Lotus

Ren & Rina - 3: Denial

“We were flowers.

We grew. We blossomed.

We were beautiful.”

     Back in her own house, Rina locked herself in her bedroom. This was her special technique to keep herself from unleashing her anger and destruction upon the world.

     “I’m an idiot! I’m so stupid!” she cried, frantically dialing the number of her friend into her phone. “I wonder if he likes me… No, he probably doesn’t. I won’t get my hopes up. Eventually, Ren will just end up being like all the other boys I’ve met.”

     “Hello?”

     “Lindy, I’m gonna die!” Rina sobbed. “You know the boy I told you about? I was with him today and I totally made an idiot out of myself! He’s never gonna wanna hang out with me ever again!”

      “Eh?”

      “I wish I could get a picture of him for you to see!” Rina wept. “I don’t know how I managed to stay composed the entire time I was with him!”

      “Is he hot? Rina, we discussed this. You can’t date a guy who’s prettier than you!”

      “But—”

      “You’re the one who said: ‘I don’t think I could date a guy who’s really, really hot. I’ll probably feel so ugly being with him.’ Don’t try to tell me you didn’t say that!”

      “But—”

      “End of story!”

     Lindy hung up, leaving Rina upset and regretting that she ever spoke the words that her friend had just quoted.

      “He’s not that hot,” Rina said trying to convince herself that Ren wasn’t as handsome as her eyes had perceived. “His nose is pretty tall… wait, no. I like his nose. Um… his full lips? Cheekbones? NO I LIKE THOSE, TOO.”

     Laying herself down on her bed, Rina had to give herself a few minutes to think of some kind of imperfection.

      “I know!” she shouted. “His forehead! His forehead is small!”

     Suddenly, Rina’s phone began to beep. She barely ever texted anyone, so she was surprised that someone decided to contact her first. Grabbing her phone, she checked the message sender. Oh, how she wished it was Ren… but it was a different boy. A boy that she wished she had never met.

      “Rina, I really want to talk to you,” she read.

     Instantly upon reading the text, Rina was filled with anger and bitterness. She typed “DIE” repeatedly until the character capacity for three messages was filled up. Desperately, she wanted to send the message… but she couldn’t bring herself to. Rina rested her head on a pillow and sighed. Tears filled her eyes as she stared at her phone. She moved her thumb, deleting the message that she had just typed out.

      “It’s not worth it. You’re not worth it,” she whimpered, closing the conversation window on her phone. “Besides, I like someone else now.”

     Wiping away her tears, Rina forced a smile on her face. She remembered what she was thinking about before: Ren’s small forehead. Focused on this flaw, she went to sleep happily. The next morning, Rina woke up to a text from the small-foreheaded boy to hang out.

      “Forehead!” she reminded herself. “I can take my time. I don’t need to rush!”

      “I just woke up. I’ll be there in an hour,” she typed to Ren. Within seconds, Rina received a text back from him. To her surprise it was just one word.