Yellow

Yellow, I don’t know how he got that name but that what I call him ever since I knew him. I tried many times to uncover the mystery behind that name but the best I got was a smile and so many times. He countered me back with his favorite cliché “if a name mean so much in a friendship, I guess people like Tiger Wood will have difficulties to find a friend, isn’t it?“. The story I want to tell here is beyond that name, it is about a man with a heart made of pure diamond.

                Last October shifted my paradigm towards life. Ever since I knew him, I know that he own a small groceries store he inherited from his late father. “I heard Yellow has put his store and sale. Why ahh? “, the news kicked my heart to my standstill. “ Hello! “Sham screamed it through my left ear. “ Why Yellow want to sell his store? “. I left his question unattended.

                “You may look at is as small store but it has been a vessel which keeps us afloat”. The sentences overplayed in my ears on my way to see Yellow. Then why he wanted to sell it? We reached the store but it was closed. I tried his cell phone but it was off. We are looking around for someone we knew when we bumped into his cousin.

                I should not have cried. But I did and I can’t keep it from flowing. Yellow has carrying his bone cancer for as long as I knew him. At the same time he has to burden his father obligation to keep his family together because his mother is suffering from a chronic diabetic problem and two of his brothers are suffering a mental disability. The only sister he has who helped him has involved in an accident and now is in hospital.

                We rushed to the hospital. At the hospital we asked the registration, an old woman approached us. She introduced herself as his mother. She looked weak and sad; her eyes were flooding when she told us the story. Yellow’s sister was injured when the car skidded and knocked her as she helping the two brothers was saved but the sister was badly injured. They have to sell the store to support the operation because she needed a replacement for her damage kidneys. The nurse approached and allowed us to see her. My heart was thumping and “subhanallah“ slip through my mouth several times, praising the Almighty. I could not stop crying and felt so small when I saw Yellow laying on the bed beside his sister. He was struggling against his own time but still able to give one of his kidneys to his sister so he can help spare hers. I hold his hand as he smiled weakly at me. I asked him what will happen after this “Allah will guide me the way”.