A step away from love

04. Allergic to romance

It was Valentine's Day and keeping with the tradition, people were handing out chocolates and heart stickers around the University campus. Even the most introverted souls like Yong ended up captivating others and received their dose of attention from admirers that until then did not know how to express their feelings.

On the other hand, friendlier and gentler people like Jiew were the frequent targets of pompous statements, exaggerated offers, and gifts of all kinds. The boy politely refused all proposals from people of all genders and from the most varied faculties, but he gladly accepted the sweets, flowers and other gifts. To such an extent that he had difficulty carrying everything alone and ended up asking for help from his good friend Yong who had stayed a little distant and just watched everything with a grimace on his face.

"Do you need help taking everything home?" Yong offered when they had arrived at the bus stop.

"Oh, no! I'm really planning to donate these things to the orphanage that is near the condo where I live! I think the kids will enjoy the sweets better!", Jiew said with a smile. Exactly the kind of smile that made Yong fall in love with him all over again and a little more every day.

When he realized that his bus was already approaching, Yong took a small box from his backpack and handed it to Jiew, who accepted it without fully understanding what it was about.

"Take this. It's for you!"

"What's this?" Jiew asked, studying the box that looked like it had been wrapped by a 4-year-old with paper folded in weird places and duct tape in excess.

"Chocolate!"

"But…", the shorter one frowned.

"Don't think too much, I just received a lot of candies and I wanted to give you some...", Yong said, looking away and quickly getting into the bus that had stopped in front of them. "See you tomorrow, Jiew!"

Jiew knew that Yong hadn't gotten many presents because his hard to deal personality kept people from getting close to him. Not because he had no secret admires, but because even those who cared about him were afraid to come forward and receive a direct, unapologetic rejection.

For that reason, and taking advantage of the fact that the bus was still at the stop, Jiew decided to quickly open the box of chocolates and check what was inside. They were hand-decorated chocolates, meaning: someone had made them especially for him and you could see this in the patterns used to decorate the sweets. With a smile, he asked the friend who was looking at him from the bus window:

"If someone gave you these chocolates, why do they have my initials on some of them? And some little chicks on others? And these ones look like my face?"

"I don't know, ok? Maybe the person doesn't know how to decorate and did it like that!"

Luckily for the taller one, he didn't need to make any more excuses, as the bus finally got out of the stop. Shortly after Jiew arrived home and delivered to the orphanage almost everything he had earned that day, he sat on his own bed and looking at the decorated candy, he decided to text Yong:

Tiny jeab:
Yong, you know I'm allergic to chocolates, right?

Cute giant:
If you don't want to eat them, just throw it away, Jiew! Nobody is gonna force you!

Yong responded to the message very red with the shame he was feeling. He really didn't know his friend was allergic to chocolate and felt guilty about it.

Tiny jeab:
No way! You gave them to me, now they're mine!

And the two went on arguing for a while longer, but without any rancor in their hearts. Jiew might be allergic to chocolates, but he wasn't allergic to romance and made a point of eating the sweets made by the one he liked so much.

It was also true that he needed to take medication for three days after that because his allergy struck and he felt his whole body itch because of the effect of the chocolate on him. Even so, if you asked him, the student would say that he loved Yong's gift.

Yong felt bad for what he made Jiew go through, because as much as he tried hard to make the chocolates, it wasn't worth the health of the one he loved. In fact, he took classes to learn how to make chocolate and be able to make Jiew's gift so that no one else's could match his own. But it was all in vain.

"I'm so sorry, Jiew!", Yong said for the umpteenth time.

"Okay! You can make it up to me by giving me flowers instead of chocolate next year!", the boy said winking and entering the classroom. They were late after having stopped by the infirmary earlier to get another dose of the medications Jiew needed to ease the effects of the allergy.

"Ok, next year!", Yong muttered to himself with guilt but also a lot of pleasure.