I glanced at the calendar. It was the fourteenth of February. Two weeks ago, I had excitedly marked a red heart next to the date. But now, it was the day, and I did not feel excited anymore. Six days ago, I had just heard from my friends that my secret crush was crushing on another girl. Since that day, my mind had become strangely blank and I hardly ever noticed what I was doing.
I heard the rattle of the gate. It was the postman. I got up halfway from my chair, but then sat back down. Let somebody else get the post, I thought. I was sure that there would not be any letters for me.
"Beep, beep, beep!" The postman was honking. I got up most unwillingly from and went to the door, kicking a pouffe out of the way as I went to the door.
The postman handed three letters to me. I glanced at them. One was for my father, and the other two were for my sister. My heart sank. What had I expected? I turned on my heel moodily and started to go back into the house when a movement caught my eye. I looked to the left, and saw it, a bunch of flowers lying just outside the front door.
I blinked. Where had the flowers come from? I stooped down and picked them up. They were not just any flowers, they were roses. In fact, they were red roses. Red roses meant love. And it was Valentine's Day. And, judging from the movement I saw just now, the roses had just been thrown there seconds ago.
I dashed to the gate, and was just in time to see a boy disappearing round a corner. Even without seeing his face, I know who he was. It was my secret crush, Jeffery Tan. For a moment, I just stood there, trying to get my brain to absorb this startling fact. Jeffery just threw a bunch of roses at my front door? Had the rumours been untrue after all? Was it possible that he was in love with...with me?
I rushed after him. Just when I had nearly caught up with him, he broke into a sudden run. I raced after him, screaming, "Stop! Stop!". The passersby stared at us and a burly man stuck out his foot. Jeffery tripped over the man's foot and fell, sprawling on all fours, on the ground.
I hurried towards Jeffery and panted, "Are you all right?". He seemed surprised to see me. He nodded and glanced over his shoulder. Without a word, he walked straight on, motioning to me to follow. When we finally reached a busy street, he said to me, "Just now there was somebody following me."
I looked at him. He had run away just because he heard somebody following him? Not because he wanted to avoid me?
"And by the way," he added. "Why are you here?"
"I...I think the somebody who was following you might have been...been...me." I was stammering shamefully, watching as Jeffery's face grew steadily angrier.
"That was you?" He didn't raise his voice, but there was a certain amount of strain behind his voice that meant he was trying hard to restrain his anger.
"Yes--well," I added defensively. "It's your fault in the first place, who threw a bunch of roses over my gate just now?"
"What have your stupid roses got to do with me?" He was really losing his temper now. "Everyone knows that the girl of my dreams is Polly! I wouldn't look at you twice."
I felt humiliated and frustrated. "So...so it really wasn't you?"
"Were you deaf just now?" he yelled at me. "And now," he glanced at his watch, on which the surface was badly scratched due to the fall he had just now. "I'm ten minutes late for my first date with Polly!"
He pushed me roughly out of the way and, within minutes, was out of sight. I stood rooted to the spot, unable to move. Even my brain seemed to have jammed.
A loud honk brought me back to my senses -- I was standing too far out in the road. I walked back home, trying to comfort myself with the thought that even though my wildest dreams had been shattered, there was still a boy in this world who loved me enough to send me, anonymously, a bunch of flowers.
It seemed like no time at all when I reached home and was unlatching my front gate. I was walking to the front door of my house when my sister suddenly appeared out of the back garden. She was holding a bunch of hibiscuses.
"What are these for?" I asked, staring at the flowers.
"Oh, I thought that, since the flowers are in full bloom, I might as well pick some to decorate our house," said my sister. "Then our house wouldn't look so plain." She paused and added, "I just need one more type of flower, I've already got hibiscuses and the roses," she indicated the roses lying outside the front door, and continued, "that I picked just now."
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