Mother Nature has pardoned the human race, and blessed the planet with a beautiful spring day. The library seemed empty, but lively nonetheless. Its symphony of fresh cream and pastel colours added to the bright feeling. She wandered through the shelves, expecting each one thoroughly yet not particularly searching for a specific book. It was the simple serenity and tranquility libraries radiated that always brought her back, in between the countless amount of lecture. Unintentionally, even when she wasn’t in need of new books – she had plenty at home that had yet to be read – her eyes deviated to one particular spot on the Novel-shelf. She felt somewhat distressed, to find a gap where a sweet novel used to be. One she had read countless times before, each time swooning over the perfection of the romance that was described in the story.

It wasn’t the best written book, nor the most famous. However, the love story she had memorized to the smallest detail, was a very special one. It was hers, or so she believed.

The book tells the journey of a young, ambitious woman falling deeply and passionately in love with a young man whose future was as unclear as the sky on a rainy day. The woman knew what she wanted, she had her life planned out; the boy lived day by day, enjoying the surprises life had arranged for him. She eventually left her hometown and travelled abroad to pursue her dream. He stayed behind with the promise, the first solid promise he’d ever made, to wait for her until she’d return. Every day for three years, he sat on the same bench where he first heard her voice speak to him, hoping she’d show up. The woman eventually did, and they never left each other’s side ever again.

The girl’s face fell, thinking of the romantic plot. Even though up until now, she led a parallel life with the woman in the book, she doubted her story would end in the same way. Her lover too, had promised her he’d wait, for years if necessary, but fairytales like the ones in that novel were merely a brighter and more flattering version of reality. Even though both of the stories were similar, they could never be brought into comparison. Because she wasn’t a fictional character in a book, she was a human being of flesh and blood, one that had returned to her home town for a week now, and had not yet received a single sign of the boy she left behind two years ago.

Feeling rather deflated, she aimlessly roamed around the village, in neighborhoods and areas she hadn’t set foot in for a long time. Suddenly, she turned into a street she remembered so vividly, as if her heart had unconsciously led her here. That fact didn’t quite surprise her. No matter for how long she’d leave, she’d probably always find her way back to this place, this avenue.

It was where she fell in love with him.

Three years ago

“Are you really not going to smile?” Jeesu asked her, a pout visible on his young, unflawed face. They have known each other for roughly two days, and it were the two worst days of her life. The day before yesterday, she received the unfortunate news that she wasn’t accepted into two of the three universities she’d applied to, and now she’s dreading to have word from the third university. Jeesu, who she met for the first time at her best friend’s house on Friday evening – he’s apparently a good friend of her best friend’s boyfriend – refused to take no for an answer after asking her to accompany him and the happy couple to the town centre, despite her bitter mood. And now here she is, stuck with an overly bright kid, whilst her best friend and Jeesu’s best friend are nowhere in sight.

“Come on”, he nudges her shoulder lightly, “studying’s not everything, you know? You need to live a little!”

“Maybe it’s nothing to you, but it’s important to me, so shut up”, she snaps back at him harshly. Like a pup who has just been hit with a broom he stares at her, before his face transforms back to its usual cheeky eye smile, as if his lips are designed to grin widely and all other expressions are unnatural.

He buries his hands into the pockets of his bleached skinny jeans and continues walking. “I like your ambition, it’s very attractive.”

Seemingly unfazed by his words, she remains silent and keeps her eyes on the people in the street, hoping to see the face of her best friend. However, on the inside her heart starts thumping a bit faster, as no one has ever found that particular quality to be attractive. But she has too much pride to make it obvious to him.

“But you know what’s even more attractive?” he suddenly stops, which causes her to halt as well. She blinks at him twice or so, awaiting his answer with mild curiosity. He pauses a few seconds before speaking. “A smile, I’m sure yours is beautiful.”

She cringes at his cheesy words, feeling slightly flattered but that was something she’d never admit. “I’m not in the mood to smile, sorry.”

Jeesu squints his eyes to tiny slits and when he’s about to form a witty reply, two children sprint in between him and her, shouting and laughing in the process. One of the kids bumps into Jeesu, causing him to fall back into an elderly man who loses the grip on his bouquet of fresh flowers. The result of it all is a shocked Jeesu, sitting on the pavement covered in at least twenty lilies of various colours and sizes. The sight of the poor flower boy – quite literally speaking – is rather amusing to her as she tries to suppress a smile, and fails. She giggles silently but audible enough or Jeesu to hear as he jerks his head up at her and secretly admires her angelic face and breath-taking smile he’s seeing for the very first time. His heart flutters in delight, falling deeper in love with her with every second that passes.

