Rainbows, lollipops and a ride in the sky - A MaNan Story Completed

Rainbows, lollipops and a ride in the sky - The Complete MaNan Story Compiled

There he sat, enjoying his hair being dishevelled by a breeze of wind that was extraordinarily cold for that time of the year. As if it were a reflection of his own mood, the weather seemed to be quite edgy that day. Although the sun had been shining as brightly as it had done any other summer day, it felt as if the cold breezes of wind that day indicated an upcoming change in the air. Despite his fondness for spontaneous outings and despite the promising clear sky, he had not been able to feel the same excitement as his friends had for their trip. From the moment that his friends had suggested the trip, he could not help but feel squeaky in the stomach. It was as if the mere suggestion of the trip had given him a weird vibe of which he had not been able to get rid of. He however, being the loyal friend that he was, decided not to disappoint his friends in spite of his inexplicable unwillingness to go.

So there he sat in the back of a gorgeous red convertible, listening to his friends babble about all the fun that they were about to have. The excitement in the car was almost tangible, yet he could not help it but feel restless. Considering the harmless destination of his trip, however, he felt quite ashamed of his hesitation to go. As it was, they were on their way to the most popular amusement park of the country. The park was suitable for people of all ages and its attractions were quite harmless. Every time he had visited the park, he had been in all of them several times and nothing had happened. Even the youngest kids were allowed to go in most of the rides. Thus, the paradoxical feeling that something would happen to him because nothing had happened to him yet, was quite embarrassing and also quite frustrating for him.

He tried to suppress the feeling as much as he could and he tried to enjoy his surroundings. Although he could not quite share the excitement of his friends, he could not help being in awe of the beauty of the rural scenery that they were passing by on their way. He had always lived in the centre of the city and had seldom left it, which made him appreciate the rural part of the country even more. The way in which the scenery was bathing in the bright rays of sunlight and the way in which the occasional breezes of wind seemed to groom the greenery, made the countryside seem all the more vivid to him. If it were up to him, they would rather spend their day in the countryside and soak in all of its beauty and purity. Taking that into consideration, the location of the amusement park was a consolation for him. As the park was located near a village, he would at least be able to enjoy the rural solitude to some extent.

By the time that they were passing by the village, the bright sun emanated such a scorching heat that he decided to take off his favourite jacket that he had been wearing. Luckily, he was wearing a white t-shirt that day so the heat became quite bearable for him. When they reached the park, however, he could feel another chill gush of wind. Although it was quite soothing, something about it made him decide to take his jacket with him. As he was tying his jacket around his waist when he was walking towards the entrance of the park with his friends, he noticed that he seemed to be one of the few people that even bothered to carry something along. The largest part of the crowd that was gathered in queues at the entrance, was dressed as lightly as possible. Some people were even fanning themselves due to the heat, using colourful mini fans that probably would not even last for the whole day and would inevitably end up in the trash bins by the end of the day.

While attempting to not get irritated by the length of the queue, he reached into his pocket for a smoke. Rummaging through his pocket, he realised that he had not brought his pack of cigarettes along with him as smoking would probably not be allowed in a family park. Furthermore, he had been intending to quit smoking for a while now. Although he was just an occasional smoker, he thought that it would be better to stop smoking completely before it would become a habit. As noble as this intention of his might be, it resulted into an unforeseen lack of needed distraction at that moment. In order to divert his attention, he took a better look at the crowd by which he was surrounded. Just like he expected, he saw a lot of families around him. The majority of the groups around him consisted of families, varying from young nuclear families to old joint families that consisted of more generations. However, he also saw quite some groups that resembled his own one and consisted of youths.

It was when he was spotting his peers in the crowd, that he thought that he saw her. She had been one of the silent motives that persuaded him to go along with his friends despite his unwillingness, and that day she was dressed in an outfit that he had never seen on her. Not that he looked at her that much. Or even noticed her. At least, that was what he had kept telling himself. He also kept telling himself that he just liked to keep an eye on her in order to avoid her, as her mere presence seemed to attract all types of trouble for the both of them. If he were fire, she would be water. One way or the other, they would inevitably clash whenever they would come across each other. Therefore, both of them had finally reached consensus on one matter: both of them were hell-bent on staying out of each other's way as much as possible. Yet there they were, clashing into each other again. He blinked his eyes, as if it would clear his vision, and quickly glanced in the same direction in order to check whether it had been his imagination.

