Unconditional Love

the memory box

Later that night, Van locked her room to have some privacy. Then, she took her 'memory box' under her bed and opened it. However, she stared into space at first, readying herself for the painful thing that she was about to do.

All of a sudden, her twin sized bed became interesting, as well as the pink pillows lying on top of it. Next, she began to examine the pink walls surrounding her; she even leaned forward to see if there were any writings on them. Anything at all to take her mind away from the box near her.

When she sensed that she was finally ready, she bagan taking out her keepsakes of him. There was his ukulele key chain that has his name written on the back; the first souvenir she secretly hid in 3rd grade, the balloon he gave her after their parade in 1st grade, their picture together during the recognition day in 5th grade, and the plastic wrapper of the candy he gave her during graduation practice. She might have looked like an obsessed teenager to other people, but she doesn't mind for these are the only things that links him to her.

She held the ukulele key chain in her hands and remembered the day she got it.

*flashback*

"Ugh! Where is my toy?" Mark furiously searched his bag. When he still did not find what he was looking for, he went to his other classmates and began looking in their areas.

Unknown to him, Van was watching him with a mixture of amusement and nervousness. It was only normal that Mark won't find what he was looking for because Van was hiding it all along. She stole it while he was out of the room.

"Van, have you seen my toy?" He asked her, unsure on what to do.

"Uhm, no." She bowed her head and continued working on her project.

It's not stealing, I just took it without asking permission, she assured herself.

*end of flashback*

Van bowed her head and smiled at her own impishness. Ah, those were the days.

Then, she put the key chain back into the box and held the deflated balloon.

*flashback*

"Look! Mark gave me a balloon!" Dia, their special classmate, proudly held the pink balloon for Van to see.

Their motorcade just ended and they were back at their school.

Van got angry at the sight of the balloon for she told Mark to reserve same balloon for her. The fact that he gave it to Dia enraged Van. With balled fists, Van marched towards Mark, ready for combat.

She touched Mark's shoulder with so much force that he faced her with a horrified expression.

" Why did you give her my balloon? I told you to reserve it for me!" Van shouted angrily.

"Sorry! I was looking for you and you weren't around. Dia was having a tantrum so I gave it to her instead." Mark said, almost crying.

"Here, you can have mine." Mark added and offered her his blue balloon.

Suddenly, Van felt guilty for shouting at Mark. It wasn't his fault that she was nowhere to be seen and that they had a special classmate.

Van sighed and said, "It's fine, I don't like blue. It's just a balloon anyway." She walked away with drooping shoulders. All hopes of getting a balloon was gone since that was the last one and Dia got it.

At lunch, Van was surprised to see a panting Mark running towards her, a balloon in hand.

"Van!" He shouted before halting in front of her and paused to catch his breath.

After his breathing went back to normal, he gave her the balloon he was holding.

Van's eyes widened in surprise for she thougt that Mark had already forgotten the incident. Besides, she had not seen him since the balloon encounter.

"I..." Van started to speak but Mark did not let her continue.

"Don't worry, it's the same balloon you wanted." He forcefully placed the balloon in her hands and ran away from her.

Van stared in disbelief at the balloon and was touched at Mark's action.

*end of flashback*

She placed the balloon back to the box as well as their picture. The picture portrayed their faces highlighted by proud smiles while they were holding their certificates of recognition.

Lastly, she held the candy wrapper and smiled that sad smile.

*flashback*

"Ugh. This is so boring. I mean, why do we have to practice anyway?" Mark slumped into his chair.

The top 10 students were seated on stage, 5 for every side of the stage. Since Mark was the valedictorian and Van was the salutatorian, they were seated next to each other. It was their grand rehearsal and Mark was angry for he wasn't able to play basketball. He got angrier when all they did was sit down while the teachers argued about the decorations.

Van watched as he closed his eyes and witnessed in awe how adorable he looked when he frowned. For the first time in her life, she finally realized that she cared for him more than she was supposed to. The fact that they were going to the high school overjoyed her for she will be able to see him again for 4 more years. She smiled contentedly at her luck.

Mark slowly opened his eyes and fished out something from his pocket. Van looked away, frightened to be caught staring.

Out of nowhere, a menthol candy was being offered to her. She looked up and found out that it was indeed Mark offering her a candy.

He got a bored look on his face when he said, "You want?"

Unsure on what to do, Van simply nodded and took the candy from him.

*end of flashback*