The sunlight was scarce that morning
What looked like rainclouds was actually a hazey Tuesday morning in town.
Akbar arrived early to the office,
"Early" meant he arrived half an hour earlier than the previous day, but he was still half an hour late today.
The usual morning chatter with colleagues ensued: Akbar flipped through the newspapers while drinking their pre-mixed coffee.
He switched on the radio and the tune from an old Eurasure song from the 1980s was on.
The image of an American sitcom, Scrubs imediately appeared in the young man's head---- the song was used in one episode.
"I'm not going to be here any longer," he thought to himself.
But it wasn't a bad thing.
An hour earlier he was feeling good about himself.
Akbar's gardener had woke him up to shouts of "Assalamualaikum!"
When gardener Pak Din was at the gate, Akbar was half-asleep and a catchy hip hop song blarred on his radio. The song went "..Not much of a girlfriend, I never seem to get a lot (ba ba da da, ba ba da da)..."
Early mornings are always like that for Akbar--a dreamy state in between reality and sleep, with a soundtrack courtesy of local radio stations.
He took his bath and ironed his shirt.
He chatted with Pak Din for several moments.
"I heard you were a reporter."
"Yup," Akbar replied.
"You know, Pekan Simpang Kuala? There are streetlight posts which are so far to the centre of the road. Many cars have crashed into those posts."
"Really? That's dangerous," Akbar replied.
"I'm afraid they'd be more accidents."
"Yes, definitely. I'll check it out. Thanks Pak Din."
Akbar knew that any person can be a good source of information. He paid Pak Din 60 ringgit to cut his grass.
"Pak Din, don't forget to take some mangoes," Akbar said as he pointed to his two trees which were laden with fruit.
"Ya, ya! terima kasih!"
Akbar locked up his door, but left the front gate unlocked for Pak Din to work. He started his car and drove off to work.

Akbar was feeling good and nothing could take that away from him.