Afire Love - Bonus

Spring 2009

It was Monday and as usual, before lunchtime, it was chemistry slot. Mia lifted her head from the desk and stared blankly at Mr. Grey who was so excited explaining about the theory of thermodynamics in front of the class. She sighed as she saw the whiteboard, fully scribbled with mind maps and formulas. Truthfully, she has no idea about what Mr. Grey was talking about. Well, she kinda like chemistry but somehow, this topic didn’t quite caught her attention.

Mia dropped her head back onto her desk and stared outside of the window. Mr. Grey’s voice slowly disappeared as her eyelids began to shut. She was halfway towards dreamland when suddenly she felt something being thrown straight to her head. Half dazed, she straighten herself up and touched the back of her head. Mia found a ball of paper on her desk and concluded that it might be the thing that hit her just now. She looked around a few times and slowly uncrumpled the paper. What was written on the paper literally made her smile and from the handwriting, she already knew who it is from.

‘You seemed kinda bored. Well, same here.

Wanna do something crazy?’

She didn’t like the sound of that but it won’t give any harm to them, right? Again, she smiled and faced to her right. She saw Mark, who was sitting two desks away, was looking at her while lifting one of his eyebrows. Mia took a quick peek at Mr. Grey and looked back at Mark after that. She held the paper to Mark and nodded her head few times.

Both of them grinned widely. 

-----

“You’re quite a daredevil, you know.”

“Why?”

“Well, one, you skipped Mr. Grey’s class which no one has ever dared to do that, not even Jackson and two, you’re one of the top students in school. I didn’t know that someone who is literally being adored by the entire school for his outstanding performances in academics and so forth can also do things like breaking the rules. I’m impressed, Mr. Perfect.”

Mark turned his head to the right and looked at Mia, who was lying beside him. There they were-- on the school roof top, both lying on the ground while facing the bright blue sky right above them, watching the clouds slowly changing their shapes and enjoying the refreshing spring breeze that blew past them. He smiled and turned his gaze back towards the fluffy white clouds.

“Rules are meant to be broken. Life would be more interesting if we cross the line, sometimes. I’m trying to make some memories here. At least, in the future when I’m old, I can brag to my grandkids that I can still be a top student despite of skipping class. Besides, Mr. Grey loves me. He won’t punish me for breaking this one tiny rule.”

Mia stood up and stared at him. “Aren’t you being too cocky, Mark Tuan? He won’t punish you but he will definitely punish me. Seriously, why do I even agree to come up here with you? I shouldn’t get into troubles. Mom would certainly kill me if she found out about this.”

“Hey, hey…” Mark too, stood up and faced Mia who was already on the edge of breaking down. He knew that this wasn’t a good idea, skipping class and dragging Mia into this but strangely somehow, he felt so right. He let out a small sighed and smiled. “No, your mom’s not gonna kill you. I’ll take responsibility for all of this, so don’t worry. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Mia looked straight into his eyes and she saw sincerity in it. That calmed her down, a bit. Both of them laid their backs onto the ground again and threw their gaze towards the sky. They fell into a deep silence but it wasn’t deafening as they can hear each other’s breathing that slowly become music to their ears and they enjoyed it.

Weird.

“Mia, actually… I have something to tell you…” Mark broke the silence for quite some time and it startled her a bit. Mia shot a glance to Mark.

“Well, you really got a lot of things to talk today, Mark. Slowly coming out from your cocoon, huh?” She smirked and it made Mark laughed.

“The only people in this world that are willing to wait for me to open up my mouth and listen to me are Jackson and you. So, just bear with me, okay?”

“Aw Markie, I’m just kidding. Don’t take heart, okay? So, come on spill it out. I’m all ears.”

Mark took a deep breath and closed his eyes shut. He tried to calm himself down and chase away the nervousness that began to strike him. He needs to do this. He can no longer cope with all the sleepless nights and how restless his heart was every time this thought came across his mind. He needs to tell Mia and he needs to know her response. He promised to himself, he’ll be okay with whatever answer he’ll receive from her. He just need to spill out the truth. He’ll be okay.

Mark opened his eyes and stared deeply into hers. “Mia…” He paused for a while and bit his lower lips. Mia lifted her eyebrows, waiting for him to finish up his words.

“I like you.” There, he said it.

Mia froze in time, the moment those three words entered both of her ears. Her eyes were fixed to Mark and her whole body stiffened but her heart, it began to thump hard. It felt like it nearly burst out from her ribcage. She certainly wasn’t expecting that to come out from his mouth, from her best friend’s mouth, from Mark Tuan—the most quiet yet perfect guy in school. She wasn’t expecting that, really. But somehow, those three words made her feel warm inside out.

