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Too Late
By: czee
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I'll always remember that day like it was just yesterday.
We were on our way home from school. Miharu stayed in school for math tutorials. Hwoarang stayed in school for detention. It was just the black-haired Chinese beauty and I. It was just Xiaoyu and I.
On our walk home, we stopped by the playground. She sat on a swing. I sat on the swing beside hers. Silence engulfed us. Only the rustle of the leaves and the soft blow of the wind could be heard. Looking back at that moment, I realize how absolutely beautiful she looked then. I wish I could have told her then. I was too much of a coward back then. I could only dream of telling her.
It seemed like ages before she finally spoke the four words that, up to now, continuously echo in my head.
"Do you love me?"
Those four words took me by surprise. That was something I never expected from her. It was out of the blue. It was totally random. I didn't even think of an answer. I ignored her and continued swinging back and forth. I didn't know what to say. She was silent for about a minute. I thought I had gotten away with it. I thought wrong.
She asked me again this time with more urgency that I knew I couldn't ignore her. I told her to ask me later. I never saw her reaction. Right after the words left my mouth, I stood up and left.
Now, six months after, I stand before her grave. Ling Xiaoyu died at seventeen after being run over by a drunk driver. The ambulance arrived too late. She was dead upon arrival. I wasn't even there. I wasn't even around during her last few minutes on Earth. What a pathetic friend I am. I never even got to answer her question.
Six months ago, I sat on the swing beside Ling Xiaoyu. 'Do you love me?' she asked. Now, I stand before her grave with my answer.
"I love you."
"She knows." I looked behind me and was startled to have found Hwoarang standing there.
"Did you know that I was there?" My head immediately shot up as he said those words. So he had been there when she left.
"I was beside her when she left. See, I was with her that night. I confessed how I felt about her just a few minutes before she was… hit." His voice cracked as he went on. I was listening intently to every word that left his mouth.
"You know she rejected me. She told me all about the time when she asked you if you love her. She told me your answer too. Your stupid answer." He paused again and I let all the information sink in. So, Hwoarang was with her that evening. Hwoarang liked Xiaoyu? Xiaoyu rejected Hwoarang? Why? Hwoarang went on.
"I asked her if she'd ask you again. She said she need not ask you again. She told me to tell you that she knows. Those were her last words you know? To tell you that she knows."
"So she knew? All this time she knew? Why didn't she just say so?"
"She was waiting for you Jin. She waited and waited, but you never came. You never told her."
"I did tell her. Just now I did. I finally told her. I do love her."
"I know you did. She knows that you love her. However," He placed a bouquet of flowers on her grave and slowly turned his back on me.
"She's no longer asking Jin. She's no longer waiting."
:Owari:
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Authors Nonsense::grabs box of Kleenex: lol. That was short. Meh. A 600+ word fic. One of the shortest I've written. I can't believe it was even a page and a half long. Heh. All angst goodness. Fufufuf… :3
Review please? Tell me your thoughts on the fic. Pleeaaasssee::begs:3
:bows:
:czee: