DAFFODILS FATE

DAFFODIL'S FATE

                                                DAFFODILS FATE

“My name is Tahlia. This fall, I'll start my first semester of college. I'm just your ordinary student by any means, and by any means the definition." 

As she strode along the pavement of the campus ground, with the sun shining down, her flower pendant that she had kept for so long was reflecting the light of the sun.  This was given to her by a boy from her childhood.

She remembered a vivid dream this morning and within that dream is a long, narrowed field where she sat beside a boy's silhouette, mumbling. 

"Daffodil in love." 

"I will keep this pendant, so make sure you keep yours with you at all times and always treasure it…."

"Then if we see each other again when we grow up… we'll link our pendants together, and we'll get married". Tahlia's mind drifted away as she inextricably lost herself in that memory. 

*Bell ringing*

That moment, little did she know, her fate would change forever. A boy ran towards and across her. They caught glimpses of each other, not knowing what luck might hold against them.

"Sorry"

"Are you okay? Let me help you".

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you"

"Hey, I'm actually in the same room as you; what's your name?

"I'm Tahlia. She feels like deja vu that it's already happened to me.

12 years ago…

Some people like to read and watch fairy tales because they believe in a happy ending. That's what they think the end is. They give me an illusion of a particular thing. The writers never show me the lousy scenario within those good endings. I am Tahlia, I live in a small village called Culion, and the only dream I wanted was to experience life like a fairy tale. I was walking on the farm and wondering when my fairytale dream would come true. Out of nowhere, someone bumped into me, and I almost fell to the ground, but Luke immediately grabbed me by the waist and whispered into my ears, and he said, "Are you okay" At that moment, I felt that this was the time where my fairy tale dream would begin. Then Luke grabbed me and we started to run and he took me to an unfamiliar place. 

"What's going on, why did you take me with you"? 

He ignored me, and he started introducing himself 

“I'm Luke, sorry for what happened earlier" 

and he gave his hand for a shake, 

"I'm Tahlia," 

and I shake hands with Luke. We started talking for an hour. Then we meet every 10 am at our favorite spot. I always bring foods he likes, such as fried fish and chop suey. I  even ask our maids to teach me how to cook so I can cook something for him because I don't know why Luke is always hungry. Is he running all day? And that question made me laugh because I was asking that question. Don't get me wrong. I trust Luke like how I trusted myself. After a few months, our friendship got more robust. I feel like I'm making my dream come true, but I felt something strange one day. I think that something is not correct. He did not show up at our favorite spot. I waited for an hour again, but he did not show up. Every week is the same, no sign of Luke.

After that incident, we met again for the second time. In the almost ten years that we have known each other, Luke always tells me words that seem unclear when he says, 

"I should be strong, be generous and humble because not all the time I'm here beside you. I wonder why, and I'm afraid it might make sense. But destiny is playable because what I fear has already happened.” 

We said that we would meet again in the same place today.

I was always waiting for him at the place where we met even though I knew he would not come and I would wait for nothing again. But one day, as I  was going to the area, I heard a voice that seemed to be crying, a man crying, it was familiar. He was not the only one who shed tears because we were the only ones who knew this place; as I got closer and closer, I became more nervous, my heartbeat was so beating so loud, my hand was shaking, and my body was getting cold. So many things come to my mind. I want to hurt him because he suddenly left me. I want to hug him because I miss him so much. I want to ask him why? Why didn't he show up? 

Until I got in front of him, we both looked at each other, and he was crying because his eyes were swollen and red. When I saw him, he was thin and pale. I immediately wondered what had happened to him? and when he saw me, He immediately straightened us up and was about to leave. Still, I stopped him and said, 

"Why are you here? You have no right to come here since you didn't show up when we were supposed to meet.” 

He didn't say a word, and he just looked straight at me. I didn't see any emotion, as if he didn't care about me anymore. We just kept quiet until he said, 

"I just came here for the last time. That's the only reason" 

I was stunned and wondered why. I immediately asked him, 

“Why? What did I do wrong to you? Please make me understand because I'm so tired of thinking of a possible reason for you to do this to me.”

“Is there anyone else? Do you love someone else? You can tell me it's not that you suddenly disappear. You can say to me. He fell silent and kept looking at me. Why? Is there anyone else? Do you love someone else? Answer me!” 

And to my shock, he suddenly said that, 

“Yes, I love someone else, the love that is not like my love for you",

and when I heard that, I felt like I was deaf. I could listen to nothing but the beating of my heart. After I listened to those painful lines, tears came out of my eyes, and suddenly, rain flowed on my face. It seemed that the weather sympathized with my feelings. 

