Her Special Nickname

Chapter 12: Edited

*Continuation of Flashback*

"En." Scarlet immediately nodded in response.

For her, the name 'Scarlet' was already quite short.

But since her friend wanted to give her a nickname anyway, then why not? If her first "friend" wanted to treat her in a special way, then she would happily oblige.

Seeing that she seemed so happy from the eager look on her eyes despite not displaying a smile, Kevin too burst out with glee and seriously thought of a nickname for his Sweetheart. He must choose wisely, for this would be his manner of address towards his "beloved" for the rest of his life.

[Sigh...] So much work to be done.

Hence, Kevin became serious for the first time in a long while. He was not a free individual anymore, but a man confined in her shackles. He had to be serious in order to keep those shackles to himself.

While seriously pondering over a nickname, the first thing that came into his mind was, 'Scar.'

"..."

The hell, man?

Seriously?

Kevin believed his IQ to be outstanding but now, he was seriously doubting it.

[Just admit you're stupid.] A voice smugly stated the facts.

How he ended up thinking of 'that' in the first place was beyond his understanding. His Sweetheart was absolutely not a scar towards his heart.

She was his addiction.

Never will she be a scar leaving a mark in his heart that can't be healed forever, he solemnly vowed. If a scar meant she'd be forcibly taken away from his tight grasp...

Kevin looked down and, to Scarlet, it looked like he was seriously thinking of a nickname.

However, in reality, his expression was entirely dark. His emotions in chaos. His hand secretly clenched from the pressure of trying to keep his menacing aura from being unleashed.

No. He should stop thinking about it.

Even thinking about it made his blood boil.

Therefore, he placed that undesirable manner of address to the back of his mind and thought about the second syllable he could use.

'Let.'

The hell, man?

Seriously?

Now that just sounds plain boring and weird.

So he let it go.

[...]

While contemplating over her nickname, Kevin felt like he had encountered some sort of a difficult math problem for the first time, even for a genius like him.

[...]

Meanwhile, Scarlet was oblivious to the suffering and uneasiness she had unknowingly given him. Since he seemed so serious to the point that he even forgot to continue treating her wound, she patiently waited for him to decide.

Her name was the only gift she received from her mother.

Therefore, she decided to wait a little longer...

To not end up with an odd nickname.

[...]

After several minutes passed by, Kevin finally landed on an endearing and one-syllable nickname.

With a smile as bright as the sun, Kevin proudly gave her his answer after some serious thought and consideration.

"I will call you 'Li.'" Kevin said while looking deeply into her eyes.

While happily thinking of how brilliant and special the nickname was, Kevin thought back on how he had decided on it.

As a matter of fact, 'Li' came from the name of a flower called "Lily."

From what he recalled through his intelligent mind, Lily was the flower most bursting with symbolism throughout history. These symbols were amiability, purity, love, fertility, femininity, unity, and transience. Of all these symbolic meanings, what stood out the most were femininity, love, purity, and transience.

The shape, the variety of colors, and the sweet scent, in particular, made the Lily an ideal symbol of 'Femininity.'

As his most beloved woman, Scarlet was nothing less than his expectations but more than what he ever expected.

[Love is blind.]

The next symbolic meaning of Lily was 'Purity.'

She was the rarest kind of all humans. A human void of all dirt and impure thoughts.

[You just have a dirty mind.]

The next most symbolic meaning of Lily was 'Transience,' which meant the visible and apparent expressions that the flower exhibited.

Like the serene and pure look of a Lily, Scarlet also exhibited the emotions of her heart.

Everything she felt was plainly written on her face, thus making Kevin see it all.

[Pervert.]

Last but not the least, "Lily" had merged a thousand words that his heart could ever use to describe her into one word.

'Love.'

If a person was given a Lily, it would mean either a confession of love or proof that she was his lover.

Kevin knew he had decided on the best manner of endearment and was highly grateful towards his parents for letting him be born a genius.

[...]

He was so proud of the nickname he came up with that he got lost into his own little world of staring at his Sweetheart, forgetting everything else, even the fact that he had to currently treat her elbows.

[...]

This was the name he had seriously decided on, which he knew would leave him with no regrets.

Therefore, Scarlet could only be described as the Lily in Kevin's heart.

However, calling her "Lily" would make it seem like it had not come from her name, "Scarlet."

So he decided on using only a single syllable "Li" in order for it to seem like it came from the syllable "Let" from her name "Scarlet."

["Le" and "Li" are entirely different.]

He was a genius, indeed.

[...]

Kevin proudly thought while unknowingly growing a big head.

[Hope it explodes.] Sadly, no one could hear it yet.

While he was bathing with pride over his great intellect and reasoning, Kevin never noticed the dark expression that clouded over the girl's face.