February 13th is a busy day, no matter where you are. People rushing to get last second gifts, fruitlessly attempting to make reservations for restaurants, and create romantic dates cause great chaos. Be it on the sidewalks of San Fransokyo, or in the shops of Angeles Bay, not one person is immune to the hectic mood it creates.

A teenage girl sat at a desk in her room, twirling a strand of her long brown hair, bored out of her mind. Writer's block was weighing on her shoulders, making it difficult to get a decent idea for a Valentine's update to her fan fiction. The blank screen on her laptop wasn't helping her at all.

She sighed, irritated that she waited this long to start it, and that she didn't have any good ideas to jot down.

"Maybe I could write about a date night…" she muttered to herself, "But that would probably be too boring, and it has no plot." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"C'mon, brain, think of something."

"Karmi!"

Karmi jumped. A voice from another room breaking her unhelpful concentration. She stood up, closed her laptop and walked towards the door.

"Yes, Mom?" She called.

"Could you come into the kitchen for a minute, sweetheart?"

She could not believe it.

She could just not believe it.

Placed on the kitchen counter had to be one of the most beautiful floral arrangements she's ever seen. Organized inside of a red glass vase, purple delphinium stood tall and proud, as light pink stargazer lilies, baby blue hydrangeas, white roses and various foliage filled out the rest of its triangular shape. Next to the arrangement was an adorable plush llama, and a heart-shaped box that could only contain some sort of chocolates.

Karmi blinked a couple of times and shook her head.

"Wow." She mused. "Nanay really went all out this year."

"That's not from Nanay." Her mother said, picking up her purse. "And it's not addressed to me."

"Huh?"

Her mother pointed at a card, placed in the arrangement using a floral pick, Karmi's name written on it in cursive calligraphy.

"Oh." She muttered sheepishly, "Guess I missed that." Her mother laughed and put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Happens to the best of us, sweetheart." She kissed Karmi on the forehead. "I'm going to work now. I'll see you tonight."

"Bye, Mom."

Karmi gently took the card off of it's pick, inspecting the writing on the front before opening it.

Dearest Karmi,

I wrote your name in the sand but the waves washed it away,

Then I wrote it in the sky but the wind blew it away,

So I wrote it in my heart and that's where it will stay.

~ Your Secret Admirer

Karmi chuckled and rolled her eyes. She knew exactly who would come up with something so cheesy and be too shy to write his name on it. She pulled out her phone and scrolled for a while to find the right contact, finally hitting the call button when found.

It rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end asked.

"Hey Hiro." Karmi said, "What are you up to?"

"Oh, hey Karmi." Hiro said, "Nothing much, just helping my Aunt with some prep for Valentine's Day. You?"

"Trying to figure out who sent me an over-the-top Valentine. A huge bouquet of flowers, a stuffed animal, chocolates, the whole nine yards. They even wrote a cheesy poem and signed it with 'Your Secret Admirer'."

"Wow, that is a lot."

"But there's one thing that confuses me about it."

"What's that?"

"There's only a few people who know that my favorite flowers are stargazer lilies. And there are lilies in the bouquet."

He paused for a moment. She got him right where she wanted. "Must've been a lucky guess…"

"Hiro, I know that you sent me the Valentine."

Another pause. "...Okay. I sent it..."

"Awww!" Karmi couldn't contain her smile. "That is so sweet! You're awesome! Thank you!"

Hiro laughed, "It's no problem. I'm glad you like it!"

"Like it? I love it! It's an amazing gift! No, wait! The perfect gift! You know that I have to return the favor, right?"

"You really don't need to, I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day anyway…"

"Well, you went out of your way for me, and in my opinion, it's not fair that you don't get anything in return."

"... I'm not gonna be able to talk you out of this, am I?"

"Nope."

The Angeles Bay shopping district is a very busy place in general, but it becomes a madhouseright before any big holiday. Valentine's Day included.

Karmi walked forward, keeping a tight grip on her bright orange purse as she bumped into busy shopper after busy shopper. As of right now, she was one of them, trying to find a last second gift she can have sent to a person who lived 2 hours away from her.

Her mind was racing. She had to find the perfect gift for Hiro. Something that was even better than the gift she gave him. But how can you perfect perfection?

"Maybe I can send him some flowers." She mumbled, "He did say that his favorite flowers are gladiolus."