When he checked it, however, he found her to be missing. That made it clear to him that he probably indeed had imagined her. His constant habit of looking around for her for evasive purposes had probably made him paranoid. Furthermore, even the outfit of her imaginative version confirmed his doubt of her presence. He thought that he had seen wearing a tight white t-shirt accentuating her figure in combination with a pair of skinny jeans and sneakers. The whole college, however, was aware of her usual choice of traditional, colourful outfits. As it was, she turned out to be one of the few girls at their college that would dress traditionally and practically defy the unwritten social dress code. Almost everyone at college would wear the latest modern clothes. Especially the girls that would follow the latest trends and would dress as tight and as skimpy as possible, would be among the most popular girls. She, however, could not care less.

Whether she had been imaginary or not, at least the thought of her had turned out to be distractive enough. As it turned out, the mere thought of her had kept him busy enough to occupy his mind until he realised that his group reached the front of the queue for the park entrance. Upon entering the park, he tagged along with his group as they strategically decided the order in which they would visit the attractions. After they had decided what the best order would be, they started walking towards the first attraction. The waiting time for each attraction turned out to be quite manageable, although the most popular attractions did sometimes test the patience of its waiting visitors. Even though he did not enjoy the rides as thoroughly as he used to do, he could not say that he totally disliked the attractions. At a certain point, however, he started to feel an upcoming nausea. As his friends were planning to go into quite a wild rollercoaster, he decided to pass that specific ride.

In the meanwhile, he would look for a candy vendor. Not only might a lollipop lessen his nausea, but it would also help in cheering him up as it had been his favourite candy since his childhood. The shiny wrapper, colourful appearance and sweet but satisfying taste of lollipops had always had something about them that would make it impossible for him to stay in a bad mood. It had always been a weakness of his and only few people knew of it. That day he could definitely use such a stimulus. Thus, he embarked upon his quest for some sweet, shiny and seductive lollipops that would snap him out of the weird vibe that he had been having for days. And as if it was meant to be, he found a candy vendor within 5 minutes. It was as if the mere thought of lollipops had turned luck on his side and it persuaded him into buying not only one, but two lollipops. After all, buying merely one lollipop would not suffice to gratify lady luck, right?

As he stuck one of the lollipops inside his mouth, he put the other one in his pocket. As soon as he could feel the sugary taste on his tongue, he knew that the day was not actually that bad. The sun was shining, he had good company and even his nausea started to fade away. As the cloud of paranoia and anxiety that had been hovering around his head was starting to drift away, he could feel the pull of his newfound clarity guiding him slowly but steadily. It felt as if his inner compass had been polished and as if it was pointing towards a destination that had always existed, but that he himself had seemed to have lost out of sight for a while. All of a sudden, it dawned upon him that he somehow had been too busy fighting the inevitable and that it had been his inner fight that had been clouding his vision. Somehow, however, the simple and sugary taste of the lollipop had brought him back on the right track.

He did not exactly know where the right track would lead him, but he did know that he would reach his destination eventually. For the moment, he would settle by simply enjoying his day at the park as his sudden revival of clarity had pumped him up with new energy. As it was the case, the day was still young and so far he had not been able to enjoy the rides that he had taken. Keeping in mind that he had just gotten rid of his nausea and that his health therefore still was in a precarious state, he decided to take a few rides on the Ferris wheel. Even though the Ferris wheel had always had the reputation of the most boring attraction among the majority of people, to him it had always been one of the few attractions that would never cease to amaze and entertain him. Despite his slight vertigo, he could always appreciate the enchanting view that he could enjoy in the Ferris wheel. It always made him realise the seemingly simple yet complex nature of reality.

