FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES (FESS)

SUBJECT: CLS1323 CREATIVE WRITING SKILLS

LECTURER NAME: NORHAMIDAH BT. MOHD YUSOF

SEMESTER: 2/19/34

SHORT STORY ASSIGNMENT

NAME MATRIC NUMBER

SERI RATU PUTRI BT BAHAROM 4192009151

NUR AISYAH ATIQAH BINTI MUHAMMAD KHAIRIE 4192008871D

CHIN
 Inevitable Fate

(Beep beep beep!) Ilya woke up from her sleep as she heard the sound of the alarm clock that
was sitting still on her bedside table. She reached her hand out to grab the clock and shut it
off. She intended to continue her sleep, but she suddenly rose from her bed and looked at the
needle of the clock. “Oh, no! I’m gonna be late again!” she shouted. Without wasting time,
Ilya ran towards the toilet and prepared herself for campus. She snatched her favourite
headscarf which was pink in colour. “Where’s my brooch? Oh my God, seriously?” Ilya
mumbled while searching for her brooch. “Oh, there you are! Thank God!” she sighed in
relief. Ilya pinned her headscarf with a needle hastily. “Ouch, that hurts a lot!” she cried as
she accidentally poked the tip of the needle into her index finger. A drop of blood fell onto
the floor. Ilya instantly swept her foot to wipe the blood and exited her bedroom.

Ilya walked downstairs as fast as lightning. “Ilya, come have your favourite sandwich. I made
it specially for you.”, her mother offered. She ignored her mother’s call to have breakfast
together with the family. “I’m late! I’ll just take a bite of that,” Ilya chewed the sandwich that
was in her mother’s hand. Ilya wore her slip-on shoes as she had no time to wear her
favourite sneakers to match her outfit of the day. She left the house rapidly. “Your daughter is
still the same as before. Such a reckless and clumsy girl.” said Ilya’s mother to her husband.
“Maybe she got it from her mother?” Ilya’s father replied while sipping his tea. Both of them
chuckled while shaking their heads.

Ilya rummaged through her tote bag to find her car keys. Then, she started the car engine and
drove recklessly as she was running out of time for her first class of the semester. After
arriving at the parking lot, Ilya was rushing to park her sedan car without looking at her
surroundings. (Bang!) The sound of a crash behind her car can be heard clearly. Ilya got out
of her car quickly to see what happened. “Ouch, what is wrong with you?” Noah moaned in a
painful way. Ilya was panicked because she needed to arrive before the class started. “I’m
sorry, are you okay? Are you injured? What do I need to do now?” she asked in a worried
tone. Noah tried to calm her down. “Relax, help me to get up and bring me to the nearest
clinic,” he said. Ilya offered her hand and aided him to get into the car.
(At the clinic, after Noah received his treatment.)

“I’m so sorry, I was rushing to class and I didn’t notice someone was behind my car. I’m truly
sorry…”, Ilya apologised to Noah while making a guilty face. Noah can let it slide easily, but
he chose to tease Ilya because he found her behaviour was cute. “I will forgive you, only with
one condition. You have to accompany me every time I have an appointment at the clinic and
take care of me until I recover. Does that sound fair?” Noah said without hesitating. Ilya
quickly nodded as a sign of agreement. “Yeah, sure. There’s nothing to be worried about. I’ll
be there for you until everything is fine.” she replied while holding back her tears. “Come on,
let’s get out of here.” Noah uttered to Ilya. Ilya grabbed Noah’s right hand and put it on her
shoulder to help him walk out of the clinic. Ilya focused on her driving without saying a
word. “Are you good? Don’t feel too pressured.” Noah broke the silence. Ilya replied to
Noah's question by nodding her head. “By the way, I’m Noah. You can be rest assured that
I’m not gonna sue you or anything for what happened earlier.” Noah tried to reduce Ilya’s
tension. “Oh, you can call me Lya. I still feel bad for what happened. Are you hungry? Do
you want to grab some pizza?” she asked. But this time, Ilya posed her question while
looking at Noah’s hazel brown eyes as a sign that she was starting to feel comfortable around
him. “Okay, that’s not a bad idea. My stomach is growling from all that chaos.” Noah
smirked.

(At the pizzeria)

“Do you like to have pineapples on top of your pizza?” Noah asked Ilya out of curiosity.
“Um… the answer is definitely no. Only psychopaths love that.” Ilya responded proudly.
“Oh, so are you saying that I’m a psychopath?” Noah’s eyes widened. Ilya does not know
what to reply, so she stuffed the pizza into Noah’s mouth. “This new flavour is delicious, isn’t
it?” Ilya tried to distract Noah with a new topic. Suddenly, an unknown man patted Noah’s
shoulder from behind. “Hey, are you going to church this Sunday?” he asked. Noah and Ilya
were startled as the encounter was not expected. “Hey man, of course I’ll be there. I’ll never
miss any prayers.” Noah replied. They continued the conversation about church and ignored
Ilya’s existence. Ilya kept herself in silence due to the shock of the fact that Noah was not the
same religion as her. She tried to not make her mixed feelings obvious by smiling and
listening to their conversation attentively. Soon after, the man left and Noah continued talking
to Ilya without having the intention to explain the situation even though he knew that Ilya
deserved an explanation from him. Eventually, the awkward feeling that Ilya was having
finally slipped away as Noah’s sweet words managed to captivate her heart. After finishing
their lunch, they head back to campus. Before parting ways, they exchanged their phone
numbers so they could contact each other afterwards.

