It's a fact that you can't help who you fall in love with. And for Rosaline Davenport and him, it definitely shouldn't have been each other.
Because, sometimes, love stories have blood on them.
[warning: this is the mother of all slow-burns]
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BOOM! clock just struck 12!! MY NEW YEAR'S GIFT TO Y'ALL ❤ BLESSED 2021 TO EVERY ONE OF YOU 🥰
【 52.
Fifty-two
Waada 】
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[ Waada • promise ]
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IT’S TRADITION FOR the first full week in the month of May to be honoured as teacher appreciation week, with the first Tuesday regarded as their day. That explained the smiles on the elementary school teachers during the interval that day, having received little tokens of gratitude and admiration from their little students.
“What did you give your teacher?” Scarlett asked Zach, tilting her head over her shoulder so that he could hear her better as he pushed the swing she was seated on in the school playground.
“I gave her a small bouquet of white lilies,” he told her, pulling back the ropes before releasing it and letting Scarlett swing forward with a happy squeal. The sound made him crack a smile.
“Why lilies?” Scarlett shouted over the loud chatter of the other kids as she rose into the air, her feet kicked out in front of her.
“I asked my teacher what her favourite flower was!” he called out, raising his voice too so that she could hear him. The swing moved backward and Zach stuck out his palms, giving her back a gentle push when she was within the right distance. And then she went swinging forward once again.
“She would’ve known what it was for then, you silly boy!” Scarlett laughed, letting out another squeal of delight as she rose a little higher into the air this time. Zach was the perfect partner to have when she wanted to play on the swings—whether it was on the school playground or in the local park. He didn’t fuss too much like the grownups or other scaredy-cat students about how fast or high she liked to let the swing take her. He didn’t stop her from enjoying herself, but he always stuck close right behind her to make sure nothing happened.
With everyone else, there were just too many rules. Don’t do this, don’t do that. This is dangerous, that is unsafe. Blah, blah, blah. Being with the others felt like being in school, and being around Zach felt like recess period. Scarlett felt free.
“That’s okay,” he replied, “it wasn’t supposed to be a surprise anyway! All the teachers knew they’d be getting gifts.”
“You suck at surprises,” Scarlett yelled at the top of her lungs, closing her eyes just as she swung forward and soared into the air above the school’s ground.
