1. Before We Die

[24 Hours Before the Aircraft Bombing Tragedy Occurred]

"Guys, are you sure you want to buy the tickets for tomorrow's schedule? Isn't it too tight?" asked Aruna.

She pulled out her goodie bag which was next to the couch she was sitting on. The girl then took her cell phone out of her white bag and checked the calendar on the device. Her brow furrowed, and she realized that this idea and everything was somehow too impulsive.

"Of course not, Aruna. The tighter our schedule is, the more fun we will get," Camilla muttered, flicking her long hair.

"I can't believe why your madness recurred at the wrong time," Aruna chartered again, sipping her drink.

“Precisely, this is good timing! Airline tickets are being drastically discounted. Do you want us to cancel our vacation? Fucking, no way, thanks!" Camilla grumbled at the pickiness of one of her best friends. “Just imagine, we planned this long ago and now there are tickets with a half-price discount in front of our eyes. Only the air-headed ones would let this fortune slip by.”

"So, you mean I am the air-headed one?" Aruna folded her arms in front of her chest, irritated.

"You think?" replied Camilla in a nonchalant manner.

“Camilla shut the fucking up!” Aruna was even more frustrated because she was provoked by Camilla's first-class annoying style.

“Geez! Can you two just not make a fuss now? For the love of God!" Aldo, as the sanest person, quickly intervened when his two friends were fighting, as usual. "If you don't want me to enter the wrong ID card number, please be quiet and don't distract me," he said straightforwardly without taking his eyes off the gadget screen in his hands.

"Everything will be fine and our task tonight is just one, PACKING!" Aldo exclaimed. He then felt relieved after completing the ticket payment for the three of them. "The tickets are done!"

“Oh my gosh!” Aruna immediately massaged her temples with two fingers. Somehow, her gut feeling was telling her that something might be not right. "We should be able to discuss it beforehand," she said.

"If we discuss it first, the tickets are going to be sold out. The discount is also forfeited. After all, what are you waiting for, anyway? Our passports will still be active until the end of this year, though,” said Camilla while fanning her sweaty neck.

The girl had been excited about cheering on Aldo to finish paying for the tickets that would take them to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

“Sssh! Leave it, Camilla! You know very well what kind of person Aruna is. She is no fun and rigid-minded person.” Aldo nudged Aruna's arm to tease her, hoping his best friend could relax a bit.

"Hmm, whatever." Aruna shrugged, trying to be ignorant of her feelings that felt strange.

She was aware that their vacation plans and bucket list would come true, but it was too good to be true out of a sudden.

“C'mon … let's think, the three of us seem just blessed by the Goddess of Fortune. And voila an advertisement popped on my social media page.” Camilla snapped her fingers. “So, why would I dodge my fortune? Let's just have fun! Finally, our dreams come true!"

The three senior students just finished their thesis. While they were waiting for the graduation schedule for next month, they had indeed been making plans to go on vacation for a long time.

One of the reasons the three of them really wanted to go before the graduation schedule was because they wouldn't know when the free time would come again. Surely, each of them will be busy with work and life respectively afterward.

So, they plan to go on vacation to Brazil to celebrate their graduation. Moreover, their families had also agreed on this vacation plan, thus they only had to choose the date.

However, Aruna never thought that she and her two best friends would leave immediately the next day!

“Gosh, I can't wait either!” Aldo patted the table and rubbed his hands together. “I will send the tickets via your email. So, we better go home this afternoon and pack up!” said the 23-year-old guy.

"Okey, Dokey!" nodded Camilla. She was the one who first got up from the bench. They were hanging out in the cafe at the moment.

“Wow, wow, are you guys really serious about this? Am I invisible here or what?” Aruna was still asking about the sanity of her friends but she got up too.

"What else do you want to consider, Aruna? Didn't the three of us already plan to vacation this month?" Aldo was a bit surprised that one of his best friends looked heavy-hearted.

"Yea, right? Wait … you don't want to go to Brazil with us anymore, do you, Aruna?" Camilla frowned, also surprised by Aruna's attitude which was strangely not as excited as when the three of them were planning their vacation a couple of weeks ago.

"No, it's not like that. Of course, I still want to go on vacation with you guys. Especially after this, no one can predict when we will have free time like this anymore.” Aruna waved her arms in front of her chest, emphasizing that that was not the reason for the slight objection.

"So what?" Aldo walked with Aruna and Camilla to the car park area in the courtyard of the café.

“I am just … not ready? We will go tomorrow. It's just a couple of hours ahead! Well, even though there is indeed a very tempting ticket price discount, I still feel that rushing anything is not good," said Aruna, letting Aldo open the middle car door for her while Camilla was already in the front seat.

The three of them had been hanging out at this café together since they were sophomores by Aldo's car.

"Aight, I understand your concern, Aruna," Camilla was talking while putting on her seat belt. “But hey, why can't you see this matter from the Sunnyside? Listen, we dreamed about this and just waited for the timing, but then suddenly there are half-price discounted tickets. And the destination is Brazil! Why do you keep being so ungrateful? So unprofessional and unethical!" mocked Camilla.

Aldo chuckled at the iconic sentence he just heard. The man stepped on the acceleration pedal slowly and drove his vehicle, driving his two besties home.

“Come on, Girls! Just, go with the flow! Tickets have been purchased anyway. The calculation of the budget is mad efficient!” Aldo exclaimed while still focusing on driving.

"Now note this, we should inform our families, immediately, that the flight ticket schedule is tomorrow," concluded Camilla. "I'm sure they will understand and be happy if we get those lucky discount tickets."

“Okey dokey!” Aldo shouted excitedly, while Aruna only replied with a low murmur in the backseat.

"Hopefully there won't be a sudden schedule of family events when I tell people at home," Aruna said, looking out the window.

“Oh, tell me! Fingers crossed, Baby!” said Camilla.

The girl then turned the music in the car on. She had been into the hip-hop genre for the past couple of weeks.

The atmosphere got lifted. Aruna didn't bother to care anymore and was able to chill with them. Accept that she kept thinking that she gotta be ready to leave tomorrow.

Aruna shrugged her shoulders and murmured to herself, "Well, it is what it is."

She then joined her two friends in singing all the way home.

"Rio De Janeiro, Baby!"

Little did they know that tomorrow could be the last day they had their fun. Who knows the future ahead?