AN E-MAIL TALE

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They have been lovers for over a year already. Naomi and Emily loved each other so much that hindrances in their relationship pass through them like water on rock. In fact, they were soul mates. Destiny led their paths to that bench in Murray Park one leafy autumn and found love growing in each other's eyes. Nothing could break them apart…or was there?

X

"Hey Nai! Will you please go with me to the internet café for a while? I've got an e-mail to send." Emily said excitedly one afternoon. She showed Naomi her fairest smile, the one she usually gave when asking a favor.

"Emily Fitch!" Naomi exclaimed in a funny French accent. "An e-mail again? I noticed you spend too much time in the internet. Don't you get bored?"

"I enjoyed it…and hey! There you again, stop calling my name in an odd accent! So are you going or not?"

"Do I have a choice?" Naomi replied in agreement and kissed Emily on the cheek.

They went to the internet café and rented a computer. Emily spent an hour for her said e-mail and online chat. Her poor girlfriend waited sitting in a chair beside her, yawning as she watched her giggle and laugh at her chat mates' messages. Naomi never envied those random persons her girlfriend was chatting with. They both promised not to fight because of envy. When they left the internet café, it was already dark and Naomi brought Emily home.

"Bye!" they chorused and kissed each other good night.

X

One year of being in the relationship seemed so fast for Emily. It seemed only yesterday for her that Naomi said 'I love you' to her for the first time in front of Mt. Carmel Church, two weeks after they met in Murray Park. And then they were on. She had been expecting more sweet words from Naomi though. Whenever she and Naomi were together, she felt that Naomi had something to tell her but she could not open her mouth for the reason Emily never knew. She often saw some scribbled poems in Naomi's notebook and she longed for her to read those poems to her with feelings.

The next day, whilst they were eating their lunch at the canteen, Emily was telling Naomi about a mysterious e-mail sender.

"…her words were so sweet Nai, and she said she's living just right here in town! Can you believe it? I wonder who she is…" Emily could hardly finish her dessert fruitcake due to her talking.

"Whoever she is…the hell I care." Naomi replied in the usual way whenever Emily talked about the girls she met in the internet. "Finish eating that fruitcake of yours. We have a class at 1 o'clock."

For the first time, Emily felt that there was envy behind Naomi's eyes. Her reaction when she told her about the mysterious e-mail sender seemed to warn her that Naomi never wanted her to make friends with people in the internet anymore. But the mysterious e-mail sender was good in expressing herself and Emily couldn't resist but to respond to her e-mail messages. Because of this, Emily kept her contact with her a secret. She no longer invited Naomi to go with her to the internet café.

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In one of her e-mails, the mysterious girl introduced herself by the name of 'Mandy'. They sent e-mails to each other almost every day until Emily was forced to install internet in their house.

One thing that Emily liked with Mandy was her sincerity in what she says in her e-mails. She never met Mandy yet but she fully trusted her. Mandy's messages to her were like those written by someone who wanted to tell those messages for many years but is not able to. It is only now that she had the courage to tell it. Emily appreciated the way Mandy filled her heart with sweet words, the thing she would have wanted Naomi to do.

As they were about to graduate in High School, Naomi and Emily became so busy that they never had time to be with each other like they did before. They cared for each other so each tried to be understanding. She missed Naomi a lot, the things they used to do, until she felt that their relationship was no longer working. She tried to think the matter over and longed for their meetings.

Emily's friendship with Mandy became deeper. Mandy filled Emily's heart things Naomi wasn't able to fill. Incidentally, Emily fell for Mandy. For so many times that she and Naomi had never been close to each other, she finally decided to give up. She called Naomi one night to meet her for lunch the next day.

X

"Hi Em." Naomi said as she approached Emily in a table and kissed her.

"Hi Nai." A simple respond she gave.

"So how are you? I missed you a lot Em. Have you eaten? Shall I order?"

"Listen to me, Nai." Emily could hardly speak. It's as if her heart told her she must not speak. "I invited you for lunch because of something important. It's about us…"

"What about us? Is there a problem? I don't understand."

"Naomi! Don't you feel it? This relationship of ours isn't working anymore. You didn't have time for me the past weeks. We aren't even dating."

"Oh come on, Em. Is this really a problem? We both know how busy we both are."

"No Naomi. You are no longer the Naomi I knew before. I thought it was just my emotional side. But you seemed to be keeping things from me as I noticed. What is it Nai? What is it?" tears were now beading at the corners of Emily's eyes. Naomi was quiet, giving no answers.

