A few days after the incident at the field, Arbaz met the girl again at their school's annual sports event. The school always organized the event grandly, with two days dedicated to sports and one day for prize-giving and a cultural program. Students started practicing for the event a week in advance.
Kifayat was a transfer student. She joint the school for about four months. She is still clueless about many things. When she heard about the sports event first she was completely uninterested but under the pressure and encouragement of her classmates and friends, she decided to give it a try despite her lack of confidence.
This time she decided to participate in sprinting and badminton. It was her first time competing, even in her previous school she had never participated in sports.
Arbaz, who had graduated earlier that year, returned to the school with his friends to visit. The sports event was one of his favorite memories, as he had always excelled in sports and never missed a chance to win a prize. He and his friends enjoyed watching the various games, reminiscing about their own school days. Along the way, they met some of their junior classmates who greeted them warmly.
As they wandered around, one of Arbaz's friends suddenly noticed the girl from the football field incident. "Isn't that the girl we met a few days ago?" he asked. "She was from our school. How come I haven't seen her before?"
Arbaz looked up and was surprised to see her again. Another friend chimed in, "Looks like she's going to participate in the sports competition. With her strength, she must be good at sports."
A friend of Arbaz named Rafid who was not present on the day of football incident became curious hearing this. "What are you talking about? Do you know that girl?"
"Well. Not really. But you don't know what happened that day." Samir vividly explained Rafid about how the football burst in front of them with one kick and so on. Rafid find it unbelievable. "You must be kidding. How can it be possible to burst a football with one kick."
"Huh. Just wait and watch how she win." Samir confidently boasted.
"He is right. With her strength, it's natural for her to win first place in running," Arbaz thought to himself.
But in the next moment, they were all proven wrong. They watched as the girl started running, but one by one, the other contestants overtook her. She couldn't surpass any of them and finally finished in the last position. Arbaz and his friends were dumbfounded. Where had the powerful girl from before gone?
Rafid looked at Samir who was exaggeratingly praising that girl a while ago, as if asking, "Was it what you mean by very powerful.
"Feeling awkward, one of them muttered, "Maybe she has strength but isn't very good at running."
Arbaz couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. Here was the girl who had burst a football with one kick, struggling to keep up in a simple sprint. He found amusing, maybe strength and skill were not always the same thing.
At that moment Kifayat didn't know that some people misunderstood her as a very powerful girl and later got a slap in the face because of the misunderstanding.
After losing the running competition, she felt disheartened. Her friends, however, were quick to encourage her. "You did great!" they cheered. "At least you finished the race." Even her teachers praised her efforts. Though she knew they were trying to comfort her, their words still brought her some happiness.
Determined not to dwell on her disappointment, the girl practiced running for a while longer. Then, her friends dragged her to the badminton courts for another round of practice. Badminton was played in pairs, and her partner Saba was quite skilled. "Come on, let's practice," her friend urged.
Arbaz, watching from the sidelines, thought, "This time she should do just fine.
Badminton requires strength, after all." Samir once again said, "Let's see again. This time you will definitely be impressed." But this time his voice was not as confident as before.
Then once again, he was wrong. It wasn't that the girl couldn't play at all although she looked novice. She could catch the shuttlecock many times. However, her lack of strength meant that her hits were weak, giving her opponents easy opportunities to return the shuttlecock.
Seeing her struggle, Arbaz chuckled. "This girl doesn't look very strong. How did she manage to burst that ball on the field?" he wondered. "Is it because her brother was bullied that she became powerful for a while?" His curiosity grew.
Despite her difficulties, the girl continued to practice tirelessly. Her friends tried to persuade her to take a break. "You don't need to practice so hard. I'm very good at playing, We will win." Saba reassured her.
"I know that," the girl replied with a determined smile. "But I don't want to drag you down during the game. I'm trying hard to support you. Look, I've improved a lot. From not being able to catch a shuttlecock to catching many of them. Although my strength is little, maybe I can improve a bit more." The girls was sweating profusely, her disheveled hair was sticking to her face, but her eyes were bright. There was not even a trace of complain in her face.
Her friend's eyes softened with sympathy and pride. Saba's previous teammate did not agree to play with her. She accused her for always stealing all the limelight in a game. "No matter how good I play, everyone only sees your efforts. I never want to be in the same team with you." Although Saba was upset because of her, she didn't say anything to her at the end. She decided she would only participate in solo game from now on. But one day, Kifayat came to her asking if she wanted to be her teammate. She was ecstatic. Finally someone wants to be her teammate. Now she felt it was one of the best decision she made in life.
"Alright, let's keep practicing," Saba said, feeling touched by the girl's perseverance.
Arbaz, who had been observing the girl all this time, felt a mix of amusement and admiration. "She is really interesting," he thought. "Her perseverance and spirit are something else."