(At night)

“I don’t wanna fall asleep cause I miss you baby, and I don’t wanna miss a thing” the sound
of Ilya singing the song entitled ‘I Don't Want to Miss a Thing’ by Aerosmith. However, her
enthusiasm in singing was interrupted as soon as she heard a WhatsApp notification from her
phone. Her eyes started to sparkle when she read the message that was sent by Noah. After
several replies, Noah asked Ilya whether she was interested in having a phone call with him.
They spent the night sharing stories to get to know each other well. However, Noah never
mentioned his religion. Whenever Ilya tried to inquire information about his religion, Noah
always found a way to avoid her questions.

After that night, their bond grew fonder as they were constantly contacting each other.
Whenever they have the chance, they will figure out ways to spend time together. Rumours
about them dating started going around because the students at the campus always witnessed
them clinging onto each other at the library, cafe, hallway, and so on. In reality, only Ilya
knew that there were no strings attached between them. She could not understand Noah,
especially regarding his feelings for her. He treated her like a lover, but at the same time there
was a boundary that he had created between them to make her realize that their relationship is
not more than friends. This phase kept on occurring until they finished their last semester of
studying. Ilya thought that she had had enough of holding back her resentment. Finally, she
had the courage to confront Noah to solve the unresolved conflict between them.

(At the park)

“Noah, can I ask you something? I hope that you will answer it truthfully”, Ilya asked with a
serious tone. “Whoa, chill Lya. What’s the matter?” Noah responded in a quirky way. “I’m
being serious, Noah. Can you stop playing around?” Ilya started to burst into tears. Noah was
stunned by her reaction and tried to calm her down. “Hey, take a deep breath. Look into my
eyes. What were you trying to ask earlier?” he rubbed her back. “What am I to you?” Ilya
glared at him. Noah responded in confusion, “Wh- Wha- What do you mean by that? You’re
the most precious person that ever existed in my life. You know that you’re more important to
me than anyone else.”. Ilya laughed cynically after hearing Noah’s bold statement. “Huh?
What did you say? Important? Precious? I can’t sense those emotions from you.” Ilya started
to raise her voice. Noah was astonished by Ilya’s behaviour. “Do you even realize my
sincerity? I’ve spent most of my time with you, all those sleepless nights, do they even matter
to you? Do they even mean anything to you?” he countered. Ilya cut off his words by saying
“All of those things do not seem special to me at all. It only hurts me to the core of my heart,
knowing that we’re just friends even though… you know? After all the things that we did
together.” she looked away. The silence echoed as loud as Ilya’s rage. Noah did not respond
instantly as he wanted both of them to cool down. After a few minutes, Noah decided to
approach her and held her right hand. “If I were to give you an explanation, you’ll never
understand. I did this for a reason. I think we should stop this mess. I couldn’t afford to see
you suffer because of my selfishness.” Noah walked away and left Ilya hanging. Ilya tried to
reach Noah’s hand as she does not expect their relationship to end in such a cruel way. Noah
warded off Ilya’s hand and turned a blind eye to Ilya’s grief.

(Noah’s point of view)

I could not let her go nor can I make her mine. I’m stuck between love and faith. We are from
different religions, races, and cultures, I’m not ready to leave my precious beliefs.
Simultaneously, I don’t want to lose her. I want her to be by my side forever. I know that
sooner or later, this day will come. Therefore, I needed to sacrifice either one, and I chose my
beliefs. Hence, my heart was crying once I walked away from her on that day.

(5 years later)

(In an airplane)

(Attention to all passengers. This is your pilot reporting. We will arrive at our destination in 5
minutes. Please turn off your phones and do not remove your seatbelts. Thank you.) The sight
of Ilya smiling while looking at the window. Her heart was pounding as loud as the airplane’s
engine because she was excited to meet Ifzan. Five minutes passed by. All of the passengers
got up from their seats and started to retrieve their belongings. Out of the blue, a passenger
wearing a kopiah stood stiffly and stared at Ilya without blinking. The man tried to greet Ilya,
but he did not have the chance to do so as the place was too crowded. He followed Ilya to the
exit of the airplane. The moment he tried to reach Ilya’s hand, she shouted “Babe, I miss
you!” and held someone else’s hand while leaving the main entrance. The man chased Ilya
and called out her name. Ilya and Ifzan turned their heads around and searched for the source
of the voice. Noah approached both of them. “Assalamualaikum, Ilya. It’s a miracle for us to
meet here.” he said. “Noah Smith? Is that you?” Ilya asked in confusion. “Yeah, it’s me. But
more precisely, I’m Muhammad Noah.” he smiled brightly. Ilya was baffled by what was
happening. “Um… hello there.” Ifzan interrupted their conversation. “Hey, may I know who
you are?” Noah asked politely. “I’m Ifzan, Ilya’s fiancee. And you are?” questioned Ifzan.
“Oh. It’s nice to meet you, Ifzan. I’m sorry to say this, but can I have a moment with Ilya?”
Noah asked. “Sure, go ahead.”

(At the airport’s cafeteria)

Noah had an intense look on his face. Straight away, he explained the reason why he treated
Ilya in a cold way for the past 5 years. “You have got to be kidding me. Why now? It doesn’t
matter anymore. I thought that we ended things for good after you left me speechless on that
day.” she said rigidly. Nevertheless, Noah insisted to persuade Ilya that they can still start
over despite knowing that she has a new person in her life. “I’ve changed. I studied Islam for
the past 5 years to embrace the religion, hoping that we could be together one day. I did all of
this for you, for us, Lya.” he attempted to convince her. Noah gently held both of Ilya’s
hands. Ilya tried to release her hands from Noah’s grip, but she failed to do so. “I think that’s
enough. Let’s leave.” Ifzan arrived at the right moment and stopped Noah from making things
more complicated. Both of them walked away, leaving Noah alone and hopeless.

No matter how great the change that we have made in our life, fate is inevitable.