Page XVII - Unbeatable Adversary

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It was a Friday night, the moonlight was piercing through the windows, barely illuminating the room Celaine was in. Her roommate was asleep and all she had in company was the lamp in front of her, a pen and a notebook in which was completely empty.

'What does it mean to be in love?' The question was resting in Celaine's mind for a while.

"I've read Adamo's books and I know how his works go. And he's the source of my inspiration. But I don't know how to be in love since I've never been in one." Celaine pondered on the first few sentences of her story.

"Argh..." Celaine laid her head down on the table and look on the empty paper before her. "I have never experienced it before... I'm just a helpless romantic girl that has no experience at all anything about romance..."

"I can't take this anymore... Forget it! Let's just focus on the characters for now."

The character she wrote was shy, meek and incredibly awkward to hang around. Her hair was short, but her bangs was long as to cover her eyes in the front.

"I heard somewhere that for my first story I should make it similar to me so that I can directly feel what my character is thinking... I'm guessing this is a nice start. For the guy..."

The character she wrote that portrayed the guy whom the female main character was to fall in love was cold. But everyone that talked with him were definitely interested.

His eyes were dead, his silence inspired curiousity among the people, and his handsome face enchanted women.

"Hmm..." A worried look came on Celaine's face. "No way... The more I write the more they become similar..." She let out an exasperated sigh.

She turned off the lamp and closed the notebook and jumped on her bed and hugged the body pillow and dug her face into it. Just leaving enough space to breathe.

"Why did he become the character in my novel... Now I can't show it to him..." A blush was seen on her face. She shrieked while digging her face into her body pillow. "Why is it that he's the only one that I've been thinking about these past few days?"

Celaine then began to think of ways why he's the only thing on her mind all these days.

"It must be because he's the first friend I had that I could talk about books. I'm pretty sure that's it. Or... not." She knows herself that what she's saying is just an excuse to make herself feel better since she doesn't want to ruin anything.

"I wonder if these feelings are right. Or maybe I'm just feeling this way because I've never had a decent friend all these years? I'm just feeling a different kind of happiness that I've never felt before. These feelings that cannot be get by reading a book, finding the right word or anything at all... This just feels... Unique. And out of place for me."

But a sudden thought came to her mind. "I see..." Celaine tightened her grasp on the body pillow she was hugging. "This is love. No matter what excuse I make... This is love.." Her face blushed again as she shrieked while digging the body pillow in her face.

"Celaine... Keep it down." Her roommate woke up.

"Ah, I'm sorry Cera." Celaine instantly replied.

She opened her cellphone and hid under the blanket. She opened up her browser then searched, "What does it mean to be in love?" Countless results came flooding in.

Statements from married people. in love, in a relationship, single and heartbroken people was filled with information from several websites. But there's a synchronicity between all of them. A single question that answered the questions in her heart.'

'Does your heart throb when you talk with him?'

She opened up the notes application on her phone and began to type out her thoughts.

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Under the dark starry night, for the first time in my life, I felt what is to be in love.

My heart throbbed when I'm talking to him.

My awkwardness and shyness skyrockets to a pathetic state.

My desire for him to look my way begins to grow the longer I be with him.

And finally... My heart aches when I see him with another woman.

==================

Celaine wrote the last words on her note slowly. She couldn't bear to write those words as much as she felt it.

She closed her eyes and looked back days ago.

...

Two days ago on a hot Thursday afternoon, Celaine's ears lingered as she tried to find the source of that beautiful music she's hearing.

Everyone else felt the same as the sound of piano above them were heard by the students lingering near the building.

"Classical?" She asked herself trying to figure out what music she was listening to.

She looked up and saw the windows open on the third floor of the academy. She ran up to find out who was playing that music.

She finally got to the third floor of the classroom and suddenly the music ended. Even though the music finished, she still went to the front door of the music room to look at who played that music. There she found Victoria Sinclair.

"Oh... It's Victoria who was playing the piano? As expected of her. She's perfect in every way. I'm not in her league to talk to he-" Celaine saw something unexpected inside of the room. "Ah..." She realized it all. The reason why Victoria was standing up. And why Theodore was sitting at the piano.

Victoria's smile told her everything she needed to know. But it's all misunderstandings as Celaine slowly lost her strength as her heart aches from the sight that she saw.

Theodore showed an emotion that she thought she'd never see. Him, smiling and Victoria smiling back.

Under the daylight, two young people alone in a room. Celaine's thoughts and misunderstandings went wild and the aching of her heart doesn't stop.

"I guess beautiful women really are different from people like me."

...

Celaine snapped back to reality and she was back in that bedroom in the dorm. "I found love just today yet it absolutely hurts. So this is the unrequited love that Adamo was talking about in his book? It really does hurt. Facing love knowing that you'll lose."