[CONTENTID1]- KAYLEEN -[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

2011,

“Oppa, let's get married when we're eighteen.” 

Fourteen year old Kayleen swallowed a lumpy sensation in as she blurted out those words to a slightly taller guy, who stood beside her, staring at the open space in front with both hands spread at the side. Kayleen's voice was ever gentle, sweet and had enough force to stir one's heart, but perhaps that guy was an exception—Jaison.

'Here we go again...' Jaison spat at the back of his mind.

The expression on his face was the same as before, dull and only to get darkened by the second. This wasn’t the first time her blunt confessions had occured to him, but every time, it carried the similar consistencies – her statement resounded in his brain, but not inside his heart.

She meekly lowered her head and continued, “If two persons love each other…”

'If two persons love each other…' Jaison reiterated in his mind and imitated Kayleen's while he kept his face straight as if it didn’t affect him at all.

“…they should live happily ever after…” Kayleen finished up her words and so as Jaison, who all the while knew about what she had to say to him. She nervously entwined the tip of her fingers as she stole glances at him. “Oppa?” 

He didn’t flinch; he didn't know what to do because after all, everything he said wouldn't affect her. Just as how Kayleen wanted it to be, he always followed her unconditionally, though at times, he did wonder if she was really clueless or just pretend to be one, or she enjoy making fun of him, but regardless, it wouldn't change a thing. He was like an ornament in her eyes, and in his eyes, she was just a self-centered girl. Anyhow, who would like girl confessing to a guy? He felt it was reckless; he wasn’t one of those guys that preferred a blunt girl – like Kayleen – his neighbour, playmate, and alleged girlfriend, just because she claimed it so. 

‘I wish one day you will disappear…Kayleen Alice.’ 

He lost the track of  how many times those words had reverberated inside his mind, fighting to get out from the tip of his mouth but it never came out, all because of one solid reason – he was indebted to her, and so it all narrowed down to one similar outcome – it was a one-sided love, or rather, it wasn't love from the beginning.

2012,

“Ho-How was op-oppa now?” she asked quaveringly. Madam Ceci reached for Kayleen’s hands and firmly squeezed at it.

“Kay-ah, Jai-Jaison was inside the ope-operation ro-room. The doctor sa-said, he had sustained…a severe blood loss…” She tried her best to control the tremble in her voice but to no avail. The lady rose up from the seat and pulled Kayleen in, then embraced her tightly. As a mother, she was equally broken-hearted to see the love of  her daughter's life had involved in a massive accident and was undergoing life-threatening operation to save his life.

Kayleen felt it coming – her tears, and so she clenched her fists and held in her breath for a while in attempt to calm her nerves down. Everything happened in a flash; could it be that Jaison really meant what he had said a few hours ago?

Few hours ago, Jaison appeared sullenly in front of her room, wearing his usual tacky blue shirt paired with skinny jean. His expression turned sulky the moment she opened the door. He stared at his feet, not meeting his gaze with her. There was a visible dark circle surrounding the corner of his eyes, denoting that he had stayed up late at night or not sleeping even. She knew everything about him. Why wouldn't she? Seven years was more than enough to know a person inside and out. For a split second, Kayleen was wondering if it would take another seven years to forget the same person. They had known each other for such a long time that it only make the hurt worse.

“If I died, things would get better for me, wouldn’t they?” The words he spoke to her lingered in one corner. If only she could swallow all the agonies like sipping water, then perhaps she would have hugged him and said, "I'm here, oppa. I'll protect you," just the way she comforted him like every other day. His mere words were so vivid that it felt like her heart was splintered in million of pieces upon every painstaking bre