"See? This is too hard for me, Nai. But I'm sorry. I'm breaking up with you."

Emily grabbed her bag to leave but she stopped when Naomi started to speak. "It's probably because I had been careless the past days, isn't it? It's because of that mysterious girl you met in the internet! I warned you before not to make friends with her but still you did. You betrayed me!"

Emily was stunned by what Naomi has said. Her voice was so loud that they caught the attention of everyone in the restaurant. Emily felt a little bit guilty. But she had decided to break up with Naomi already. She would stand for it.

"I don't know what you're talking about Naomi. I've got to go." Emily said and then left.

It was indeed hard for Emily breaking up with Naomi. She cried almost every night trying to forget the incident in the restaurant. She missed Naomi more than ever but she thought to herself that she must move on. "Maybe, Naomi and I were not really meant for each other." She thought. For the days that followed, she kept all those things that reminded her of Naomi.

X

One year of relationship seemed too fast for Naomi. It seemed only yesterday for her that she had met Emily there in Murray Park that made her heart beat for love the very first time. She had told a lot of 'I love you's' to Emily but for her it seemed quite not enough. She felt she had a lot more to tell Emily. She wrote a hundred poems for her and yet she never read a single piece for her. She was afraid of what Emily's reaction would be if she would tell her the words from her heart.

Eversince, Naomi doubted whether Emily fell in love with her because of her looks or because of what she really was. Emily told her how much she fancied her the first time they met.

"What if I told her these things I have in my heart? My conservative and sensitive side? She might be turned off." Naomi thought. So she kept what she wanted to tell Emily and assumed that Emily loved her only because of her looks and not what she really was. Assuming. Hm.

But there was no use telling Emily now what was really in her heart. She and Emily had parted ways already.

Since their break up, Naomi herself could not sleep well too. She missed Emily a lot. She never expected the things that had happened. "It was all my fault." She thought. "If only she knew. If only she knew…"

X

A month later, Emily felt she had moved on. She realized that even if she would cry a river, Naomi and she would never be together again. Actually, it was Mandy who had helped her a lot. Now that she and Naomi had broken up, she felt free communicating with Mandy. But still the guilt was in her.

"Naomi was right, but I did the right thing." She thought.

One night, Emily and Mandy were chatting on line. Emily was surprised when Mandy said she wanted to meet her. "At last I could see her." Emily was really excited, yeah well, kind of having tachycardia of course. Emily agreed to meet Mandy the next day.

It was 12 o'clock noon but the clouds were covering the sky so it was not that hot. Emily was waiting at a table in the restaurant that she and Mandy agreed to meet.

"She's late." She sighs. "She should have been here fifteen minutes ago." Well, very patient one.

Emily waited until she saw the clock in the corner saying it was already 12:30. She was wondering what could have happened to Mandy why she was delayed. Worrying. Then she decided that maybe they would meet next time. Disappointing.

She was about to go when suddenly, a hand touched her shoulder. She looked back and surprisingly muttered words.

"You are Mandy?"

X

When she discovered that Emily was fond of the internet, Naomi thought that it was the right time that she would tell Emily what she wanted to say. She would try to pursue Emily, the way in which Emily would not see her but will fall in love with her. In doing so she would know whether Emily would still be Emily when she discovered her conservative and sensitive side. And so when Naomi caught a glimpse of Emily's email address, she then memorized it and began sending her e-mails secretly. She was glad that Emily indeed liked her being Mandy. Memorization isn't that hard, you know. c:

And so when she and Emily broke up. Naomi thought, "The coward Naomi is gone. It's time to let Emily love the real me."

After a month of preparation, Naomi decided to meet Emily once again. And now there she is at the restaurant with Emily.

"You are Mandy?" Emily said.

"Yes Em."

Naomi explained everything to Emily who is listening at her every word. She now saw the Naomi that she wanted the most. When all had been explained by Naomi, she finally said, "I love you very fucking much Em. I want us to be back."

Emily smiled and said, "Nai, I wouldn't want anything more than to be your girlfriend once again. She then hugged Naomi saying, "I love you too."

Nothing indeed could break them apart.

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CHEEKY.. HM.. OH YEAH, YEAH I KNOW IT SUCKS. I'M SHUPID.. HAHA.. BUT BE KIND. AND SORRY FOR ERRORS AND EVERYTHING THOUGH. NOT PERFECT.. AW.. AND FOR THOSE WHO'LL READ THIS, THANKS.. HAHA.. IT'S A PIECE OF CRAP, I KNOW.. LOL.. 'WINKS'.. JA! (o._^^_.o)