.
I will always mention you to the One I pray to, as I have already been doing.
Thanks,
Z (AngelWithPain)
Z finished writing and sent it to Lena’s email and HLP inboxes. It was the third consecutive day that he’d waited for her online at their old lesson time. As he sent the message via the HLP inbox, he noticed that Lena had last logged in two days ago. He recalled Marshal’s assessment of Lena and seemed to support it, but Z shook his head to dispel any negative thoughts so that they couldn’t conquer his positive mindset.
*******
Later that day, Z handed Marshal a box saying, “This is for Sally.”
“What is it?” Marshal asked as he took it.
“A birthday cake for her,” Z said with a smile on his face. “I wished her Happy Birthday over the phone while she was at church and told her that her cake would be waiting with her hubby.”
“You never forget to do that, do you! She really, really loves this cake you make. At least, knowing that it’s waiting with me will encourage her to return home quickly from her mother’s,” Marshal said as he peeped at the cake as if he’d like to eat it himself.
“Angel and Sally loved it the most. How could I not make one for Sally?” Z took a deep breath. “When I spoke to her over the phone, she told me how badly she wanted to be with you on her birthday, but with her mother’s condition, she couldn’t. She thought she’d probably be returning home by tomorrow, seeing as Mrs. Larry’s now feeling better,” Z said and looked around at his trainees warming up. “So, you’ll have to wait patiently before you can get your hands on some cake, Marshal!”
“Yeah, she did mention about returning home, and I’ll try my best not to eat it before she arrives.”
“I’m pleased Mrs. Larry has recuperated. I spoke with her over the phone to give her my best wishes, continued prayers and blessings for her good health. Catch you soon,” Z said, as he headed toward his trainees.
*******
On the fourth day, Z waited for Lena at the same time again, but again to no avail. He checked his email and HLP inbox to see if he’d had any responses to his messages and noticed that Lena had last logged into HLP that day but hadn’t replied to him.
Z decided to continue with his learning and started browsing the website to find users who might be interested in partnering with him. While he was browsing, he received a notification about a message in his HLP inbox. He instantly checked it, hoping it would be from Lena, but found a reminder from HLP instead.
Dear AngelWithPain,
We have noticed that it has been quite some time since you joined Happy Language Planet, but have not yet completed your profile.
We encourage users to complete their profiles to find the best language partner based on their profile information.
Our community prefers users with a complete profile, as that results in getting a language partner more quickly and easily.
We wish you good luck in your language learning endeavors.
Team Happy Language Planet
After reading the message, Z realized he hadn’t completed his profile, and thought, Well, that might be the reason why nobody has contacted me except for Lena. He uploaded his profile picture, the one he’d used on Hype, filled out the details, completed his HLP profile, and then browsed through the website some more.
He looked through several user-profiles and shortlisted a few to contact next time.
*******
“Today, I’d like to talk about the difference between fake speed and real speed,” Z said to his trainees while standing near a dummy. “It’s fake speed when you see your opponent throwing his hands and touching you here and there, but not making any impact.” He moved over to demonstrate what he’d just said. “That’s a complete waste of time and won’t make any difference at all. Real speed has power, purpose, and impact. When you’re striking at close range, hit, trap and strike with your hands, fists, elbows, whatever you can. If you’re hitting, make sure you’re genuinely hitting and making an impact. Just touching your opponent won’t make any difference. The way we train is the way we react. Now watch carefully,” he advised them and got into position to demonstrate.
“So, if you’re throwing jabs to the eye, or shots to the neck or fist punching, make sure you make strong, intentional contact every time,” he said, as he demonstrated on the dummy.
“You have to train your weaponry,” he said, as he pointed toward his hand, his forearm and elbow, “so you can tackle your opponent the right way and make an impact. In the end, we must be honest with ourselves when we train.”
He faced his trainees and said seriously, “This is for self-defense only, and you must not practice it for anything other than the purpose of getting yourself out of trouble. Now, please, come one by one and try out what I’ve just demonstrated.”
*******
Z returned home from the gym and couldn’t find anything interesting on the TV. He thought of HLP then and decided to turn on his desktop, contact his shortlisted profiles, and check if Lena had responded. He thought he’d make himself a cup of coffee while his desktop was booting up. When he logged into HLP, he found four messages in his inbox, but no response from Lena.
