The sky above the college grounds was awash with the warm cold waves of night breeze.
From a distance, as Anaya's eyes caught something or maybe someone. A familiar silhouette. Her steps slowed. Her heart skipped once, then beat faster. She wasn't trying to overhear anything. she just want to see what has been happened there. but it turns out to be blast in her heart. But what she stumbled upon instead left her breathless.
As Anaya watching over towards the middle of the crowd. she saw the Vicky. There he stood at the middle of he crowd.., while holding a bouquet of red roses in his hand.
And in front of him… Rose.
Anaya's breath caught in her throat.
Vicky held something in the other hand. looks like a wooden box. while with the other hand a small bouquet of red roses. Roses that shone in the golden light, delicate and hopeful.
He looked at Rose the way Anaya wished someone would look at her like she was the center of his universe.
"Rose," Vicky began, his voice low but steady, "I've been thinking about this for a while. I didn't know how to say it without messing things up between us… but I can't keep it to myself anymore."
Anaya's feet refused to move. She felt rooted to the ground, like her body knew what was coming before her mind could accept it.
"I like you," Vicky said, his eyes never leaving Rose's face. "I like you more than I thought I would. And I know you probably didn't expect this, but… I had to tell you."
There was a long silence. Too long.
Vicky continued while he is shivering not only his body even his words, "I... I just want you to know that I've fell in love with you when i first. Maybe that we even don't know each other at all. Its been really really a long time. nd i just thought that if I don't say it now, maybe i don't know even if i have a chance in your future at all. So, finally here I'm.. Rose, will you be my girlfriend. Later, the place went into silence like waiting for someone to speak.
Anaya held her breath in shock.
But, suddenly the crowd of students who are around them shouting like, "say yes..., say yess..., say yes..."
Then, Anaya moved her eyes towards Rose with a tear streaked face.
Then she saw Rose slowly smile. A small, hesitant smile, but the smile is nonetheless.
Rose nodded her head with a shy smile on her face.
Anaya's world collapsed in that instant.
It wasn't just what she saw. it was what it is meant to be. What it undid inside her. The quiet hope she had never spoken aloud. The soft feelings that had grown day by day, without her realizing how deeply they had settled in.
Her chest felt tight. Like her body is drowning in the Ocean.
"No… This can't be real. Not Vicky. Not Rose. Not like this." Anaya's inner self went wild with this incident."
She wanted to turn away. Wanted to run, to hide, to erase what she had just seen.
But her body wouldn't listen.
Anaya stood there, her legs felt numb, eyes fixed on the two figures in front of her. Those figures who now seemed like strangers.
It was only after a few moments long, bitter, disorienting. Then, finally that her legs come 5o her senses and then began to move. Slowly. Quietly. Almost like she feared someone might hear her heartbreak.
She stepped back, her breath shaky.
Then she turned.
And walked.
At first, her pace was slow measured, like she was still unsure if she was really leaving or if she'd imagined it all. But soon, the pain inside her began to rise, like a storm surging through her veins. Her steps quickened.
And then she was running.
Running through the walk pathways. Past the playground. Past the laughter and noise. Past everything that had once made her feel safe and now turns a voilent noise around her.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, blurring her vision.
She kept wiping them away, even as more fell. She didn't want to cry.. but, she can't escape from it, she can't stop those tears even if she wanted to. so, she tried her best and ran far away from it. Where there is no sound of them.
By the time she reached the way of her hostel. Then, she quickly run towards the terrace. As she reached at the end point of the terrace. her chest was heaving. Her heart ached as though it had been split open.
She leaned against the wall, her eyes on the sky, trying to breathe, trying to stop the flood of emotions that had broken through.
And then she broke deeper..
Cried harder...
Anaya sank to the ground, burying her face in her hands. The tears came harder and harder now. Her raw, shaking sobs that echoed in the silent night.
She wasn't just crying.
She was showing every emotion she had with Vicky. every thought she had been too afraid to name.
She was blaming herself, or her fate, maybe even Vicky. For giving her something to hold onto… and then tearing it away.
"I was foolish," Anaya whispered to no one. "I was foolish to feel like this."
Anaya shouted at herself while crying, "you know that you don't like gents at all. I don't know why would you fell in love with him. Isn't it good, only you, In your own world. Don't you know that you are no match to any of them.You never enter into their imaginated world. I've told you already don't you know that it's hurt you again when you entered into their world."
Anaya continued, "i know that you wanted to loved by someone and pampered by someone, but its not worth it to hurt yourself."
Then, as time flies Anaya finally went normal. but, the tears from her eyes hadn't stopped.
Then, she layed on the terrace floor.
Anaya's mind is filled with those emotions of unspoken love, of dreams that were never real, pressed down on her like a weight she couldn't lift.
And in that moment, under the stars, she let herself fall apart and alone.
Then finally under the sky full of stars without trace of any noise, Anaya slowly slept over, while wrapping her thoughts around her..