ONCE: stories of what could have been and what should have been.

White Roses

"It isn't a feeling of loneliness but a pounding emotion of emptiness. Like a puzzle with a missing piece or a home without you."

The cold night starts to hush away the broad daylight. Stars constellated the skies with its canvass of blinding shimmers and quiet delights. But, amidst the brightness of the moon and the stars that light the entire world to sleep.
There lies a man, aged 30, lying in his bed with a bottle of beer on his hand, still grieving with pain for what he has lost years ago. Something that he could never have back even when he wished at all the stars every night. With all the tears that drenched his cheeks, he fell asleep.

"I hate you, Edward. I hate you so much. How could you do this to me? You know how much I love you. I gave you everything that I have. I became the woman you wanted me to be. What went wrong, Edward?"

Her deafening screams of pain heard all over the four-cornered room. Eyes dampened with tears and with that familiar stare, as if asking for answers with the questions that bothered her mind ever since coldness eloped the burning love they once shared.,

"I trusted you, Edward. I gave you all the chances to prove to me that you're a better man but you fvcking wasted every chances that you get. My pockets are now empty, Edward. This would be the last time you'll see me and I swear, you'll never hear anything from me ever again. I'm so tired, Edward. Sobrang pagod na ako. Tama naman siguro na mahalin ko rin ang sarili ko."

The blurry image of a woman running away from him. Her steps resounded of his' heart breaking into pieces. He wants to hold her back, to beg for her forgiveness but it would be so selfish of him to ask for another chance when all he ever did was to throw them away.

Edward immediately got off his slumber and realized that it was all just a dream - but for him it is more of a nightmare that he could never escape. He heaves a deep sigh out of frustration. His heart pounding in his chest. When suddenly, he feels tears escaping from his eyes.

"It still hurts, it still fvcking hurts."
He roams his' eyes around the room that used to be a paradox of two people who were once so in love with each other. His heart pierced into pieces. This room feels nothing more but a memory, a reminder of a love he lost forever. The bed feels empty, it still doesn't feel right. A perfect description of how he feels inside - emptiness.

He picks the frame from his bed side and caresses with his thumb the photo of the woman he loves dearly, even after all these years. After all that's been done.

"I miss you so much, Maymay. I feel like a lifeless man without you. The room and this bed, they feel so empty without you in it. There's so much space to fill yet there's only you who can complete me. I love you so much, Maymay. Please come back to me. I miss the way I hold you between my arms, I miss the way you kiss me, I miss the way you made me feel. I miss everything about you."

His outburst of grieving emotions was interrupted when his phone starts to ring.

"Yeah, I'll be there in an hour. Just prepare the documents I need for the meeting. Thank you."

Edward places the frame back to the spot where he picked it. He wiped his tears away. If only he could do the same with his aching heart, he would do it in a jiff.

As he is preparing himself for work, he was cut off with what he remembers.

"Oh sh*t. Today is January 25."