Aoi's Love Language

It was another day of facing the cold four walls of her home for Tsubaki again. This time her father was at the other side of the globe, in the United States, to attend a conference while her mother was away in the Philippines to visit her grandmother who was residing there, leaving their only daughter in Japan.

Tsubaki switched on the television. The black rectangular box had been her only companion in the cold solitude of four walls she called "home". Perhaps this was why she loved watching foreign movies and shows. The black box had been showcasing the world outside of her horizons which had entertained her and allowed her to gain many new knowledge and insights. The television was showing a romance drama from South Korea. Usually, Tsubaki hated watching such cheesy romance dramas and it would make her cringe inwards. However, she decided that since she had nothing better to do, she would play a mini game of "Try Not To Cringe Challenge" by herself and give herself a test to see whether she could survive watching the entire drama.

She had failed. Within less than half an hour, she had found herself wanting to strangle the male and female lead across the screen numerous times, if not wanting to bang her head against the wall. Is a good thing she had enough self-control to resist herself from doing so.

The drama soon transited to a scene in a cafe in which the male and female lead were celebrating the male lead's birthday together. The female lead had given the male lead a pendant in which she was wearing a matching one around her neck. The male lead was very happy to receive the gift and they kissed.

Suddenly it struck Tsubaki. Aoi's birthday is coming in less than a week. Tsubaki was not one to give presents to someone, in fact, she hated receiving presents. For her birthdays throughout the years, her parents would never make time to celebrate with her. Instead, they would deliver expensive gifts, from high-quality dolls in her childhood to beautiful dresses in her teenage years. The gifts had transformed into branded handbags now as she is now an adult studying in college. Tsubaki would always think to herself, what is the point of those expensive gifts when she always had to celebrate her birthdays alone, which caused her to often forget when it was her birthday. The only person she gave birthday gifts to was Rika during their elementary and middle school days. Every year till they graduated from middle school, Rika would invite her to her birthday party and she would often purchase gifts from teddy bears to cosmetics for her, all because she learnt that it would be rude to show up empty-handed in a birthday party. It felt like an obligation for Tsubaki and to her, if she were to give a gift to someone out of obligation and manners, the meaning of gifts would be lost.

However, when it comes to Aoi, Tsubaki was determined to do something for her special day. For some reason, she was the only person Tsubaki bothered to even think of giving a present to. It might be because, to her, the moment she met Aoi, her life had changed for the better. If not for her, she might not have continued singing, which was the only thing she held on to. It was as if Tsubaki was being trapped in the tunnel darkness and Aoi was the one who brought her to the shining light at the end.

What will be the perfect gift for Aoi? she thought to herself. Aoi is popular. There will definitely be a lot of girls who will give her presents. What if Tsubaki was to get her a gift only to be the exact same gift that someone else had gifted her? What if she purchased something for her, only to have her not liking it, hence a waste of money? Or even worse, what if she didn't need a gift from her?

It was then she received a message from Hiiro in Rondo's group chat. Hiiro was talking about Five Love Languages which were five ways that people expressed and experienced love. "It will be easier for you to express your love to someone you love if you understand their love language," she said. She even attached a link to a quiz for others to figure out their love language, with Hiiro's one being "Acts of Service". Act of service is the physical expression of a thoughtful gesture. It is about someone going out of their way to meaningfully help and support the other person. When people take the initiative to ease some of their responsibilities and burdens, it helps them feel taken care of, safe and loved in return. Soon Nagisa replied with her love language being "Words of Affirmation" after she had completed the quiz. Words of affirmation are any spoken or written words that confirm, support, uplift, and empathize with another person in a positive manner. If someone is drawn to words of affirmation as their love language, it's because they believe words really matter and help them give a literal voice to how they feel inside.