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Twenty nine. That is how many times you tried to introduce yourself to Rei, one of the members of your school’s swim team. The first time you saw him was when you were both on the track team. He always had a better running time than you did, which you found annoying at first, but one day when you decided to observe him you noticed how beautiful his running technique was and then you realized how beautiful he was. It was love, you could feel it, every time you saw him. The day he decided to switch over to the swim team, you were absolutely devastated. You thought that now you would surely never be able to talk to him; that all was lost and you should have talked to him before he left the team, before it was too late. But, fate seemed to smile down on you today.
“Are you alright?” You look up from where you are crouching on the ground, and gaze into his sparkling violet eyes framed by his super sexy red glasses.
“Yes… I’m fine.” You answer.
“I’m so sorry for bumping into you,” he says as he picks up your books from the ground where they had fallen.
“It’s alright. It was my fault I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” You say, blushing deeply.
“No, really, it was my fault,” he replies, while handing your books back to you. “How can I make it up to you?”
“Uhh uh uh uhu uh uhuhuhuh uhuh uh uhuh uh uhuh uhh.”
“Umm anyway… how about you just tell me your name?”
Your mind was already on the path to self destructing, but when he asked for your name, it completely imploded. An introduction. The one thing that you have been wanting to do since you fell in love with him. You thought you had lost your chance, but now destiny had brought the two of you together. Now all you had to do was open your mouth and say your name. You could do this. “My name? It’s [your name].”
Rei smiles dazzlingly, and introduces himself to you as well, though you already knew his name and who he was. “I like how you run!!” You blurt out before thinking. When you realize what you said, your face heats up with embarrassment. Rei looks at you with surprise, but then his expression changes to one of recognition. “Oh! So that’s why you seemed so familiar! We were on the track team together, right?” Your heart flutters when you realize that he had noticed you! “Yes! You remember me?!” “Of course! You were one of the fastest members on the team!”
You wonder if maybe he was just trying to flatter you because you were never one of the best members on the team. You had good times but were pretty average at best. Not knowing how to respond you just smile awkwardly and mutter, “Uh, really?”
“Yes! Your motivation to improve was so inspiring. It helped me to motivate myself as well when I was feeling down about not improving much.” Before you could respond anything, he said, “Do you want to go get something to eat today, after school? My treat, to make up for bumping into you.” Hair flip, wink, wink. ( ͝סּ ͜ʖ͡סּ)
“Oh…k!” You say and run away before you can say anything else to embarrass yourself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After school, “yo yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyyoyoyoyoyyoy!” Rei called after you. “You are my bae I love you, princess!” You stare at him in shock as he catches up to you.
“I’m your bae?????” You say. He looks at you with a weird expression. “What are you talking about?”
Oh, you think, I must be daydreaming again. “Ummm, nothing!” He continues to stare at you with a strange look but continues on. “So….where do you want to eat?” He asked.
You thought about it. You wanted to go somewhere romantic, somewhere memorable. “How about a picnic?!”
He beamed with joy and nodded enthusiastically. “Perfect! I know just the right place.”
On the way to the park, the two of you bought the supplies and food for the picnic at the supermarket. The cashier, seeing the two of you so comfortable with each other, asked if you guys were a couple, which caused you both to blush.
You and Rei began walking to the park, making awkward small talk to pass the time. You were never much of a talker so the awkward pauses and weak sentences were starting to strangle you. You cleared your throat for the umpteenth time and finally made it to the park. You settled on a small spot near a tree but Rei shook his head.
“Not here,” he said. You crinkled your eyebrows in bafflement. This was a perfect spot for the picnic….why would he-
Before you could finish your thought, he took your hand and led you away, deep into the park that was near the wilderness.
Your legs were starting to hurt from walking so much and you felt relieved when he finally stopped. “We’re here.”
You glanced at the area before you and it was indeed, magical. Under the beautiful blue sky lay a scenery of fresh grass, a small clear pond, and a tree large enough to shield you both from the harsh rays of sun. You were absolutely speechless, and you followed Rei to the spot next to the tree. Small strands of light escaped the leaves of the tree and a light breeze blew your way, providing a clear sense of peace and solidarity. And romance, you thought as you peaked a glance at Rei. It was perfect, so perfect.
You both spread out the picnic blanket and you gasp softly when Rei’s hand brushes against yours as you are arranging the blanket. You glance up at him shyly and see him staring at you with intense eyes…filled with love?
He leans toward you and you freeze not even daring to hope that he could be about to kiss you! When his lips are only a millimeter away from yours, you think you hear him softly whisper, “I’m sorry,” but in the next second his lips touch yours and you forget everything. Nothing other than this moment is important. It feels like this is what you had been waiting for ever since you met…him. Wait...what was his name again? Why did you want to meet him so badly before?
You realize that you really are forgetting; you already don’t even remember your own name. What is happening? This is definitely too strange. You try to pull away from him, but he holds your chin in place; his fingers digging into your skin painfully. You start struggling violently, but nothing you do can stop him. You feel wetness on your cheeks, so you open your eyes and see that tears are streaming down his face and onto yours.
Then the pain started. It was agonizing, the worst pain you had ever felt in your life,almost like a ripping sensation, starting in your toes and traveling up your body to where your lips connected to his. Just when you thought that there was no way that the pain could get any worse, it doubled, and then tripled getting worse and worse, until finally you could feel yourself slipping away and all you could think was, finally. It was finally coming to an end, the pain that felt like it had lasted for hours. You open your eyes once more to get one last look at him. Your eyes meet his for the last time and you hear a voice, you assume is his, in your mind “I’m sorry.”
Somehow you can’t bring yourself to blame him or hate him. “It’s okay.” You think at him and feel him jump slightly. The pain finally ends as his lips leave yours and your vision fades to black. The last thing you hear is him sobbing and asking for forgiveness over and over again.
Twenty Nine. Twenty Nine times fate tried to save you from him, but in the end this was the price you payed for your "love."
The end.