Searching for New Students
Under the hot sun that stung the brown skin of Indonesians, there were two men offering brochures on the side of the road. No, they weren’t just handing out brochures to the average passerby. Rather, they were using a marketing strategy just like trading. They both rolled out mats and sat on the floor like a book fair on the side of the road while carrying several braille books for people with visual impairment. Gifer who felt it was impossible to get new students was a little hesitant and just tried to obey his friend. Gifer began to sit next to the man with the square smile. He put his hand on Haris’ shoulder and whispered something in his right ear.
“Ris, are you sure this will work? How about if we get kicked out?” Gifer still couldn’t get over his friend’s random thoughts, but it made sense if he thought about it. That was the reason why his friend had brought a bag, it turned out that the bag contained textbooks belonging to Bang Martin’s foundation.
“Shhh, you just shut up, Gif. Right now we’re trying first, who knows if it works.” Haris began to greet some people who looked strangely at him and Gifer. Since Gifer couldn’t see, so he just kept quiet without the need to greet those people.
“So what are we doing here? I mean, what do we want to promote, the book?” Gifer was indeed still confused with Haris’ concept of ideas for promotion, while the usual thing to do was just distributing brochures. It was indeed strange for his best friend to the extent that both of them had to work like sales marketing. Haris immediately told Gifer about his goal of promoting like a salesman.
“Yes, the brochure, Gif. We will offer about reading and writing first, then we will offer the brochure, like that.”Belongs © to NôvelDrama.Org.
“Ah, so that’s it. I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” Haris turned his gaze towards the people passing by in front of him.
“Learn braille with us here, get better at reading! Come on, those who want their children to succeed and learn to read braille will help them to write as well. Come on! Register your children. With us, we will guide your child until they can!!! Come here! Look at the book first, then we will teach you how to read properly!” Haris started shouting in his deep voice about the same thing until people were curious and came to each other. The ladies who visited where they were were given their respective brochures to look at in more detail.
“Ah, this is the ‘Ability to Read’ foundation, right? The one that was extorted by the thugs yesterday because of the incompetent teacher?” asked one of the ladies which made Gifer a little furious, he gripped his stick tightly until his fingernails turned white with anger. How could you say incompetent? Even though Gifer’s struggle to be able to teach was not very easy. Gifer really wanted to silence the mouths of the people who had spread the bad news. Seeing Gifer’s expression made Haris whisper something in the Friend’s ear.
“Patience, Gif. He’s our customer, he doesn’t know anything, just hold your anger.” Haris whispered with a smile he showed to the people who came while waiting for the answer, trying to explain the incident that actually happened at that time.
“No, it’s not because the teachers are incompetent, ladies and gentlemen, but because someone deliberately slandered the ‘Ability to Read’ foundation itself which made our foundation deserted. Actually, the teachers are even very, very competent, otherwise, how could they teach even those who have graduated,” replied Haris still trying to explain, while the ladies still didn’t seem to believe them. Finally Haris pointed at Gifer who could not see.
“Well, for example the friend next to me right now, he can’t see because of an accident. But after I brought him to the foundation, in just three months he was able to read and write using braillle letters, graduated and could be withdrawn as a foundation teacher. It was not an easy journey,” Haris only tried to smile at the people who looked at him. Despite the fact that he wasn’t looking. The women were still flipping through the brochure which she thought was interesting because braille is only studied for people who have problems with their eyesight. Whether it is for children or adults. They were still considering what Haris had said.
“So that’s the story, it means that what people were talking about at that time was not true,”
“Yes, very untrue, don’t be too consumed by what people say, after all it was those thugs who slandered our foundation. So please trust us, don’t trust those thugs anymore, they are just destroyers of other people’s businesses,” replied Haris trying to convince the people with his pleading face, which was deliberately made up so as not to run away.
“Those thugs are really bad, let’s help spread this brochure so that the ‘Ability to Read’ foundation can sell again like before!” Invited one of them who was talking to his neighbor.
“Mm, wait a minute, I still don’t believe it. Is it true that the young man next to you can read baille?”
“Yes, I can read it.” Gifer started to open the book Haris gave him, fingered the book with his right hand and started to make his voice to read. They still couldn’t believe that Gifer was blind because the cute guy was wearing sunglasses.
“How come I don’t believe that he’s really blind. It could be that behind those glasses he can actually see. There are many people who pretend,”
“Gosh, how distrustful are you of us, huh? Alright, Gif, take off your glasses,” Haris was still wondering about his customers, why so distrustful? Just registering their children was so complicated, they even needed more proof. Haris decided to ask Gifer to take off his glasses by slightly raising his deep voice.
Gifer nodded while taking off his sunglasses, showing his handsome face. Both of his eyeballs were still the same as usual and could blink like a normal person in general. However, his inner cornea was not functioning so his vision was completely black. He couldn’t see anything, only the color black. The people who were there even misfocused on Gifer’s good looks, especially when the sweet and handsome man pulled his jet black hair back. It really added a very extraordinary charm, making the visitors amazed by Gifer’s good looks. They were also surprised to learn that he was the CEO of GF Corp. In fact, he was already the former CEO. They covered their mouths with their palms.
“Huh? I didn’t expect that. It turns out that you… you weren’t the CEO of GF Corp back then before it went bankrupt right?” Gifer smiled sadly at their surprise.
“Yes, that was back then, now I can’t see, so Mr. Kevin and his son Raya Financia got rid of me from there. So now I can only rely on this job. So please, believe us,” How can you not believe? They suddenly believed, because the news about Gifer who got into a terrible accident on the Kendal-Jakarta highway had already spread widely in the media or public television until the man’s ups and downs in his company were included in the news.
“Well, we will enroll our sightless children to study at your foundation,”
“Thank you for your understanding.” Gifer bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect to his elders with a smile that did not fade from the corner of his lips. Haris who knew about it did the same as Gifer.
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To Be Continued