Romance.
The only genre I have always despised from deep within the depths of my soul. If one had asked me why, I couldn't give them an answer. I was just like that.
My relationship with anything romantic was like the relationship between two equal poles of a magnet. We just repel each other.
But what are siblings if not the people who make each other do things they would never do?
"Ah, come on! Just read the first book and tell me your thoughts!" My older sister said, handing over a thick, pink colored book with an expression devoid of any sympathy towards the hatred I had for that book.
Yes, my older sister just had to make me read her favorite book.
Which happened to be romance.
On top of that, it was the type of romance I hated more than any other romance.
Romance with toxic love interests.
"…What is this?!" a loud scream escapes, my fingers trembling at the sight I had just witnessed. For this poor mortal could not handle such a sight.
I turned to the next page of the book, the romance book my sister had given me a few months ago.
My fingers continued to tremble out of anger, and my eyebrows twitched occasionally as I continued reading.
"What kind of older sister gives something like this to their younger sibling?!" I held myself back from cursing at my older sister who wasn't even here right now.
Instead, I took a few deep breaths as a means to calm myself down. I calmly put the book down on the desk near my bed as my brain worked and searched for logic in my current situation. I closed my eyes, recalling what happened just a few months ago.
A month ago, late June. The weather started getting warmer and high school students such as myself still needed to attend the school.
The heat wave was no joke, but school spared no soul, despite the fact that everyone's final grades were already decided and unchangeable.
I finished high school with satisfying grades. Just like most students, I searched for nice universities I could enroll in.
I remember the moment when my mom, sister and I sat in the living room for hours, happily writing my name on different pages of many universities.
"It's okay, I'm sure they will reply soon!" My mom said something along those lines, cheerfully, as she patted my back, then added: "I'm sure they are busy, since everyone is sending their applications."
My grades were far away from bad, so I was confident enough to enroll in any university I wanted.
However, the truth hit me when replies from schools never came. No school has replied to any of my applications.
At first, I thought that was probably obvious, given that my mom and sister tried to enroll me in prestigious universities.
But not only did the prestigious universities not reply, but also the disreputable high schools showed no signs of replying.
We even tried applying to the universities outside of US, since my family often moved countires and I could speak a few other languages to some degree, but in vain.
Did I ever insult any high ranking official to the point they wouldn't accept me anywhere?
I mean, I surely did insult a lot of politicians, but never out loud!
One day, as I was desperately looking through internet sites with pair of black circles around my eyes and a hope to find a school, my sister barged into my room.
"Did you read it?" She said with sparkling eyes, pointing to the book in the corner of my room.
It was a book she had recommended to me before I even finished high school. A pink romance book.
Fortunately or not, I was too busy searching for a hipe in my future. I had no time to read things like that.
When I explained my obvious circumstances to her, she rolled her eyes as if annoyed.
For the sake of my own future, sanity and well-being, I was about to politely kick her out of my room, but she said something unexpected.
"I'll help you enroll in a great school if you promise to read it before the summer vacation ends."
As soon as she said those words, I shook her hands politely with a smile.
Contract with the devil: signed.
It was not until a month later, A.K.A. now, that I regretted that choice.
I read the book carefully — with a demeanor as calm as possible — through the whole summer vacation.
However, just because I acted calmly did not mean I was calm. My blood boiled like water in a pot.
I have often questioned my older sister's sanity.
However, it seemed as if she had reached the climax of her insanity the moment she handed me that pink book with a golden title.
'How could she carelessly give me something like this?' It was a question I asked myself as I tossed and turned in my bed, getting myself entangled in a blanket.
'And what's up with the main character, the female lead?!' Yet another question popped up, but this time, I punched my pillow like a crazy person.
Had someone seen me assaulting that pillow, they would have thought the pillow was my eternal sworn enemy.
On the contrary, I fancied that pillow quite a bit. Sorry.
After fixing the shape of my poor pillow, I looked towards the ominously pink book with even angrier expression.
Yes, today was the day when I saw the spoilers about the final ML.
'Why are you tolerating such jerks?!' I wanted to ask the FL, but to avail.
'You should have picked the 3rd ML who truly cares about you and loves you!'
The 'To Live for You' was my older sister's favorite book.
A book with 3 Male Leads (MLs for short), one Female Lead (FL) and some side characters and 1-star rated villains.
As per usual, in the book, almost everyone falls in love with the FL's charms, including three rich sons of CEO-s of rivaling companies.
Cliché I unfortunately survived and witnessed.
In almost all of the five books, the ML 1 and ML 2 were arrogant and cliché-ridden, only manipulating the poor FL.
Honestly, I couldn't tell which ML was worse.
The internet held the same opinion as me.
_______
[@Ian_die.please57]
Guys, let's vote for the worst ML in 'To Live for You'! ^^
Option A: Ian
-The end game with our female lead Peony,
-Forgot her after 10 years of not meeting,
-very cold towards her,
-ignores her whenever he sees the opportunity, etc…
Option B: Éric
-approached her with bad intentions
-doesn't actually like her
-why is he even counted as A ML by the author???
Option C: Eugene ♡
-kind and caring
-handsome
-polite
-loves her
-gave up on her to make her happy….
Now that I look at the list, they are… Haa… if only option C was a little bit braver and more selfish ( ´-ω-)
_______
One person on the internet perfectly summarized their personalities. Reading that, I could see that their reading comprehension grades were high.
I looked down at the comments of that post.
_______
[@Eugenes_Left.arm]
@Ian_die.please57 lololol, I think your username tells us whom you are voting for
—>[@Ian_die.please57]
@Eugenes_Left.arm Oh my, was it that obvious? (*^^*)
__
[ian.u_are.my.fav]
@Ian_die.please57 Hey, at least the other two at least tried? The third one gave up and made the FL end up like that. All three of them are b*stards. Handsome ones at that. Ngl, Like them like that. Tall&Rich&Young&Handsome
—>[@Eugenes_Left.arm]
@ian.u_are.my.fav Is red your favorite color? You seem to be picking out those red flags right there
[@Ian_die.please57]
—>@ian.u_are.my.fav Wth?? I thought Rich Trash Ian's fans were nonexistent?? What's up with this?
__
[@just.a_reader51]
@Ian_die.please57 Why the voting? Didn't all of them end up tied for first place. FL should have ended up with Tiana at this point! She had the most chemistry with her best friend. Why are the authors avoiding gay/lesbian couples so much?!
[@Eugenes_Left.arm]
—>@just.a_reader51 Why are you getting our Eugene involved in this?! You are putting OUR Eugene in the same space as the two great trashes?!
_______
On the vote poll created by the post creator, of course, I voted for Ian.
Ever since I read about that guy, I promised myself that if my sister ever brought home someone like him, I'd drown him myself.
If I ever see you, I'll gauge both your and my eyes out.
Author is also not much better, writing something like this.
'I planned on finishing the book today, but…'
I was simply too frustrated to finish it now. Instead, I decided to go to bed early and get some rare quality sleep.
Ever since the school vacation started, I only read that book my sister gave me as if I were possesed.
'It's all that crazy book's fault.' I tossed and turned, punched my dear pillow here and there, before my heavy eyelids finally closed.