Beautiful Memories

~ Oneshot ~

Cheers coming from the audience, loud applause congratulating him; some even give him standing ovations as he stands there at the end of the stage,in shock and disbelief.

"May the winner please step forward to receive the trophy?" The female emcee's voice echoes throughout the hall and snaps him from his thoughts. He makes his way to the centre of the stage where the emcee and the host are. He bows to them before extending his hands out to the trophy held by the host and grins at the camera. He thanks the both of them as he receives the bouquet of flowers given by the emcee before walking to the microphone stand.

He takes a sharp,deep breath before exhaling slowly. He gazes to the audience and smiles as he sees a boy holding a sign with his name, Jake written on it and a big, red heart beside it.

"First of all,I would like to thank the hosts for giving me the opportunity to compete in this contest. Just to be able to stand here is an honour to me. To the audience and fans who have been supporting me all this while - thank you very much. I don't think I could make this far without all of you. And to my parent -" He chokes on his words as he tries to blink away the tears forming in his eyes. "My parents, friends, teachers and my best friend. Thank you for always be there for me."

Looking up at the audience who is chanting at him not to cry,he forces himself to smile before muttering another thank you and bows to show his gratittude to the audience. Then, he turns to leave for the back stage, all the while trying to not spill his tears as he walks with the spotlight on him.

~

He walks down the leaves-covered path and breathes in the faint smell of autumn. The trees are covered in orangish-yellow leaves and every time the wind blows, some of them will drop and scatter the ground,benches and path. It is a beautiful view. One that he wishes he could share with her but he knows he cannot. He sighs.

It has been five years but the memories are still fresh in his mind; like they had only happened yesterday. He turns to his left, where a big tree stands on a little hill. He could picture Carla sitting under the tree - back leaning against the thick trunk of the tree as her eyes are focused on the writings in the book she is holding. Her long,straight hair flow past her shoulders and the occasional wind would make a few  strands of hair to cover her eyes. Most of the times, she would tuck them behind her ears but there are times when she just ignore them as she is too immersed with the book.

The scrunching noise of dried leaves breaking apart under soles of feet makes him diverts his gaze to a little boy running towards him. He takes a step to his right and barely misses the boy by inches.

"Justin !" A woman in her 30s calls out as she runs towards the boy. As she passes him, he could smell the vanilla scent of her perfume and is  immediately reminded of his mother, Roselynn. It is a scent that had been her favourite and one that he had bought for her birthday. She had liked it, along with the song he wrote and composed himself: 'The Little Red Rose'.

A wave of sadness washes over him and he tries to shake off the feeling as he resumes walking. The view of the calm river greets him as he approaches the bench under a small tree. Nostalgia tugs at his heart as he takes in the familliar view.

Flashback

( "Hello !" He almost jumped in shock as the beautiful girl in front of him smiled sheepishly. " I'm sorry if I startled you. I just wanted to tell you that your guitar skills are really awesome. Thank you for making my day by strumming that guitar of yours so beautifully. The melody had cleared my mind from the problems I had, especially the last song. May I know what ot is called?"

"Umm," He hesitated for a while before replying. "It's called ' The Little Red Rose'."

" Really?" The sunset casted an orange glow on her face, skin and hair which made her beauty atood out more but he could not look away from her eyes which were sparkling in amusement. " What a beautiful name for a wonderful melody. By the way, my name is Carla. Nice to meet you."