As if his feet had already known his intention before he consciously made his decision, he found himself heading towards the relatively short queue for the Ferris wheel. While he was waiting in the line and was savouring the taste of his lucky lollipop, he soaked the uplifting vibe around him in. The excitement of the visitors was quite catchy and as if it were infectious, he could not help it but also start feeling exhilarated. Even though the majority of people waiting in line for the Ferris wheel consisted of children that were not old enough to be allowed into the more adventurous rides and he himself seemed to be the oldest person in the waiting line, it could not bother him any less as the view from the Ferris wheel would make it all worth it. He was already looking forward to admiring the majestic overview of the amusement park, enabling him to assess the beauty of his surroundings even more thoroughly.

As though the anticipation of the view had made time fly by, he seemed to reach the front of the queue in almost no time. Being determined to enjoy his favourite attraction to the fullest, he subtly convinced the queue manager to allow him to take the ride to his heart's content by slipping a green note into his hand. While he was stepping into the capsule of the Ferris wheel, the sun was shining at its maximum. Not only did that make his ride the more enjoyable, but it also convinced him to let go of the final guard that had been his jacket by the end of the third consecutive ride in his private capsule. While he was placing his jacket next to him on the bench of the capsule and was taking out his old pair of sunglasses, however, he suddenly felt another oddly cold gush of wind that had also bothered him earlier on that day.

It felt like he had tempted fate from the moment that he had taken his jacket off, as a heavy downpour started from that exact moment on. By the time that his capsule reached the floor, the heavy rain had coerced all visitors into seeking shelter in the indoor attractions. Feeling relieved that his private capsule provided him sufficient shelter from the rain, he leaned back and closed his eyes as he waited for the manager to let his private capsule skip the next waiting visitor. Closing his eyes seemed to intensify his other senses, enabling him to smell the fragrance of rain to the core and enabling him to hear each single drop of rain spatter on the ground. The intensity of his senses overwhelmed him to the extent that he seemed to enter a state of trance that he had never been in before. Had it not been for his spare lollipop rolling out of his pocket, his state of trance might have never been interrupted and he would not have noticed that his capsule was not that private anymore by the time that his fourth consecutive ride commenced.

The shiny lollipop kept rolling on the floor of the capsule, only to come to a halt next to a pair of sneakers that seemed vaguely familiar to him. He had seen those sneakers before, but he could not remember when or where exactly. When he was about to bend down and pick his lollipop up from the floor, a hand appeared to pick it up for him. Unlike the sneakers, however, the hand was a bit too familiar to him. Graced by a beautiful, delicate bangle that he would recognise from any distance, the helping hand instantly made him recognise his sudden companion. While considering that there were many girls that could own a similar bangle beside the specific girl that he had in his mind and while hoping that his judgment would be wrong, he shifted his gaze upward to confront himself with the truth. By the time that his gaze reached her face, however, he knew that his judgment did not even fail him this time despite him fiercely hoping so, as he recognised the unlikely modern outfit on her that he had mistakenly thought to be imaginative.

When his gaze was met by a pair of brown eyes that was reflecting the same mix of astonishment and despair that he was feeling, he knew that he was about to have one of the toughest rides of his lifetime. The face that he would stealthily admire at college under the pretext of keeping an eye on her for evasive purposes, was staring at him with a rage that he had never seen before. Though he would normally be able to handle such intense eye contact, there was something about the circumstances that rendered him unable to do so. Before he realised what he was doing, he found himself shaking with laughter due to the irony of the circumstances. As she icily handed his lollipop back to him, he could not help but notice a glance of humour flickering in her eyes too. Slowly, he could see her startled expression fade away and saw a smile spreading across her face.

As he had never seen her smile before because of the trouble that their joint presence would usually lead to, the sheer innocent beauty of her smile struck him as lightning. Without being aware of what he was doing, he found himself gasping out loud at her achingly beautiful smile. As if his gasp seemed to snap her out of something and back into reality, he saw her expression harden instantly. The sudden cold vibe that surrounded them, on its turn made him realise that his behaviour had not been in accordance with their usual cold conduct towards one another. As he attempted to sit up and straighten the expression on his face, he could see that she was trying to do the same. Eventually, both of them ended up sitting across each other with crossed arms and the same hard expression in their eyes. On the contrary to their bodies shaking with laughter a few minutes ago, they could easily be mistaken for statues at the moment.