Three years later

She never told him that was when she started to fall for him too, despite the countless times he told her how she kept knocking him off of his feet that day, even literally. Not a single day passed when something happened she wishes she could tell him, but she never found the courage to pick up the phone. If only she had, their romance may have had a chance of surviving. She frowned, looking around, searching for the exact place where the life-changing incident happened, and when she found it, in front of the pharmacy, two metres past the mail box, she saw a scene she thought she’d never witness in her life.

In a simple black washed skinny jeans, white shirt and army jacket, Jeesu stood by the mail box, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His hair was shorter, shaven on the side and a quiff complemented his small face very well. In spite of losing the baby fat in his cheeks, his face hadn’t changed much. He was still equally handsome and adorable at the same time. She observed him for a while, in complete shock and unsure of what to do. That’s when she noticed he held a colourful bouquet of lilies in his hands, identical to the ones that rained on his head on that faithful day. This was the slightly creepy yet beautiful side of fate.

One spark of confidence was enough for her to start moving her feet and with a sudden lightness in her step, she strutted towards him. She hadn’t yet figured out what to say, how to greet him, or what to do if she had miscomprehended the situation and he was not at all waiting for her but someone else. But that didn’t matter, she was just beyond happy to see him.

Jeesu noticed her right before they stood face to face. He swallowed, she had even become more beautiful over the years that passed. He knew she had returned, his best friend had seen her three days ago whilst grocery shopping. Directly after hearing the news, he ran to florist shop and bought 30 colourful lilies, before going to ‘their’ spot here in the street and waiting for her until the sun started to set. The next day, he repeated the action, and the day after too. Today was the third day, his third bunch of flowers, and third time really was the charm.

Both silently admired each other, processing their thoughts and the fateful moment. No greetings were needed, they could read the delight of their encounter in each other’s sparkling orbs. Jeesu interrupted the silence first by coughing rather awkwardly, and reaching the flowers out to her. “These are for you.”

She took the bouquet from him and let the delicious fragrance fill her nostrils. A smile crept onto her lips, as she silently thanked him with the grateful and happy look in her eyes. However, she was the first to ask one of the one million questions she had for him. “Jeesu… were you waiting here for me?”

He shrugged, as if it was the most normal thing, and fished a worn out book from his pocket with a grin on his face. “I had some lecture to keep me occupied.”

It took her a while to realise it was the novel she had been looking for in the library that day, the novel that told the sweet love story that was so similar to theirs.

“My favourite book. I’ve been looking for it”, she simply said as she took it from him and tenderly brushed her fingers along the fragile binding.

“I never knew why you liked that book so much, until I started reading it the day after you left. I’ve read it over a hundred times ever since, wishing that our story would be exactly like theirs. That’s why I’m here, I wanted to give our story the happy ending it deserves”, he explained carefully, taking a step closer to her. Their eyes met for a few seconds, exchanging loving gazes, before she launched forward and buried her head in his chest like she had wanted to do ever since she arrived.

“I missed you, Jeesu.”

“Me too. I missed you every second you weren’t here.”

“Thank you for waiting, Jeesu. I’m sorry for hurting you.”

He withdrew from the hug, cupping his face into his large hands. “I don’t want to hear any of that. I promised you, right? I may not be that responsible, but I always keep my promises. God, there’s so much I need to tell you. Do you remember what happened here, three years ago?”

She nodded briefly and giggled, recalling the no longer dreadful but now pleasant memory. “You were baptized into a flower boy that day.” His melodious chuckle filled the air, a sound she had missed so dearly that she almost had to choke back a sob.

“True, but what else?”

“Hm… we fell in love here, I think.”

“It was more than that. This was the spot where you smiled at me for the first time. When you were away, I always avoided this street, it was too painful. But now that we’re here, and I can see your smile again, it’s the happiest place in the world. And I want you to know that if we’re ever apart again, I will wait for you right here, and-“

He was unable to finish his sentence as she tiptoed and crashed her lips onto his, entangling themselves in a passionate kiss that said more than the thickest books. It was a kiss in which he begged her not to leave him, and in which she assured him she wouldn’t. It was the kiss of separated and reunited lovers, pure and satisfying as it was.

Above all, it was a kiss in which she realised this was not the ending she longed for. It was the disclosure of merely one chapter, opening the opportunity to add many more glorious chapters to their very own novel.

Woooo, that was long and cheesy, hehe

thank you for reading, comments are much appreciated ~