"Will this really be the usual flow of my life?"
A person leaned towards the steel bars that served as a safety precaution to prevent anyone from falling from the fifth floor of the building.
The person was twenty-one years old and had brown eyes and black hair. His height was average, and so was his physique--more like so-so to be true. He was someone who was slightly tanned and had a cheerful personality if it weren't for the tragedy that had struck him a few moments ago.
He leaned closer than ever, his upper body was basically sticking out of the safe area. The desperate teenager could only weep without wiping any of it off his cheeks. It was nighttime, and the city beneath him was illuminated with various colors. On his right hand was a bouquet of flowers wrapped in plastic dyed in pink, and on the ground near his left foot was a crushed heart-shaped present that was filled with delicious, home-made chocolate.
It's Valentine's, but he had just got his heart crushed. It's overwhelming.
It's his first time, but for him, it's the umpteenth time being brokenhearted. It's not just romance that sets him in such a mood, but it's the last straw nonetheless.
Despite his efforts to wipe the bitter memory that he gained earlier, what the mind did was replay it again, disobeying his command of forgetting it.
"I wonder if I could buy you something to mark our second year of being together."
"..."
A couple was seen holding hands as they searched for various school supplies for the upcoming school year. It was definitely a date, but the atmosphere doesn't feel what one would be supposed to. Despite all the boy's efforts to make the girl smile, she was frowning, clearly depicting that she's not in a wonderful mood.
"Maybe something happened. She's not in the mood right now", he thought. He tried to recollect all his moments with her to see if he did something wrong, to no avail. He concluded by not asking her about it.
"...Hey."
He was pulled back to reality when his girlfriend broke the silence with her first word during their time together.
"Y-Yes? Did you say something? Sorry, I was lost in thought."
"...I've had enough."
"Pardon?"
"I said I've had enough. Let's end this farce."
The boy was shocked. Of course, anyone would, especially when he's serious about their relationship. He tried to dig up any traces of dishonesty that he might have done during the span of two years, this time desperately. No matter how hard he tried, he didn't remember a single one.
"M-May I ask why?" the boy hesitatingly asked, his voice trembling. "Did I do something that made you feel like breaking up?"
"I... It wasn't you who did wrong. It was me. I lied to you. I simply accepted your confession to avoid further distress from having other boys confess to me. After a while, I tried to dismiss you by trying to provoke you into breaking up. And yet you still prevailed, and..." she paused for a moment before she continued. "It was me. Not you. I fell in love with another guy, despite us already dating. I said yes when he courted me."
"...When did that happen?"
"...Six months after we started going out."
The boy sincerely thanked her honesty despite the bitter revelation.
"Is that so?" The boy withdrew his hand from her grasp and extended it back to her, a gesture meant for a handshake. "Let's part ways here. I'll be fine. I'll see you at class. As classmates of course."
The girl's depressed face quickly turned 180 as she smiled. "Sure. As classmates."
The boy could only nod as they shook their hands, then watched the girl going away until she became a speck of dust.
"I... This is for the best, I guess," he mumbled.
Months went by, then came February. Of course no one in the academy doesn't know that certain date, especially the couples. Basically, love filled the air, making the boy feel uneasy.
Before, the boy was anticipating this day, but after what happened months prior, that anticipation dissipated from his mind.
"Is something wrong?"
"...? Oh, it's you. Nothing at all."
The voice came from a girl with red hair. He recognized this classmate of his, since she was coincidentally his seatmate during his first and second year in college. He could no longer recall her name, and the girl never mentioned it except during introductions on the first day of class, so it slipped in his mind. To him, she's the type of girl that's close yet so far in terms of relationship.
"You sure? You're the only one who talked to me when I was feeling down during our first year. Let me do the same."
"Thanks. I will. If I feel like it."
The redhead nodded. Then she tilted her head and glanced at his lap.
"So, you're giving it to her?"
"Yeah. My mother forcibly gave me this bouquet of flowers and chocolate for Ada."
"Break a leg then."
The boy nodded hesitantly. He sent a message to Ada, his ex-girlfriend, asking if she's fine going to the usual place they go to dates. He quickly received a reply saying yes.
However, the moment he went there, he was met with sexy moans and saw something he shouldn't have. It turns out that it was Ada's boyfriend who replied, smirking at him, all the while he's doing the deed with her.
The boy sighed for the umpteenth time. He could sense that his eyes are starting to ache after crying nonstop as soon as he reached his current location.
"I need to stop this. I must go home. Otherwise, my mother will be worried sick."
He started to head on the lower floors. He would occasionally glance at the couples sweetly walking side by side at the corner of his eyes.
"Hey, it's surprising to see you... Wait, did something happen!?"
He raised his head and saw his seatmate, the redhead. His eyes widened, and without thinking, he sprinted off, leaving the girl behind.
After minutes of running, he reached the ground floor, gasping for air.
Trickle.
"...? Rain?"
Just as he noticed, the rain started to pour heavily, making him drenched almost immediately. If he was in his normal self, he would've gone and taken shelter.
However, this situation was different.
At the very least, he could thank the sky for veiling his sorrow.
"Welcome back. Oh! Why are you so wet!? I thought I gave you the spare umbrella we have?" His mother wondered as she gave a dry towel for him to use.
"I, uh...I gave it to Ada."
"Mm. Very well then. Supper is ready! Help yourself."
"Thanks, Ma," he said and continued with an audible "I'm sorry."
"Huh? Did you say something, Keith?"
"Nothing. I'll head to the kitchen now."
Her mother warmly smiled and said, "Eat lots, alright?"
He nodded meekly.
Keith went to the kitchen and sat at his usual seat. He was about to reach for his food using his fork when he caught the glimpse of a common kitchen utensil placed on the cutting board.
"Perhaps mother forgot to wash those and left," he thought.
His unstable emotions suddenly prevailed.
Walking slowly, he asked himself if he did something wrong to receive an undesirable outcome in his life. He soon reached the item his intrusive thoughts had desired.
A newsflash the next morning detailed an incident regarding a college student taking his own life with a kitchen knife.