There she stood, watching him afar with her sapphire eyes. She could see him, his auburn hair swaying past the wind. Beside him was an unfamiliar girl to her, but a close friend to him. To her, the unfamiliar girl looked way more beautiful than her, taller, and more deserving to have him rather than her. Jealous? She didn't know. Why is that girl talking to him? Is she his girlfriend? Do they have anything together now that they were fifteen? She doesn't have the answer. Although anger was boiling in her, she just stood there and watched them, her fists clenched beside her. But one thought stayed in her mind: Was this a nightmare?
Then, a sudden blackout.
She awoke with a bright light flashing before her eyes. She had first thought she was in heaven, but that was a stupid idea. She noticed that her surrounding was quite quiet, unaware that it was already nighttime. She felt herself lying down on a white, fluffy bed, her head resting on a green pillow. Where was she?
*creeeak…*
The door opened suddenly, surprising her. "Hello Dawn, I knew you would be awake by now." Nurse Joy softly smiled as she carried a tray of food. "If you just noticed, you're in the Sandgem PokeCenter. If you're already hungry, I made you Ramen Noodles and a cup of Strawberry yogurt. Please, feel free to turn on the TV. I'll be leaving now. Oh, and just so you know, a boy visited you while you were asleep. I forgot his name, but I was sure he had an Empoleon with him." Nurse Joy slowly walked out of the room, and winked before she closed the door. "An Empoleon…? Isn't that…?" she didn't feel like continuing.
She first spotted the tray of food on the table beside her. Still unaware of the time, she quickly grabbed the noodles and turned on the TV. It showed a movie Dawn had watched for a million times or so: Another Pokemon: Two Memories. She sipped the soup in her noodles as the teenage Buneary in the movie had just met the ghost Pikachu.
"Hmm…what time is it?" she finally pondered. She started searching for a clock in the tiny room, stupid for her not to notice the wall clock beside the TV. "10 pm already? Well, that was fast. I think I've been sleeping for over 10 hours now. But what I'd like right now is to go out for a little while only." Dawn put the bowl of noodles down beside the yogurt and changed her clothing into the usual black-and-pink dress, tied her hair, and left the PokeCenter slowly, leaving her hat.
"Ah…the outdoors…I just love it." Dawn felt the cold breeze of February. "So, where shall I be going? Maybe…the Sandgem beach? Nah. I've had enough memories there. So how about…Lake Verity? All I need anyway is a little air…" Dawn started walking in the direction of the lake.
"Wonder how she's doing…?" the same auburn-haired boy said as he lay down on his bed, staring intently at the ceiling. "I mean, I visited her earlier for around 3 hours but she was asleep. I was supposed to wake her up to talk to her, but…" he stopped when Keira, his mom, knocked on the door.
"What mom?" the fifteen year-old shouted.
"Have you eaten dinner yet, dear? I haven't seen you go downstairs ever since I've eaten. It's 10:15 pm already! You should go down already!" Keira ordered.
"But mom…I'm not hungry yet…" Kenny answered, disliking eating tonight.
"You MUST go down and eat already! I don't want you being hungry when you sleep!" his mom complained.
"I will, I will… hey mom, are you gonna sleep already?" Kenny asked curiously.
"Why?"
"Just wanted you to cook some more food…The food downstairs might not be enough for me…" Kenny lied.
"Oh my, look at the time already! Well, I must be sleeping by now. Good night, dear!" Keira hurriedly retreated to her room, wanting to avoid more cooking.
"As I thought so…"Kenny smirked as he stood up on his bed and changed his house clothes into his usual green by his mother, he walked down the stairs and left the house.
"I never thought Twinleaf Town was this quiet during the night…" Kenny walked for a little while, but stopped dead on his tracks." Wait… where shall I be heading off to?" he wondered. "Sandgem Beach? Nah. I'm too lazy to walk right now. So the closest I can walk to is… Lake Verity. Fine. I'm going." He put his hands in his pocket and started walking.