Since that day, I seem to have lost my will to live. I also didn't go out of my room for a few weeks and couldn't eat either. One morning as I was looking out my window, I suddenly saw tita Analiza Luke's mother, she was talking to one of the maids, and I immediately wondered why she was here. And because of the many questions in my mind, I decided to follow his mother. She wasn't going to where they lived, so I was even more skeptical, and when she got there, she immediately closed the door as if someone was hiding. And because I was observing the home, I saw a hole in the other room. I immediately peeked there, and unexpectedly I saw Luke lying thin and pale. At the same time, his mother was feeding him. I  was shocked, and I immediately sat down, and this caused me to create noise for a few seconds. I sat there. Luke's mother immediately came out, was surprised to see me, she immediately said to me the words "Why are you here, you can't be here. I have something to say, but she stopped me and said 

"Luke can't know you're here, and especially. He can't know that you already know his condition; this may cause his condition to worsen. So please, if you love him, leave and think that nothing happened.”

“Why does Luke need to hide his condition from me? Am I not important to him that he needs to hide his situation from me? After knowing that he had a worse health condition, my mind did not work correctly. I can't seem to figure out what to do. Should I visit him or not?”

POV’s of Luke 

“Mom, who are you talking to outside?” 

“Nothing Son, it is just a nurse who should check you”, 

but she said she would come back. 

“Okay, mom, by the way, is dad already visiting?” 

“No son, why would you still ask your father to me? You already know that we broke up already, and I don't want to hear his name. I already had enough of him.” 

Little did her mother notice that Luke was already looking outside and remembering what happened a few years ago when he went to the farm.

While he walks and goes to Tahlia to meet her in their favorite spot, she sees one of her ex's, “Oh Luke, and you're here. What are you doing here? Will you revisit Tahlia?” 

With the bitter tone of her voice. 

“I told you it will not have a happy ending like what you thought in fairy tales, that it is always a happy ending. I will not let you be satisfied while other girls that you have hurt and I are having a hard time to move on while you will be happy, I will curse you for having an illness, and the girl you love now will have a disease that can't cure, but this curse only happened if you continue to love her.” 

Luke was too stunned to speak that someone would be in danger because of him. After a few seconds, Luke said to Alexza pls don't hurt my loved ones. I can take it if I'm the one you will curse. Alexza was somehow happy to see that Luke was devastating to the point that he would give up, 

“Too late for you to repent”. 

Luke regretted what he did a few years ago, and he hated his parents that they been broken families. Still, it is not an option for him to hurt other people's hearts. After those incidents that she met alexza, he thought she would meet Tahlia, and after considering, he chooses not to go for her.

After so many years of not showing up to Tahlia, they met again for the second time. Still, this time Tahlia was hurt and confronted him about what happened to them, but instead of answering her with the truth, he tried to cover it, and what he thought that time was to hug her and kiss her, but she couldn’t because she might have it. 

“Luke! Luke!” 

“Oh yes, mom? Why?” 

“I already said things here, and you didn’t even hear anything?” 

“Oh, sorry, mom, I was thinking. What are you talking about again?” 

“Oh, about that, I was planning to go to other countries and find a cure for your health.” “Mom, I said you don’t need to waste your money for me; also, I know that I won’t be here for long, so you don’t need to.”

“Tahlia? What are you doing here? Can we talk for a while, luke?”

Worried, Tahlia approached the bed and asked,

"Are you okay? Your parents told me you've been here for weeks already".

Luke said as he smirked, 

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's probably just another anemia case, nothing to worry about".

"Hell of a time to be making jokes about your condition, Luke. Sure, you may not be worried about it, but I do…." Said Tahlia with a noticeably irritated voice.

"My bad. I want to lighten up the mood in the room, that's all. And in all seriousness, I think I'm going to be fine. I wake up in the morning. I piss excellence."

Silence filled the room immediately, just before the two laughed it off.

"Well, it seems like you're fine, considering you can pull a joke or two… Now let's address the elephant in the room. What happened to you?"

"..." Luke went quiet, and Tahlia started regretting if she asked a personal question and said

"I'm sorry, you don't have to be open about it if it's confidential."

Luke quickly said, "No, it's okay. I was thinking about where I should start. It's a trip down memory lane. Ever since I was a kid, I have been this way. I was diagnosed with a terminal disease that made me bedridden as a kid. 

