a compilation of short stories

3. 玫瑰花 • roses are red, i'm still blue

INSPIRATION:
Yoga Lin(林宥嘉)— Fairy Tale (說謊)
Official MV above
~~

i remember meeting you when we were just kids, acne-faced and teeth laced with braces.

i swooned over you the moment you asked me out on a date to a nearby café with a cheeky smile and a bouquet of wildflowers from your backyard.

we walked in an awkward silence, clammy hands woven together, still trying to figure out how to love someone.

we got to the café, and i fell head over heels once i found that you chose a rose-themed place, because you knew it was my favorite flower.

i still remember the light floral scent of the place, and a hint of freshly roasted coffee beans wafting through the air.

i gazed dreamily at the back of your head as you ordered drinks for the two of us, and even paid for mine.

we sipped them in silence, just enjoying each other's company, and you would tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear or blot at the corner of my mouth where there would often be whipped cream.

although early on, that was the day i decided that i loved you.

everyone said it wouldn't last, that we were too young, that we didn't even know what love was, but we didn't believe them. we knew what we wanted.

and that was each other.

we were soon the couple that the entire school envied, the epitome of the phrase "high school sweethearts", and happier than we had ever been.

then...then you met someone else.

to be honest, it would've hurt a lot less if you had just broken it off then and there and said that you wanted someone else, and that you didn't want me anymore.

but that's not what you did.

you tried so hard to keep us alive, to keep our flaming kindle burning when it had already been rained and stepped on.

and in the process, you were setting me on fire alive from the inside out.

you started to ignore my calls and texts, you barely even cared for my existence anymore, and you only talked about them, even when you were in my presence. you no longer sent your nightly "sweet dreams" to me, and you soon didn't even have the courtesy to say hi in the halls when i passed you.

so i broke it off.

i couldn't take being the backup plan. the one you can run back to. the one that you take for granted, then want back when things don't go your way.

i left you, and you didn't even care; you really left me long ago, without my oblivious self knowing.

and that night, i cried. i cried harder than i had ever cried. i was the stereotypical teen in love, but i was just hurt, hurt that you had chosen someone else over me, hurt that you hadn't even had the decency to tell me in person that you wanted someone else, hurt that i was the one that had to be in pain while you toyed with me.

you never really wanted me, too, did you?

all throughout school, i became the unwanted one. the one that was once envied by so many, the one that anyone would kill to be, was now the laughingstock of all the students.

meanwhile, you and your new toy were flaunting yourselves amongst all your friends, and they took my place.

my place with you.

later on in life, karma had the pleasure of putting me in the same workplace at you.

where you were my goddamn superior and i had to get reports done.