Mark watched as her face expression changed and he felt regret instantly. He tried to look anywhere but not at her. God, he felt like jumping down from the rooftop this instant and bury himself under the ground. He sensed his face turning into every shades of red that ever existed in this world. Guess, this was a bad idea. He shouldn’t confess to her. He shouldn’t spill out the truth. He should have just let in locked inside his heart and keep it to himself until he die.

“I like you too.”

Mark quickly lifted his head and looked at Mia with confusion. Was it really her saying that or is it just his imagination trying to play a trick on him? He blinked his eyes a few times with his heart racing faster than ever. Deep down inside, he prayed that he wasn’t delusional and this was really a reality.

“Sorry?”

Mia chuckled and pulled Mark’s cheeks with her fingers. “I said… I like you too. Are you clear, Mark Tuan?”

She saw a tiny smile began to creep on his face and that, instantly made her smile, too.

“You’re not joking, right? You’re saying that you like me as in you really like or is it just ‘I like you as my best friend’ like?”

“Yah, I’m the one who should ask you that. You’re not pulling a prank on me, are you? This is not some kind of an April fool prank, right? You didn’t plan anything stupid with Jackson just to mess up with me, right? Right?” She pointed out her finger straight to Mark’s cute little nose and he was taken aback a bit. He swallowed his saliva hard and looked at Mia.

“No, this is certainly not a joke I prepared with Jackson and no, this is seriously not an April fool prank. This is definitely, truly my heart talking. What I’ve told you just now is hundred percent sincere and I really meant it.” Whoa too cheesy man, too cheesy. This is so not you, Mark Tuan.

Mia blinked her eyes and stared at Mark for quite some time. She was kinda flustered to hear that but at the same time, she felt like rolling on the floor this instant and laugh her heart out. No doubt, this whole situation was hilarious to her. This was the first time she saw Mark Tuan spurting out words that for her are beyond cheesy. He might have talked to her more than he ever talked to anyone else but seriously, this is the first time those kind of words came out from his mouth.

“Your words are way too cheesy it gives me goosebumps, you know?” Mia teased. Mark scratched the back of his head and sparked an awkward smile.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry…”

Mia smiled and took him by the hand. “Hey, don’t be. I’m just teasing you. Well, anyway, thank you.”

“For what?”

“…for liking me. To tell you the truth Mark, I’ve been crushing on you since the day you helped me with my books at the hallways.”

First day of first year in middle school…

“Gosh really, since that? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No joke.”

“And you’ve kept to yourself all this years? Why?” He stared deeply into her hazel eyes and saw beauty as well as the sense of insecurity.

Mia bit her lower lips. Their grips tighten. “It’s because, I don’t want to ruin our friendship. This friendship is something that I really treasure with all my heart and I don’t want my stupid feelings to get in the way.”

“Hey, if your feeling is something stupid then same goes to mine.”

“Okay, we’re both stupid.”

Both of them laughed and looked at each other. Some indescribable feelings started to seep into their hearts and instantaneously bloomed inside them, the way the flowers grew when the ray of sunlight touched the ground and the spring breathe out its magic and kissed winter goodbye.

“We should really go back into class. I bet Mr. Grey’s furiously waiting for us to come back from the toilet.” Mia took a peek at Mark. He just smiled while throwing his gaze towards the open sky. Their hands were still interlocked with each other.

“Or we could just proceed to the cafeteria. It’s already lunchtime by the way.” Mark grinned and Mia shook her head in respond.

“We are seriously will be dead meat if Mr. Grey finally finds out about this.”

“Oh come on. What harm could he bring to us? He will at least punish us with some social works at school.”

“And I’m so gonna blame you if that really happen.”

Mark laughed and Mia instantly fell hard for it. She observed how his mouth formed a cute rectangle shape when he grinned and how his tiny mole on top of his lips moved along when he smiled and laughed. She then remembered the reason why she first fell for him few years back.

Mark turned his head to Mia and watched how her pair of hazel eyes twinkled as if it was a universe that home all kinds of stars that ever existed and how her silky brunette hair swayed when the wind danced with it. God, I’m falling in love all over again.

“I like you Mia” truly, sincerely, with all my heart…

Their gazes were locked to each other and they both smiled. Hands are still intertwined.

“And I like you too Mark” forever and always…