Time felt like it slowed down when he was with her. Whenever he would meet her at the nearby library where she would be studying, unlike him. She was smart, and quick-witted, and beautiful, and all the other good things in life. She was also too good for him but she always reassured him that she truly did like him.

But he always had that little feeling of restlessness, knowing that maybe one day she would run off with another man who was better than he was, could offer her more than he could which was obviously very easy. He wasn’t brainy, he wasn’t strong, he didn’t even own a proper debit card – his parents doubting he could keep it safe without losing it – he didn’t have anything to give her. So he let himself have the benefit of the doubt that seemed to linger even with the constant love she showered upon him.

And when he climbed up the steps to the second floor of the building, he was surprised to find that she was sitting in the same spot she had sat the day before. At the table at the far end of the room, distant from any form of living being other than herself. A stack of books towering beside her that would’ve hid her from view if he didn’t properly look. 

He walked closer, a small, yellow flower he had secretly stolen from the café in his hand. When he approached her, his heart began thrumming against his ribcage, sending uneven vibrations that he felt his legs go numb and his hands feeling clammy.

She was so beautiful. Her thick-rimmed glasses sat comfortably at the tip of her petite and pointed nose, the curve of her full, red lips and her eyes. It was her eyes he had come to love the most, her eyes of sea-green with flecks of brown in the centre – the only feature that gave away the mix in her blood - like the ocean itself was encased in her irises. And it was those two eyes that stared into his plain, pale brown ones with a gaze so loving it sent sparks of electricity through his veins when he had set the flower on her book, disrupting her reading.

“Hello, Jaehwan.” She spoke first, a sweet smile formed on her lip gloss-stained lips.

To love someone like her was a blessing Jaehwan thought to himself.

“Hello, Skylar, I got you a flower.” He spoke, his voice soft in contrast to his usual loud and bubbly tone as he grabbed the chair in front of her and sat down.

They were still new, their relationship barely a few months old and it felt weird for them to break the formalities so soon.

Her cheeks flushed a pale shade of red as she picked up the flower and inhaled the sweet nectar, her smile immediately grew wider. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.” She sniffed it again, closing her encyclopedia of a book and pushing it to the side so she could reach out for his hand, “How was school today? And work?” she asked innocently.

“School? Bearable, I guess.” He replied, barely remembering what lessons were taught today. Skylar let out a soft chuckle, knowing how he hated school unlike her. “School