The clock is ticking; cold sweat raced through my palm. Cold breeze dances through my skin. Earlier before, a continuing grumble is all that I can hear deep down my stomach. Now, numbness has prevailed over me. The clock is ticking, each number racing to its end; a sudden blankness occurred to me and for a while all that I hear are laughers and whispers, yet it was just short-lived. I was able to go back to myself again. Silence capping my ears. Eyes carefully exploring what are to write as it stares directly to the long paper which contains the last question. A shout has broken the tranquility over my head. 10 MINUTES LEFT. It was like a sudden motor that my hand continued to move as it tries to clasp the remaining time. The cold sweats are faster now. It races from my temple down to my shoulders. The clock is ticking. 3 MINUTES LEFT. A continuous punch is ravaging my chest from inside out, hands moving faster along with eyes carefully reading the question. TIME’s UP. I was able to box my answer. Doubt it or not, I do not have any time to check, as long as I have answered all those questions. I begin to move towards. My hands are twitching as I placed my papers on the instructor’s table. Numbness is slowly getting out of my body.

I tried to look for the time. Much to my dismay, it is still ten minutes earlier than the official time. There are only eight of us in the room, including my instructor. The exam has begun late, so it was expected to cover up for its loss of time. Another ten minutes to be exact. Yet the instructor has followed the original time. The instructor reasoned out that there were only just seven of us remaining so she followed the original time. An absurd reason. The seven of us began discussing our answers. Out of five questions, we had the same answer for the first two questions. Still not enough to pass the exam. It must be three. We came to the last question, the rest of them have the same answer, which is different from mine. The last question. The question considered to be the easiest. The question which I answered hastily due to its easiness. I raised my answer to them, in which they objected to. They told me that I would only get such answer if I did not consider the given unit. WHAT ?! The instructor was still arranging the exam papers, when I tried to borrow one and tried to read the last question once more. True to what they say, yes, there is a given unit. A unit which I have overlooked earlier as I raced towards time. A unit which I could have had checked if the instructor has followed the remaining time needed to cover up the loss on the earlier part of the exam.

Bittersweet. Yes, even without the official results, I knew that I did not pass the exam. Though even without passing it, I do still pass the subject. The conflict is that the grade that I will get cannot suffice what is needed to keep the only thing which I have cared for a long time. That result has produced a scar inside me which will never be gone. Regret has become me. And that’s how I lost my Scholarship.