The warm, summery ambience that he had enjoyed thoroughly, was suddenly replaced by a chilly vibe that seemed to be emanating from the Queen of Ice sitting across him in the small capsule of the Ferris wheel. Her chilly vibe even seemed to take over his body, as he suddenly started trembling as if he was feeling cold. On second thoughts, however, he found that he was not the only shivering in the cold. The Queen of Ice also seemed to suffer from the same, as she herself was shuddering uncontrollably too. As soon as he processed that observation of his, it dawned upon him that the cold that he had associated with the vibe in his capsule might have had more to do with the weather itself than with the Queen of Ice. By the time that he decided to check the state of the weather and to take a peek at the view, their capsule had reached the peak of the Ferris wheel. His second guess turned out to be right, as the rain seemed to be even heavier than before and was being accompanied by strong breezes of icy wind.

Although they attempted to remain as immobile as possible in order to continue the cold war that had been going on between them during their ride, the both of them simultaneously gave up when the cold wind started to unexpectedly shake their capsule. As the capsule started swinging more and more due to the stronger blows of wind, he could feel his slight vertigo making him feel increasingly anxious. Previously, he had not been bothered by his vertigo as the capsule would remain relatively still and the beautiful view from the Ferris wheel would distract him. At the moment, however, he felt as if his capsule could fall off any time soon. The view could not comfort him either, as the only thing that was visible was a rainy blur. He did find comfort, however, in the discomfort of the Ice Queen herself that rather seemed to be caused by the cold. There was something about her distress, though, that made him melt.

As they had already ceased fire due to the unusual circumstances, he decided to let go of their usual conduct and decided to help her. He grabbed his jacket and reached it out to her as a sign of peace. Despite her visible hesitation at first, she eventually accepted his jacket. As soon as she wore the jacket and eliminated the cause of her distress, even the cause of his distress seemed to lessen slowly as their capsule seemed to come to a halt. From the moment that he had handed her his jacket, however, he seemed to have tempted fate once again. What the both of them had mistakenly considered to be the elimination of their distress, turned out to be the cause of a new problem. As soon as their surroundings started to become suspiciously calm, it dawned upon them that the cause of their sudden comfort had not been an improvement of their condition. On the contrary, their comfort had been caused by the deterioration of their condition. As it turned out, their ride in the sky seemed to have halted at its peak.

Although the standstill of the Ferris wheel had not eliminated his discomfort completely, it did give him another opportunity to look at her to his heart's content. Normally, he would need to wait for such opportunities to arise in order to steal glances at her. At that moment, however, the lack of any view from their capsule gave him a valid reason to study her thoroughly without any need to disguise it poorly. The outfit that had made him think that she had been a product of his imagination, suited her better than he would ever have dreamed that it could do so. Not that he dreamed of her at all, or even thought of her that much. At least, that was what he kept telling himself as their joint presence would always lead to some kind of trouble. Even that day, fate had not spared them, as they once again ended up in the most unlikely of circumstances. They would always inevitably cash and for that exact same reason they had made a silent pact to avoid one another, thus rendering her off limits for him.

However, he could not keep his heart from being drawn to her. The way she would smile open-heartedly whenever even the smallest bundle of joy would come in her life, the way her face lit up whenever someone told her a good story and even the way in which she would make vivid hand gestures whenever she got excited, rendered his soft and willing heart helpless in front of his strongly resolved mind. Although he had hardly been at the receiving end of her warmth due to their inexplicable animosity, occasionally he had seen some friendliness surfacing in her eyes even for him. At the moment however, neither any warmth nor any friendliness were to be seen in her eyes. Anxiety seemed to be reigning her entirely, accompanied by worry from time to time. Although he had handed her his jacket and she had stopped shivering ever since, she seemed to be even paler than before. Apparently she was still feeling cold despite his jacket, as she kept rubbing her hands.

