"Why don't you write happy endings?"
"Because they don't exist. When have things ever gone our way in reality?"
"But isn't that why we read stories?"
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A series of excerpts and short stories
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For most people, life doesn't change much in the span of just one day. But mine did, beginning exactly from the moment I laid my eyes on him and then promptly crashing right into him.
He was an enigma all on his own, his own species. I had never seen anyone like him before, so out of this world. He was like that exotic flower amid plain bushes that people from all over the world came to admire. I had never imagined him ever being a part of my life, not when he seemed like a dream I only used to look at from the anonymity of the crowd.
But then one day, his cerulean gaze accidentally met mine and I, caught up in that magical and intense look, lost my footing. Consequently, I tumbled right into his strong chest and surprisingly open arms.
I couldn't think, not for a few minutes straight. Not when I was currently pressed up against the man I had been in love with for so many years while he never even knew my name.
"Are you alright?" He asked, in that husky voice that I had often imagined belonging to my future husband.
He pulled back, hands still latched onto my arms, and while the contact had only lasted for about three seconds, it had been so much more for me. It was a few moments until I found my voice back. "Yes, I'm—I'm okay. Thank you."
He gave me a smile, a small short one, but it was all for me and it made him look like an Adonis. "Better watch yourself in the future."
He stepped back and I understood that our little moment had come to an end. Like all things did. I couldn't smother that little hope though, that bloomed in my chest at the thought that maybe, even if it was the end of a moment, it couldn't be the end of a story.
"You go to NYU?" He asked me, looking behind at the large campus looking over us.
I nodded mutely, not knowing how to respond to that question. I had been in his every class for two years and all through high school before that. But then I remembered he was the son of a rich business man and probably didn't concern himself with all the mere mortals around him. My heart instantly forgave him.
He tipped his beanie, pedalling backwards slowly while still keeping that small smile on. "I'll see you around then, ah what's your name again?"
"Mary," I offered, a tentative upward turn to my own lips.
"Mary," He repeated, smile widening. "Well, see you around Mary," he said before turning away and I swallowed my suddenly dry throat, waking in the opposite direction as him and trying in vain to calm my fluttering heart.
You're being stupid, I tried to tell myself, but listening to own advice had never been my forte. Like mama used to say, all one ever needed was faith, hope, and a little help from fate to watch life do wonderful magic.