Every time I feel a psychological feeling, my lifespan shortens. I never knew what that psychological feeling was, nor could the doctor describe it. To this day, I still have to deal with it" for a second time, Luke tells again a lie that he is already tired of it. After talking, Tahlia tried to talk about their relationship, but it seems that Luke didn't like to talk about it, and Tahlia was hurt a little bit and still tried to smile. Luke can't stand that she will hurt Tahlia again. Luke pulled out his pendant from his shirt, which was being covered, a charm of a broken flower, and continued. "Each of us would keep a pendant of a flower and take care of it, till the day we meet again. And if by miracle, we meet again, we would link the pendant together and get married". He then chuckled at that thought.

Tahlia, at that moment, was stunned at what Luke had just said. She could not believe what she was hearing.

"I believe we both had a phrase for that promise. It was based on a flower that she liked."

"Daffodil in love"

"Daffodil in love"

The two simultaneously spoke out the phrase. Luke was shocked at the fact that Tahlia was able to utter the words he was keeping for years.

“Wait, how'd you know that phrase?”

Right after he said that, Tahlia took out her pendant and presented it to him. He was in disbelief as the pendant shown was the same as he has, and pulled out his pendant beneath his shirt. He reached out to Tahlia’s pendant and tried to connect the two broken pendant together, and a click sound was made as the two connected together. 

At that moment, tears started falling down Luke’s cheeks with the flower pendant in his palm, and tried wiping them off with his hands but tears keep coming,

“Wait… I’m sorry. I don’t know why it’s happening it’s just-”

Tahlia immediately hugged him and said,

“I’ve waited for you, Luke. I missed you.”

Luke wasn’t able to control his feelings, and as tears started bursting, the two shared the moment and made the most of it that day.

After a week, a doctor asks Luke if he wants to stay in the hospital or go home and back to the hospital every week. Luke chooses the last one. After six months, Tahlia and Luke went back to the hospital for a check, but Tahlia wasn't feeling well, so she decided to have a check-up. After Tahlia finished the examination, Tahlia waited two days for the results. When she got the result, her whole world suddenly stopped. She couldn't hear anything the doctor said, and she didn't know what to say and do. 

“Ms. Parker? Ms. Parker?”, 

“Oh sorry, my bad, what is it?” 

And the doctor continues talking. 

“Like I said earlier, I'm sorry to say this, but you have fatal familial Insomnia. Did you notice something in your body like weight loss, can't sleep, difficulty coordinating movements, or sometimes excessive sweating or tearing?” 

I answered the doctor truthfully, but I thought it was normal cause I had had stress the last few months. “What should I do doc?” 

“I'm sorry to say this, but your case is a terminal one, there is no cure for your illness. I advise you to pray and enjoy your life because, in your situation, tomorrow was not promised.” 

When I heard that, I felt like I was drenched in cold water, I didn't know what to say, and I couldn't help but say, 

"Thank you, doc."

My situation became even more difficult for me. I didn't know what to do. I didn't tell anyone about my condition because I didn't want people to feel sorry. I didn't want them to appreciate me because I was just sick. Until one night, as much as I was thinking, 

I realized that the doctor had already told me that tomorrow wasn't promised to me and started thinking to myself,

“Will I waste it because I'm sulking here? At least I'm happy before I disappear from the world. I decided I had a goal. My first goal is for my parents to appreciate me as their child. And finally, I can bond with Luke again so I can be with him again for a long time and talk about many things. And when I have done this, I will prepare myself and happily leave this world.”

The next day I wasted no time, I immediately cooked mom and dad breakfast, and we ate together, which usually rarely happens. It's constantly repeated. I also often take the time to roam and bond as a family. And sometimes I sleep next to them, and the only reason they know is that I miss them next to me. For many years I have existed only now have I been so happy as a child; maybe it's a way of destiny for me to realize and know my luck. I hope we can do it even longer after accomplishing my goal with my parents. I decided to go to Luke. While going to Luke's condo, my whole body became nervous. It seemed like I just wanted to go back and not do it, but I'm already here. When I was at the door of Luke's condo, I didn't know if I would knock or not. Until a minute later, when I was about to hit, Luke suddenly opened his door. We were both surprised and looked at each other at the same time. He immediately asked, 

"Why are you here? Do you need anything? come in," 

and on the nerve, I felt I could not answer his questions and go straight into Luke's condo. I took courage and told him that I wanted us to bond again because I missed him. After all, he is the only friend he has been with since then. He looked at me and laughed a little, and said, "What did you eat, and you changed your mind? Why did you suddenly miss our bonding? Did you miss my sweetness and annoying side? Did you? I have no choice since you're here now, so let's start now.” 

