The rain had come quickly. Dark, water-laden clouds had covered the sky within minutes and dropped their payload upon the earth. A lone soul stepped out from under a flowered trellis to bask in the torrential rainfall.
Ava didn't mind the rain. It was cold, wet, and noisy, but she didn't care. Its cold numbed her heart, its droplets hid her tears, and its constant downpour dampened even her own thoughts. She welcomed its chilly embrace.
She had come out here to be out of the way. Out of the way of her sister and her... boyfriend. She had repeated that statement many times before. 'Her sister and her boyfriend. Her sister and her boyfriend. Her...'
She thought that she could get used to that thought. But, she couldn't.
She tried to feel happy for her sister. She really did. But despite how much Ava smiled or how much she teased, it always hurt so much to know that he was her sister's boyfriend.
Zach.
That name had once instilled her with happy memories. Days of leisure and play. Days of laziness and truancy. And... Days of companionship and close intimacy.
Now, she only felt pain... and longing.
They were friends. Close friends. But, she wanted more. She wanted him to see her as more than a friend. A girl friend, maybe even a lover?
She had chances. Opportunities that had brushed her fingertips. But, she always refused to grasp them. How could she?
Her sister has had a crush on him ever since she met him.
As the older sister, she had an obligation, a responsibility, a duty to make sure her younger sister was happy. She couldn't bare to be the cause of her sister's tears.
So, she promised herself to throw away her love, hopes, and fairy tales. She promised herself that she would build her sister's happy ending. She would make sure that someday, her sister would be the one next to Zach.
She had forced him to eat lunch with she and her sister, in hopes of her sister and him of becoming closer. She had made delicious bentos to help keep him motivated to come to the lunches. She had taught her sister how to cook to help her sister impress him. And, every action was a stab to her own heart.
Every lunch she had planned was one she wished that maybe she and Zach could eat together. Together and alone. But in reality, she had been the mediator for Juila and Zach, helping them get used to talking to each other. It had worked too. Juila and Zach could talk together easily without her now.
When she woke up at five AM to make the bentos for lunch, she had let herself daydream a little bit. She had imagined that she was making a bento to share with Zach and herself. Just Zach and herself. She had also imagined that he tell her how wonderful every piece was and ask her how she made them taste so divine. To this, she would have simply replied, "Because it's cooked with love."
And, teaching her sister to cook was both tiring and painful. Her sister had been a terrible cook. She had somehow managed to burn rice in a rice cooker. But, Ava had persevered and had managed to teach her how to make edible food. With every improved attempt, she had felt her sister get closer to Zach. She wanted to be happy for her sister, but she could only feel the pain of knowing Zach was getting further and further away from herself.
She thought that by enduring the pain, the pain would eventually dull and her love would be forgotten. She thought it would eventually become another memory forgotten in the depths of her mind. But, it festered and engorged itself on every moment with him.
His kind smiles, light compliments, and even his jabs reminded her of how much she loved him. She let her mask of false happiness fall during those moments, allowing her true smile to show for a while. But, when he turned away and left her behind, she felt the loneliness kick in and her well-prepared facade slip back on her face. Any thought of pursuing him was shot down by the image of her sister's smiling face.