Lake Verity. Here everything seems calm and beautiful, for it was almost midnight. Flowers had just opened themselves and revealed their petals, the moon shone brighter than ever, and the cold breeze of February sometimes blew right above the lake water, making silvery ripples that shimmered.
"Lake Verity…" said a voice which belonged to Dawn. "Finally…. Just what I need…to be alone…" she once again felt the cold breeze. "Maybe I could stay there…" she had spotted the big rock over at the edge of the lake.
"So…" she said very softly, not wanting anybody to hear her if someone was spying on her. "An hour left before Valentine's Day. But…it seems like everyone but me is in love…" she leaned her back against the big rock, and picked a violet flower, smelling its aroma. "I mean… I've been thinking about this the whole day… with Kenny being in love…but with another girl….I'm just happy for him, but…" she didn't dare to continue talking. Why did she care if Kenny loved someone else? What did she have to do with his love life? Why is she even thinking about this? She would like to know, but it hurts her so much just thinking about it. Is this feeling… heartbroken? Does this feeling mean loving someone who doesn't love you back? If it was, she could die in seconds thinking about it. So she reached to a conclusion: she did love Kenny, but never loved her back. Well… what more can she do but cry?
She just hated this stupid feeling, so she started singing softly.
(My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne) Don't leave me hanging You were all the things I thought I knew You were everything, everything All of our memories so close to me
Let's talk this over
It's not like we're dead
Was it something I did?
Was it something you said?
In a city so dead
Held up so high
On such a breakable thread
And I thought we could be
That I wanted
We were meant to be, supposed to be
But we lost it
Just fade away
All this time you were pretending
So much for my happy ending...
Kenny looked around the place, making sure no one was following him before he could enter the lake. He looked at his Pokewatch, which said 11:13 pm. He sighed, and slowly walked into the trees. "I'd better be going before anyone else sees me here. I am so gonna be dead if someone spots me here." Kenny ran into the trees as quickly as he can. Unfortunately, he heard a voice singing and crying at the same time. So he hid behind a tree, and saw a girl laying down on a big rock. "D-dawn…?" he whispered.
(Dawn was still singing) It's nice to know we had it all He was everything, everything All of the memories so close to me
It's nice to know that you were there
Thanks for acting like you cared
And making me feel like I was the only one
Thanks for watching as I fall
And letting me know we were done
That I wanted
We were meant to be, supposed to be
But we lost it
Just fade away
All this time you were pretending
So much for my happy ending...
Dawn had already cried so much. She couldn't stop her heart from going to the one she truly loved. Had love always been so cruel?
*Rustle… rustle…*
"W-who's there? Show yourself!" Dawn sat upright and trembled. She had forgotten her pokeballs in her bag at the PokeCenter. She couldn't speak so much because of her constant crying.
THUD!
The auburn boy had appeared, only he had shown up by accident. "K-kenny? You were listening to me this whole time?" Dawn felt her heart break into a million pieces. "N-no! I just came here because I wanted to! I never knew you were gonna be here! Plus, I was supposed to go back home but I tripped on a rock and fell here. Stupid rock." Kenny stood upright, brushing away the grass from his shirt. He approached Dawn with caution, not wanting to look at her. He lay down at the big rock, too, beside Dawn. She would've run for her life to get away from him, but to her surprise, she stopped crying.
"Umm Dawn… what are you doing here?" Kenny stared at Dawn.
"Nothing. Just wanted fresh air, that's all."
"Really?"
"Yeah…" Dawn stared at the lake.
Then, no one spoke for about 5 minutes. Wanting to talk now, Dawn spoke up.
"Kenny…?"
"Yes…?"
"Who was your girlfriend this morning?"
"M-my girlfriend?" Kenny was puzzled.
"Well yeah… the yellow-haired girl…?" Dawn put her hand on her heart, trying so hard for her heart not to break into million pieces again.