We went to the place where we always met, we talked a lot, like the ones we went through, the feelings we had between the two of us. We clarified a lot with each other. We get along, and we always do this often in a week. I'm happy, and I enjoyed everything we did. I almost forgot that I was seriously ill because of him.

I didn't want anything more, and I thought the fun would continue, but it wasn't. Until one day that I woke up with a severe headache, the pain that I couldn't seem to cope with, the pain I just felt now. In so much pain, I couldn't help but hit my head on the wall. I did not go out and immediately locked my room. They might even know I'm sick. It's been a few hours, and my headache has only gotten worse. I've been here for almost 8 hours, and I won't stop hitting my head on the wall until I hit my head again when luke suddenly came in and stopped me immediately. I had nothing to say to him and just said I was tired. And after I told him that, I lost consciousness. 

I woke up feeling weak, and I saw my parents and Luke, who were very worried about me.

I smiled at them and said, 

"Shh, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I decided not to tell you my condition. I hope you understand. Mom and Dad, thank you for giving me what I want. I have achieved my goal to be a good daughter. And appreciate me as an average person—a normal daughter. And with you, Luke, I forgot I'm sick because of you. You're the one person who made me feel that I'm important. Thank you so much for your love. I don't know how long I will last, and if I survive tomorrow, I'm tired because I've been fighting the disease for several years now. And if I fail to fight anymore, remember that I'm happy to leave this world. And you like I want you to live happily, my love, because I'm always here, remember? I took out my necklace and stuck it with him; while you're wearing this necklace, I'm always here next to you.” 

After I said those words, I felt like my eyes were too heavy. I told them and said, 

"I'm going to rest. I'm so tired.”

POV’s of Luke

No one has tried to talk to me even though our friends are up until now. I still can't process this. It feels like a nightmare that I want to end. I still can't forgive myself because I know that I'm the reason she got that illness. If only I listened to Alexza stop going with Tahlia, but here I'm in front of her coffin. But life is life. We can't say that we hold the world, and Tahlia told me to continue my life without her even though it is hard for me. After a year of Tahlia passing away, I went to culion farm where it all started. Our favorite spot is "ESPERA OF LOVE." Now I learned that hurting other people can't do good things to you; only karma will have an act of revenge on what you do. 

As Luke grew older, he decided to start his own business, a flower shop. A flower shop on the exact location where Luke and Thalia met. It's dedicated to tahlia, her beloved. He was living for himself and miserable at that time, but at the same time, something good happened to him. His flower shop starts earning a lot. One day before opening his flower shop Luke decided to bring a flower from his shop and visit the grave of her beloved Tahlia. Looking at the grave of her beloved Tahlia, Luke mentioned that Tahlia was the first person he chose, that the day he lost Tahlia, he lost his world.

As my memories fade, I will remember those angelic faces that captured my heart. Luke promised her beloved Thalia that he would continue living his life to the fullest and promised Thalia that he would always choose to be happy. A few days later, Luke received many flowers from his supplier. Two different kinds of beautiful flowers caught the attention of Luke. These flowers are called cattaleya and daffodil. After staring at the flowers, Luke was teary-eyed as he remembered the love of his life Thalia. The flower was as beautiful as Thalia, Luke said. He then mentioned what a coincidence that this flower called cattaleya was like a more extended version of the name of my beloved Thalia.

In contrast, the other flower, called Daffodil, was engraved with the pendant I gave to my dear Thalia. He then kept the flowers, placed them on a vase, and brought them to his house. After coming home and placing the vase with the two flowers that symbolize Thalia, Luke started staring at the flowers. Once again, he suddenly cried as he remembered his mistakes in the past. He then said, how could this happen to me? I made a mistake to continue loving Thalia, even though I already knew that I was cursed by alexza, that anyone who I love would suddenly die. After a heartfelt reminiscing, Luke fell asleep. He was dreaming and saw Thalia in his dreams. Thalia was standing beside the vase; she was smiling at Luke. Luke was so happy to see Thalia once again he started looking for the flowers to give Thalia, but he couldn't find them. Thalia began to talk to Luke. She then said to Luke that I am always here for you, guide you, love you, and never forget you, my prince charming. Luke was so happy, then suddenly Thalia started fading. Luke is awakened and realizes that it was all just a dream. Luke began to find the flowers once again; he saw them inside the vase and in the same spot where he placed them. One week later, Luke was curious why the flowers wouldn't wither. Several weeks later, the flowers still won't shrink. Little did Luke know that the flowers he was taking care and looking of were the reincarnation of her beloved Thalia and that his dream where he saw Thalia was the way of Thalia to indicate his love for his prince charming.