Him & Her

She was like the small sunshine that brightens his day. With medium-long,beautiful , jet black hair, pearl white complexion , and a dazzling smile , she was like the angel that made a wrong turn to earth. A perfect heaven-sent gift from God.But it wasn't always like that ....

*****

The first time they met , it wasn't quite a love at the first sight.Rainee has a friendly face, not drop dead gorgeous ,not a head turner that would grab every guy's attention and make them lust for her ,no not that type. Hers was more to a classic, timeless beauty . A beautiful , friendly , demure-looking girl with a dazzling smile. That was his first impression of her. Alex, on the other hand , was just your Average Joe, heck , he wasn't even fit to be average , you could say he was slightly below average with his scrawny body , pale complexion filled with tons of zits ready to explode at any time and a short stature he was nothing a girl would want in an ideal guy, much less desire.Nevertheless , both Alex and Rainee had this inexplicable good vibes for each other.

The second time they met. they were much more chatty . Having recognized each other, both tried to inquire more about each other and conversation started flowing.Words fell out from their mouth naturally and conversations flowed smoothly. It turns out Rainee was a shy introvert , the usually quiet and reserved girl that keep things to herself. Alex was the complete opposite , a sunshine boy , the outspoken extrovert that wouldn't hesitate to voice out whenever it was possible.Despite the obvious oxymoron , the juxtaposition of both Rainee and Alex turns out to be surprisingly well. Before they knew it , they couldn't stop talking .They chatted in every medium possible , from msn , to sms and to real life , they talked about every topic possible under the sun , from the common girl-guy relationship topic , to games and some personal secrets that they both shared, nothing escapes their discussion.Though, most of the time, the main topic that fuels their discussion is music , their only common topic. Despite having different sets of personalities and character, both enjoyed their conversation immensely.

Needless to say ,this cycle repeats itself everytime they meet , and soon enough , without realizing it , their friendship grew and they went from complete strangers to best friends. At the mere age of 15 . both of them have yet to experience love and have no idea what is that magical and most powerful emotion that resides within human heart is .However,it is said that girls reach puberty and mature faster than guys. Slowy but surely , Rainee began to feel something , she began harbouring feelings towards Alex . It was more of an infatuation than love but it was strong feeling nevertheless.Yet ,Alex, being the young , immature and naive boy he was at that time, have no idea why she acted differently at that point. Rainee tried to gave subtle hints and treat him differently in hope that he would reciprocate her feelings , but to no avails. Alex was completely oblivious to that effort and acted the same way he always did, to treat her as only a friend.It wasn't until much later on that he would discover he have the same mutual feelings towards her as well.

*****

Several months have passed since then.Rainee's eventually grew out of her infatuation and started to move on , with Alex still being as ignorant as ever. They stayed as good friend though.This goes on until the end of their secondary education. It was big holiday after their final examination and a mutual friend decided to organize a party to celebrate the end of schooling days.

18 May 2008 , it was a day Alex would not forget.On that particular day , the party was successfully held. Successful , because a lot of people did attend it. Among those people , Rainee was one of the few female friends invited . Needless to say, she stood out , being the prettiest among them all. To the people there, she was the epitome of beauty , an idol admired by girls and chased after by guys.. Alex was well aware of her popularity .But,neither one of them would be able to predict what will happen next.

One of the activities held there was a truth or dare session .At that particular session , a guy was challenged to confess to whichever girl he wanted to in front of everyone. We were sitting in a circle back then and the poor guy that was selected to be inside the circle was dared to do confess.Surprisingly , he did confess, and what's even more surprisingly , it's to Rainee ! She was shocked and flabbergasted , no one was expecting that at all. Finally, she had to reject it politely . The guy persisted but gave up at last , not before being wounded emotionally . Though , I could see it in her eyes that Rainee was equally hurt and dejected as well. Rainee was a kind-hearted girl , and she was the type of girl that would felt bad if her actions hurt someone directly or indirectly. Though it wasn't her fault , knowing her actions had tremendous consequences on the guy's heart , she fell into depression.

But still ,as to not ruin the party's atmosphere ,she put on a brave front and faked a smile, saying that she's okay . Everyone else was tricked , but not Alex. He knew something was amiss, he knew that she would be hurt ,and he grew concerned knowing that,albeit the party was ongoing and he couldn't find a space to talk and console her. Luckily , Alex was smart enough to conceive an ingenious idea. Since they are seating next to each other , Alex typed a message on his phone and pass the message to her , on the pretext that he wanted to show her something. Rainee saw it and replied it the same way by writing it on his phone and passing it back. And soon, they were both engrossed in their own personal world that only the two of them shared... It was only for a short time , but that ephemeral moment of secret where only the two of them share will always be embedded in Alex's mind.

At the end of the party , Rainee was back to her cheerful self , with just a tiny bit feeling of guilt left.

*****

A few days after the party , Alex felt a flicker of flame igniting from deep inside his heart. The flicker grew stronger and eventually persisted into flame that could no longer be stopped. Alex started missing Rainee, her mesmerizing voice , her dazzling smile, everything about her. It was the first time Alex has come across such powerful emotion . Slowly but surely , the emotions grew strong enough until his heart couldn't contain it . Not knowing what to do , finally Alex conceded defeat and gave in to his emotions. He started talking to her longer than necessary , finding excuses to meet her and treat her differently . He totally fell head over heels for her.

As the famous quote goes, " people normally take things for granted , only when they lost the precious things that once had , do they learn to appreciate it " This expression certainly fits in this situation. Rainee's infatuation to him was long over , and as of now ,she treats him as nothing more than friend, rendering whatever methods Alex used to chase her , totally pointless and useless.After some period of time, finally Alex discovers that his efforts are fruitless.

Not wanting to risk losing their friendship , Alex gave up and slowly things began to fall apart.Rainee and Alex were talking less and less. The conversation that used to be endless and daily diminishes into lesser than once a month , and nil at last. Both Alex and Rainee moved on and hardly talks to each other anymore..


*******
A few years have passed since then , before they finally meet again. Much to his surprise, Alex's feelings towards Rainee is still intact . They started talking again, though less frequently , with Alex initiating the conversation most of the time. Once more , Alex's dousing fire was reignited agian and he tried his best to reach out to her and show her that he cares. Yet , Rainee is oblivious and acted nonchalantly. Ignorance is bliss they say . Before long , it is time of separation again, Alex is leaving for the States .Ironically , Rainee is heading to the same place. So near,yet so far. Both of them will be going to the same destination , yet the distance between their heart still remains the same.Finally , Alex came to a conclusion that , what is to be, will be . What is fated to be his will be , what isn't , will never be. Hence , he decided to leave it to fate ,wondering how the red thread of fate will connect them in the future , or leave them wandering ... but even so. one thing's for sure. He will constantly pray and hope for the best for Rainee , as love , is essentially about wanting the best for the other half isn't it? :) .

‎"I think that if life separates us and we end up in totally different places,always remember when our paths aligned for this period of time,and I'll be thankful for that,and hope that wherever you are, you'll be thankful too." -quote from Stranger's Again ,by wong fu production . :)

Edit : sorry for the half-hearted ending ,I published this story in a rush , when I was down with eye disease. I vow to edit this story and add more details someday in the future ;) Any person or story linked to this story is purely coincidental .