"Oh! You mean the one I gave flowers to? The tall blondie?" Kenny said excitedly.
"Y-yes…" Dawn couldn't take it anymore. She started crying again.
"Oh Dawn…why are you crying?"
"Like you care… you have a girlfriend already…" Dawn looked away; it just hurt her so much to look at him.
"Girlfriend? I don't have one!"
"Please just don't lie to me… who was the blondie? And why did you give flowers to her then if you don't like her?" she still looked away.
"Oh! You mean Melody? You thought that she was my girlfriend?" Kenny started laughing.
"W-why are you laughing?" Dawn was angered a bit more.
"She's not my girlfriend. She's Barry's girlfriend. Barry instructed me to give her the flowers because he couldn't be in Sandgem today and tomorrow morning. So I went to her and gave her the flowers." Kenny said proudly, smiling at Dawn.
"Then why did I hear the word 'date' ? Were you planning on inviting her on a date?"
"Oh, Barry was supposed to take her out tonight on a date, but he had important stuff to do."
"Oh…" Dawn was so guilty because she accused Kenny that he had a girlfriend. She had already stopped crying, but for some reason, her heart still hurt, like there was still something missing in her life, something she had to know…
"Wow, 11:46 pm already, that was fast. 14 more minutes to go before Valentine's Day." Kenny looked at his watch.
"K-kenny…? May I ask you something?"
"What?"
"…Who are you spending Valentine's Day with?" Dawn wanted to know the truth.
"Actually, no one… but I was supposed to ask someone out to go with me tomorrow… but…" he stopped talking.
"Who were you supposed to ask?" she asked curiously.
Kenny didn't answer.
"Who?" she said impatiently.
Still no answer.
"I will not stop asking you unless you give me a straight answer!" Dawn started to cry again, wanting so bad to know the truth.
"…it's you, okay? But… you were asleep for the whole day… I was supposed to wake you up but… you looked so beautiful when you sleep… I just couldn't help but stare at you, not wanting to destroy you peaceful dreams… so please don't cry anymore…" Kenny looked at the lake, blushing. He couldn't help saying that; he loved her so much that it hurt him to see her cry. It hurt him to see her with another boy. It hurt him so much that he loved her. It was all too painful to know the truth about who she loved.
"Of course I will…" Dawn came closer to Kenny, resting her head on his shoulder.
"What…?" Kenny blushed.
"Of course I'll go out with you tomor—"
DING! DING! The big clock in Hearthome City had rung, indicating it was 12:00 am.
"I mean, later…" Dawn stood up, looking at the moon, and walked a bit around the lake.
"Where are you going, Dawn? Valentine's Day has just started and you're leaving already…?" Kenny stood up from the rock too.
Dawn didn't answer, but she didn't leave too; she just kneeled down in front of the lake, 5 feet from where Kenny stood. She looked at her reflection on the water, and giggled. "Do you like me..?" she had questioned straight to him but it was the only one she wanted to know the whole time. But now, she didn't feel scared to know the truth. She just looked at the lake water, and the shimmering light that reflected on it.
"L-like you?" Kenny stuttered.
"Well, yeah… because… I can't believe I'm gonna say this…." Dawn took a deep breath.
"What…?" Kenny sat beside Dawn, staring at her.
"I love the same auburn-haired boy I used to be friends with up till now… in other words, I love you, Kenny…" she still stared at the water, only now she stared at Kenny's reflection on the water.
Kenny smiled. He never felt this happy before. "I don't care if I didn't eat yet; I'm just happy to see and spend time with you here. It's because… I, too, love you Dawn…" the fifteen year-old boy had stared intently at Dawn's sapphire eyes, which stared back at him.
Then, under the shimmering moonlight, around the soft grass and the flowers, they kissed, not caring in the world for anything… they felt like they were the only ones who occupied this world, this day of Valentine's…
"Happy Valentines…" the two said to each other, blushing but very happy…
Only one thought was on Dawn's mind right now: Was this a dream?