He opened and re-read his message to Lena to re-evaluate it and see if what he’d written made sense. He read it very carefully as if it was written for him and not by him. At the end of the message, he noticed HLP’s system had marked that Lena had read the message. “She’s read it!” he said to himself, as he realized that the HLP system must track whether a message has been read or not.
“It’s good to know that she’s fine, at least.” He took a sip of his coffee and said
to himself, “May she be happy and safe for the rest of her life. I wish her good luck.” With a smile on his face and a deep breath, Z glanced at his Angel’s picture and then started looking for messages in his HLP inbox while sipping his coffee.
Once he’d gone through his HLP inbox, he opened his email inbox and yawned as he was ready for sleep. He went through the unchecked emails, most of which were notification emails from HLP. Amongst them, one caught his eyes. It thrilled him and completely woke him up. It was an email from Lena Volikova. “She’s responded!” he exclaimed.
He opened the email immediately and started reading it with his eyes wide open.
CHAPTER 03
Dear Z,
Thank you for your concern. I’m fine and doing great. My throat is also good. The reason I was offline is that my laptop got broken. Later the day we spoke, I installed a new program which resulted in some kind of virus.
I had to get it fixed before I could use it. Just yesterday, it got fixed, and when I logged in, I saw your message in my email and HLP. Before I could respond, I lost the internet again, but now everything is up and running. So here I am writing to you to reply to your message.
At first, I had to work out why you would assume that I’m not interested or don’t want to continue. So far, I’ve had a lovely experience, and I guess practicing with you has helped me more than I’ve helped you. You never said or did anything that upset me. In fact, your words were kind and heartfelt, as if they were coming from an older person. You sounded like a father or a brother with your advice.
I also wanted some time to think before I wrote so I could use the right words. People say, “Sticks and stones can break our bones, but words cannot hurt me.” Wrong!
The words you wrote made me think twice before I could reply. I tried a couple of times before I could finally write what I wanted to ensure you understand me correctly.
Thank you for your kind words, prayers, and blessings. They mean a lot to me. To return the favor, I’ll also mention you in my prayers on my next visit to church. I once read somewhere that expressing gratitude and care for others is the sign of a human with a pure heart and soul. In this world, where people don’t care for others, and want everything for themselves, the fact that you showed your concern for a stranger who’s just a voice to you is much appreciated.
We don’t pay attention to the little things at times and ignore things that mean nothing to ourselves but could be of great importance to others.
For example, we take every day for granted, we take every breath and every smile as our right, but don’t realize that every day, every breath and every smile are blessings, not a given right.
We say words without purpose, without thinking about what impact they may have on others. We should be careful about the words we use with friends, our family, and our loved ones, even to strangers, because a thought can lead to change. A whisper can inspire hope. A touch can instill faith, but only if we understand this.
At times, we don’t see how our actions, our deeds, and our words can impact others when we’re inconsiderate. We don’t realize that little acts of kindness go a long, long way. A good deed for humanity can make a big, big difference.
Maybe someone needs a few words of motivation, or a little attention, or a little care, or encouragement — and that’s all they need — but because these are tiny things, they get ignored. However, they can mean everything to someone else. It’s about the spectrum of care and concern we show for others.
I wanted to make sure I first replied to your message before we continue our lesson tomorrow. I may not have been able to say all this either if we only spoke. I guess I had to think a few times to express how I felt appropriately. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t say it the right way with the right words according to my language proficiency.
Sticks and stones can break our bones, but words! Words can break our hearts and shatter our dreams. I believe this, and I thank you again for your kind words, concern, prayers, and blessings.
Thanks,
Lena Volikova
Z finished reading the email and then immediately re-read it, as the intensity of its words and message was deeply powerful.
He repeated Lena’s words: “Sticks and stones can break our bones, but words cannot hurt me. Wrong!” That made sense to him and made an impact on him, especially seeing as he’d been teaching his trainees about impact earlier in the day.
*******
“Hello!” Z answered the call on Hype.
“Hi,” Lena replied.
“How are you?” Z asked.
“I’m fine, thanks, and how about yourself?”
“Alhamdulillah, I’m fine, thanks. Good to know that you’re doing well. I read your message, and thank you for responding and sharing your thoughts. I must say I agree with what you said.”
