The first term I was in YYHS, my grades were plummeting all the time. That term we had to take nine subjects, and the pressure I was under could not have been greater. Anytime an exam was on the way, I would find myself losing sleep and appetite over it.

It was not long before the final exam came. Extremely nervous, I could not sleep well. The first test was Chinese. After I entered the test room and sat down, my heartbeat went up, but my eyelids were as heavy as lead. It was a very cold day, and I did not feel any desire to fight. “I will fail again,” I sighed to myself. The defeatist idea was playing over and over again in my mind.

Before the exam started, the owner of the desk I was using came back to get some stationery out of it. She was going to leave when she turned to me and said gently, “Don’t worry, girl. You can make it.” Obviously in her eyes I was the picture of nerves.

The girl was a complete stranger to me. Why did she bother? Although I had no answer to the question, warmth refilled my existence. The girl’s friendly gesture dispelled the doom and gloom from my heart.

Since that day, I have decided to pay the girl’s warmth forward. I know too well its infectious power. If I find someone around me down and blue, especially in an exam season, I will reach out and deliver a word of warmth. Hopefully, the magic that worked on me in the test room will bless them too.