Marcel (Harry Styles/Marcel)

[1] Strings: Chapter Five

20th of September, 2017
Summer at Sydney, Australia

"I know the night will turn to gray. I also know the stars will start to fade. But to the fact that you keep bothering me won't be removed to the reasons why I love you. At first, I never believed in religion because of that one miserable thing that led me to the cell where I thought I'd never be happy again but because of you, you thought me how to love again. And yet, you even ask me to go to church with you.

And that's when I'm supposed to believe in loyalty, look at us. We've been friends for almost fifteen years and we know each other's story. It also brought me to realization that the way you annoy me and the way you make me smile are the best remedies I've ever taken. Now, I'm sitting beside you as someone who was a coward for not telling you my real feelings." I confess as I rub her shoulders . Suddenly aware of her admiring gaze, I began to see the redamancy from the shades of honey of her sparkling eyes which stared into mine as I noticed how alive and soft they were.

Gaping at the stellar night sky with the plethora of constellations as the balmy zephyr has waken me up from brooding over the fears I've been leaving had me thinking of this safe haven we've been staying for a quick break in Sydney to celebrate Jack's birthday. As my legs crossed together and my knees were both hugged against my chest, I see the solivagant girl of my dreams pacing around the island while raising her hands up to the sky as she forms an exquisite smile of satisfaction and in awe below her cheeks. We were staying in a gazebo that is attached to a garden wall which provides a plenty of time to relax ourselves while appreciating this ravishing artwork above.

Have you ever been in love? The exhilarating moment we get from the people we've been unexpectedly meeting with. Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable that you forget the value of yourself. It smashes your chest and it opens up your heart and you get the message of realizing someone can get inside of your thoughts and will mess you up completely. You build up these walls which are precisely defenses. You also build up a whole suit of armor so that nothing can tear you apart but we can't avoid that one person who wanders and explores your life and also the desires of your heart.

You give them a piece of yourself even though they didn't ask for it. They do something stupid that makes you go insane just because of that dazzling smile and that memorable kiss that you never wanted to end and then you begin to focus on their lives and not yours. Love takes hostages. It enters inside you, it eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness and until that special person is telling you the excruciating phrase "Maybe, we should be just friends." that is used as a glass splinter finding and working its way to stab your heart. It pretty hurts. Not just your imagination, not just in your mind but it crushes the whole body apart. Your chest, your mind, your soul and your heart. No wonder why I started being angry towards the world.

And because of her, she made me learn a few things. Mostly important things about love. Love isn't the mysterious creature that hurts you. It was the loneliness, the rejection, the loss, the envy and the confusion that brought us all up to our minds that love is what kills us. Everyone gets bewildered because of the things we feel but in reality, love is the only thing in the world that protects us and takes away the pain we've been bearing and make us feel wonderful again but with the right person at the right time and at the right place. Love is the only thing that doesn't hurt us in any way.

Breathing in the frosty whispers from the salty ocean, I plant a smile as I seize the water dancing through my toes from the viridity of the tide. I let out a sigh of relief as the enticing sight of the moonlight flashing above my irises of arctic blue. The ball of darkness and beauty had entered in my bosom of dolor. I place my palm into my chest, reminiscing the agony I've been through. Ever since to the pain I've felt from my father and to the mere fact that I almost lost her. The flickering polar stars like the scattered moon dust on the wide and void-black horizon laid their eyes on her.

The constellations were like the beacons of hope for all the lost souls of the world. In some places, they were changing hues. They were shimmering indigo birthstones swaying that almost describes her tight dress. They also change into cloudy gray sequins twinkling and entering into the galaxy of celestial bodies. What she sees is a mixture of solar and shining gleaming diamonds that helped her escape from a gloomy world to a safe haven of love to all the troubles she's been having. And what I like the most is the molten sparks flashing above the both of us that describes precisely her heart. Her golden heart that contains the bouncy and bubbly attitude that I loved.

"Vivian! Luke! We're going to do the little tradition tonight. Come and join us."

I grab her hand as we jog along the way until the sillage of the cake wandering around the air finds its way onto my nostrils. Vivian hummed a quick birthday song as mom gather the chocolate cake to start a little tradition wherein we slam the cake onto our faces. "I think we should do this to our lovely guest right here since she doesn't have a first time doing this kind of tradition." My mother suggests while she plants a half smile, reassuring Vivian will be fine to this kind of situation.

"Of course, Mrs. Hemmings. I would love to." Vivian replies back as she nods her head gently. I grab the cake as I counted numbers one to three out loud and I was about to start the tradition as I failed, showing that she slammed the cake onto my face. They all brought up to laughters while they see my face covered up in dense frosting. I applied the brown frosting on her cheeks as her mouth escaped a giggle.

"I want more." She whispers. The moist chocolate cake melts in my mouth, sticky with fudge frosting on my tongue. The bitter and simultaneously sweet smell of it puts me in a serene mind state. I smack my full red lips together. With the rich deep shades of brown on every delicious layer this cake acts as a slice of happiness on a white styrofoam plate.

"Thank you for this lovely night, Luke."

In fruition, I reach my hand out to my pocket as my hands caught a necklace with a pinkish heart pendant together with a ring on it that I supposed to wear since my mother gave it to me in high school. She told me to give the second ring to someone special. And it was her who's very special to my heart. "Will you be mine?" I ask as I stare deeply into her eyes.

"Yes, Luke. Yes!"