Had it not been for his observation of her lack of warmth, he would never have realised that he was also feeling quite cold himself. Up until that moment her mere presence had kept him preoccupied to the extent that he had become oblivious to his own lack of comfort, as looking at her had made him ignore the trembling of his own body. As he started to become more aware of the cold, however, he could not suppress the shivers any more. Before he realised it, he found his teeth chattering from the cold. The sound of his chattering teeth even made her glance up and she questioningly raised her eyebrows. Slightly embarrassed yet still unable to suppress the shivers, he smiled at her apologetically. Wishing that he had not forsaken his jacket, his eyes wandered to the person wearing it.

Never would he have imagined that his clothes could look so good on anyone besides himself, yet there he saw her looking even better in it than himself. Despite the fact that it was way too big for her, it graced her beautifully. The way in which she wrapped it around her body and clutched onto it tightly made it seem as if it were one of the most desirable objects in the world. To him, it indeed was quite desirable at the moment as he was longing for some warmth in order to stop shuddering uncontrollably. It seemed as if she had felt his eyes resting on her, as she suddenly looked up as if someone had called her name. Following his gaze, she seemed to realise what he was thinking and slowly released her grip on his jacket. When it became clear to him what she was about to do, he quickly placed his cold hand on hers and shook his head to stop her from doing so.

As though his touch had felt like a jolt of electricity to her, he saw her eyes widen in shock and heard her gasp out loud. Her hands had felt quite warm to him and she had probably felt the coldness of his hands, as she instantly grabbed both of his hands and started rubbing his hands vigorously. As she was rubbing his hands, he could not help it but stare at her out of amazement for this caring side of hers. He had never received any kind treatment from her and it felt oddly nice to him. After having rubbed his hands for a while without any significant result due to her hands being too small, she seemed to be even more resolved to help him get warm again. Lost in thoughts of the sweet expression of determination on her face, he did not even realise it when she had moved over to sit next to him. Only when he suddenly felt something warm next to him, did he find out that she had moved over.

Without realising what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around her as a natural reflex gesture to her warmth. As soon as they realised the impact of their actions and became aware of their sudden proximity, their hearts skipped a beat and their eyes instantly met as if they had been looking for each other all that time along. He could see the unspoken question in her eyes and even though he would have loved to answer it out loud, he knew that his answer would be of no use. If he were to answer her question, it might change their relationship permanently but it could never reconcile the differences between their groups of friends. For the moment, he decided to settle by living in the moment without worrying about what would happen once their ride was over.

He pulled her closer to himself to feel her warmth and he could feel her automatically snuggle up to him in response. As he rested his head on her hair and waited for the ride to commence once again, he could not help it but notice that she had a unique fragrance. She smelled an unlikely yet heavenly combination of tea, candy and cinnamon that resulted into a sweet but simultaneously seductive fragrance. It reminded him of home and of the happy moments of his childhood. Suddenly, however, his train of thoughts was interrupted by a grumbling sound that seemed to come from her stomach. He realised that she probably was nauseated and he reached into his pocket and handed her his spare lollipop. Silently, she accepted it with a grateful smile on her face. While being amazed at the silent but natural way of communication that they had developed during their ride, he realised that she had probably already understood his unspoken answer to her unspoken question through that same unique way of communicating.

When he cast a glance at her to check whether she was fine, he found that she seemed to enjoy the lollipop as thoroughly as he had enjoyed his. As if her happiness was almost tangible, he also started to feel excited without any reason. Both of time started smiling spontaneously, but this time none of them attempted to keep up appearances and that seemed to heat up their ambience significantly. It almost felt as if their capsule was lit up by newfound rays of sunshine. On second thoughts, however, he suddenly noticed that the capsule indeed seemed to be lit up on the inside. It even seemed as if the ride had started moving once again. She seemed to have noticed the same, as she started to sit up at the same time as he did. When they looked outside to check on what was going on, they indeed found out that the ride had commenced once again. The heavy downpour had stopped and was replaced by pleasantly warming sunshine, providing them with the view of an enchantingly beautiful rainbow. Still enjoying her lollipop, her eyes met his and both of them realised that their ride in the sky had come to an end. The sole reminder of their sweet ride in the sky would be the majestic rainbow in the sky.