As she got closer to the local florist, she soon realized that flowers weren't going to work. The shop had a line of people heading out the door and around the corner.

"Yeah, not doing that." She turned on her heel, and continued to think. "Didn't he say that he liked building models? I could find him one."

Thankfully, the toy store nearby wasn't anywhere near as busy as the florist. It was quite easy for Karmi to walk inside and find where they kept the models. Beside the boxes were pre-made models, to give the buyer an idea of what they could make. She scanned the models. Planes, cars, and trains were the most common among them. She didn't want to give him something common. She wanted to find something amazing.

Then she saw it. It was a wooden model koi fish, that had a base with a crank. When it was turned, the koi would move as if it was swimming. She picked up one of the boxes beside the display.

"This is perfect!" She said, "Hiro's gonna love this!"

She turned over the box to look at the price, and her eyes widened in shock. She placed the box back where it belonged.

"Okay, a little out of budget…"

She felt her phone vibrate in her purse. Pulling it out, she read the text on the screen.

From Nanay:

Hi honey! Just wanted to let you know that your mom and I have something planned for us this evening. Come home soon!

She sighed. So much for finding a gift.

Karmi sat in the backseat of her mom's car, frustrated. Today definitely didn't go the way she wanted. She still wants to find something for Hiro, but everytime she gets an idea, there's a contradiction.

"I wanted to get him flowers," she thought to herself, "but the lines were too long and there's no way a florist in the right mind would take an order that close to Valentine's Day. I wanted to get him the model, but it was way out of my price range. I definitely can't get him chocolate, it could trigger his allergy. What am I gonna do?"

"Karmi, dear?"

Karmi looked up at the two women in the front seats. Her mother, a taller woman with the same dark brown hair and olive tan skin as her, kept her focus on the road. Her stepmother, whom she calls Nanay, was a little shorter than her mom, and had short black hair and fair skin. Her Nanay looked at her through the rearview mirror.

"Is something wrong? Are you not excited for the movie?"

"No, Nanay. It's not that. It's just…" she paused, trying to gather her thoughts. "I wanted to find a Valentine's gift for someone, but I don't know what to do, or what to get him. It's kinda irritating, you know?"

"I know that feeling, " the woman responded. "I felt that way quite a bit when your mother and I were dating. But, I learned really quickly that sometimes being there and spending time with them is better than any card, flowers or singing teddy bear you could give them."

"And you also learned that singing teddy bears get really annoying really fast." Her mother said with a laugh. "Especially when you have a toddler who couldn't get enough of the song it sung."

As the women laughed, Karmi thought for a moment, eyes lighting up when an idea came into place.

"Hey, Mom, Nanay?" She asked. "Do you mind if I borrow the car tomorrow?"

Karmi stood outside The Lucky Cat Cafe, taking in the familiar scenery. It had been a while since her mothers pulled her out of SFIT, and one of the big things she missed was coming by the cafe for an afternoon latte, and the weekly poetry nights.

Opening the door, she became aware of the scent of coffee and chocolate, and the chatter from the other patrons. She made her way to the counter, catching the attention of the auburn haired owner, Cass.

"Haven't seen you around here in awhile," Cass teased, "Your usual, Sweetie?"

"Not today." Karmi said, shyly grabbing the strap of her purse. "I'm actually here to see Hiro. Is he available?"

"Oh, yeah. He's upstairs. I'll go get him."

Karmi waited as patiently as she could, tapping her foot on the floor to release the nervous energy she had spent up, hoping that she wasn't looking rude by doing such.

It wasn't long before Cass reemerged from behind a curtain, giving her a little wink before walking off to help another customer. A short, raven haired boy followed suit, stopping dead in his tracks when he noticed who was at the counter.

"Karmi?" He asked, "What are you doing here?"

"You know how I said that I was gonna return the favor, right?" She started, "Well, I couldn't find anything that would be perfect for you. So, I decided to visit. We can hang out, if you want."

She turned away, trying to hide her blush. It wasn't like her to get so worked up over something like this.

"Yeah." Hiro said, blushing a little himself. "That'd be cool. We could go see a movie or something."

Karmi smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah, just let me get my phone." Hiro turned quickly and ran towards the stairs, leaving Karmi with her thoughts once again.

They weren't racing. She wasn't trying to figure out how to perfect perfection. There was one thing going through her mind.

"I freaking love this nerd."

Nanay ~ Filipino term used to refer to one's mother.