Carrying my unfinished assignments, I rushed to the library after meeting with my lecturer in his office. Apparently, the library was very crowded today. In fact, I could see Nina and Bobby there.
"Where have you been Bro, at this hour on campus?" asked Bobby who was busy with his assignments and a bunch of thick books scattered on the table.
"I met the lecturer first," replied me, who immediately sat next to Bobby and opened my laptop.
"Crazy, this is really cool, Nik! The report you made in my opinion is really perpect, neat and weighty. You're a genius!" he exclaimed when he saw the contents of the report on my laptop.
"I have to catch up with my target, Bob. I have to continue my Masters in Germany. And, I have to become a pediatrician."
"Are you serious? I thought you were joking about continuing your Masters in Germany. But, aren't you studying internal medicine, Dad? And, weren't you asked to specialize in surgery by Professor Anton?"
I picked up the thick book on cancer that was in my bag. While opening the book, my eyes were still on the laptop.
"At first I was, but after a while I became interested in becoming a pediatrician."
"But, being a surgeon or an internist is cool, Nik."
I stopped working on my report for a moment and looked at Bobby's face for a few moments. The innocent face hinted at in Bobby's expression at this time really made me feel like not throwing my anger at him.
"I became a doctor not to look cool, but I want to save human lives on this earth. Children are one of the successors of our nation, so I have to minimize the volume of deaths for children starting from today."
Bobby was silent and didn't blink his eyes at all. Suddenly he gave a
standing applause and hugged me tightly.
"I'm proud of you, Nik! You're my best friend, you're going to be the best doctor on earth. You'll definitely be successful in the future, Bro!" he exclaimed, causing everyone to glance sarcastically at us for making such a ruckus in the library that Nina, who was working on her assignment, also glanced at the two of us.
"You can definitely make Aqila proud of you, Bro!" she whispered, which made me pause after hearing Aqila's name ringing in my ears again.
Almost 3 hours in the library, Bobby seemed to have given up. In fact, the Medical faculty children who dominated the library today also looked exhausted and looked very frustrated.
How not, we are all chased by deadlines, piling up assignments, not to mention that every day we always have exams. Our brains are really forced to work continuously every day.
Even so, we still enjoyed each day that passed while we were still in college. Bobby looked frustrated. He even decided to take a break and go to the cafeteria to get something to eat. As for Nina, she was still in the library and sat next to me.
"Didn't you rest first, Nik?" she asked.
"You haven't rested yourself?" I asked back.
Nina laughed and looked at my face, making me realize that she was looking at me.
"Why, Nin?" I asked, still busy with unfinished reports.
"Why do you want to be a doctor, Nik?" asked Nina suddenly, which made me stop my activity and look at her face.
"Why do I want to be a doctor? Actually, I don't know why I want to be a doctor myself. But, what I do know and what I remember is that I have a younger sister."
I felt nostalgic again. My eyes started to glaze over and my nose started to turn red. All those fleeting memories came rushing back, after I had tried to bury them deeply.
"Little sister?" she repeated confused.
"Her name is Aqila, she's the sister I love the most. She would have been 15 years old if she was still around," I said with teary eyes and tried to keep a calm smile.
"Still there? What does that mean?" she asked confused.
"My sister died nine years ago. Aqila died because she had cirrhosis. Maybe that's one of the reasons I became a doctor," I replied with a smile.
Nina looked like she regretted bringing up an old wound that I had been harboring all this time. Yes, Aqila, my little sister who is also Noah's little sister.
Noah and I were very close to Aqila. In fact, when Aqila died Noah was the hardest hit. All my family including my friends tried to bury the old wounds deeply. Not wanting to be dragged down by sadness, we tried to keep smiling happily even though there was a little bit of hurt in all of our hearts.
In fact, Nadia herself was quite close to Aqila. Nadia also looked so sad when my little sister died. Bobby and Bella were the same, they who had never met my sister, cried when I told them about her, showed them photos of her when she was little and took them all to Aqila's grave.
"Sorry, I didn't know. I'm sorry if I reminded you of your deceased sister."
"It's okay, just relax."
"But, is that also one of the reasons you want to be a pediatrician?" Nina asked again.
I looked at Nina's face and for a moment I was silent and averted my eyes.
"Since my sister died, I've been interested in health and often read medical books. I also became a little interested in internal medicine and one of them is about liver cancer or cirrhosis. However, Prof. Anton asked me to specialize in surgery.
"It's not that I didn't want to learn about internal medicine, in fact I was very interested. But, someone told me that I should be able to heal the little children in this world. Hearing that person say things that I hadn't thought of before, it made me think again. In my opinion, pediatrician is a very noble job and I also really like small children. That's why I decided to become a pediatrician.
"But, there is actually another reason behind me wanting to become a doctor. When my brother was hospitalized and before he died, there was a woman who said one thing that made me always remember her words until now.
"Niko, you know that the man in the white coat looks really cool. Moreover, if he can heal your sister, he'll look even cooler. The man in the white coat is like an angel sent by God to cure everyone's illness. So, if in the future you become a doctor, you should be able to become a savior in this world like a super hero."
I smiled a little. Memories of my childhood came flooding back. I recalled my short childhood with Aqila. Being only 6 years apart in age from Aqila, didn't make me feel distant from her. I loved Aqila very much. Even though she is now in Heaven, I will always remember her.