“Thanks for your concern, prayers, and blessings.”
“Don’t mention it. If you don’t mind, may I ask you something?” Z asked with a bit of hesitation in his voice.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“You said: ‘Sticks and stones can break our bones, but words cannot hurt me. Wrong! Words can break our hearts and shatter our dreams.’ I agree with you about that. I thought hard about it and found how true and deep it is. At first, I wanted to write you, but then thought I’d share my thoughts while we speak,” Z said, running his hands through his hair. “Every person has a story to tell or a story to hide.”
“Yes, I agree.”
“I’m a sincere and straightforward person and strongly believe that transparency is the key if any relationship is to succeed. The similarity in our usernames drove me to communicate with you, seeing as I’m AngelWithPain, and you’re AngelInPain.”
“Hmm… ” Lena said, and Z realized she was listening and could continue.
“When we spoke the first time, and I heard your voice, it reminded me of a voice that I want to hear but can’t, and I’m very aware of that. Your voice resembled it so much that it made me think hard at times. When you disappeared — so to speak — I still had my best wishes and prayers for you. And when you said in your message that I sounded like an older person — a father or a brother — that had a strong impact on me. I know very well what I’m saying may put you off, but I want to say what I felt, and if you allow me to finish, you’ll get to know where I’m coming from.”
“I’m listening.”
“Sorry, I just started about something that’s not related to our lesson, but it’s important as I want to ask you a question.”
“Please, I said you may ask,” Lena said, her tone suggesting she was expecting Z to go on.
“Why are you ‘AngelInPain’?” Z finished, sounding a bit uncertain as if Lena might refuse to explain.
“Did I ask you why you are ‘AngelWithPain’?”
“No, but— ” Z started to speak, but Lena cut him short.
“It’s true. The similarity in our usernames drove me to message you and offer help, and that also drove you to respond to and accept me, as you just said.”
“I can tell you if you want to know.”
“If we as humans find something similar or common with others, it draws our attention,” Lena explained.
“I agree.”
“I’m not someone to pose questions, but I’m also not the kind of people who won’t answer — or will even lie — if someone asks me something.”
“It should be ‘person… not people’ to be idiomatic. Let’s do it this way. We can use this as the topic of our discussion for conversational practice, as we agreed the other day. Please go on,” Z said and let her continue.
“‘Person,’ thanks. I’m not the kind of person who won’t answer — or will even lie — if someone asks me something. I’ve helped and spoken to other users on HLP. Some wanted to learn, but as you would expect, some just wanted to have fun. When they got to know that a female was on the other side, they would initiate a conversation that wasn’t relevant to learning a language….�
�� Lena paused.
“I can imagine that,” Z sympathized.
“Therefore, I stopped initiating any messages to offer help and learn in exchange, but in your case, your username drove me to do it. As I said, we as humans attend to the things that seem relevant. When we started, and as we progressed, your mindset and professionalism showed me that you’re not like the other language partners I’ve had in the past. You were honest and only focused on learning and nothing else. You stuck to the task without talking about anything irrelevant. You didn’t ask for a video call — in the name of a lesson — or never asked for a picture, never asked anything personal like age, etc.,” Lena explained and paused a moment before going on with a new thought.
“Most importantly, you sounded very mature. Intense, but with some sort of pain in your voice. And, as I said, you seemed like an older person — a father or a big brother — and I could feel that, especially in the message you sent to me. Even today, you asked me about being ‘AngelInPain.’ By showing concern, being willing to advise, appreciate, and send blessings and prayers for someone you don’t know personally. All these things made me think of someone older taking care of and being concerned about someone younger and being selfless.” She stopped again to think.
“You know, I think people who are in some sort of pain and strive for happiness, strive for comfort every single moment. They realize the real value of life, and therefore, care more for others and put even more effort into bringing happiness to others. Those whose dreams can’t come true serve others to have theirs come true. I don’t know if I’ve put it the right way?” Lena finished talking.
“No, no. You said it well. I can understand, and you’re right. I want to tell you, though, that I’m not only listening, but also focusing on your words to see if you make a mistake that I can correct. I’m not trying to be nit-picky, so I don’t interject too often and demotivate you.” Z smiled as he said this, as he wanted to ensure that their conversation didn’t go to waste. He wanted it to cater to the learning methodology he’d proposed.
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