Once upon a time.

One summer, there is a girl who joined a widely known organization. She was 13 then, and was just dragged by her cousin and mom to attend this event. The girl was known to be quite outspoken, but has been sheltered by her family. She has been used to her own little world and doesn’t know what outside entails. After joining this org, she met a lot of people, good and bad. Just barely a month or two after joining, she finds herself in love situations.

She thought she fell in love with a boy whom she was good friends with, but turns out, the boy was just all talk. She thought her heart was broken. She felt her heart was broken. She thought she was in love. It turns out, she was misled. It wasn’t really love. Then, someone came.

He was one year older than her, someone who was friends with her since she joined. They were both new to the organization. They were in a group together with other newbies and some veterans in the organization. While she was trying to nurse her “broken” heart, he was there. He gave her a hug when she needed it; he became her crying shoulder and her confidante. Soon enough, they felt something for each other. He told her how he felt and she was surprised, but she was glad. There wasn’t much to it; their so called “courtship” lasted short. One fateful day in August, they had a misunderstanding and fought. But, the day ended and things turned around. The girl realized how much she cared for him and said.. “Yes.” That fateful day in August turned out to be their day. That day they can call theirs. The day when they became officially together as a couple.

The girl never thought she would be in too deep. She never thought that he will be someone special to her.

She was happy. For the first time, she felt butterflies every time she sees him. She felt cloud nine whenever she was with him. But it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy being with him. Everything was new to her. Being out of her normal life, meeting different people in all walks of life, meeting boys, and falling in love with a boy. It wasn’t easy meeting people. There were restrictions, rules. Things get complicated at times. People tagged her as a slut sometimes. People call her a flirt even. She was just friendly to everyone, both girls and boys. But yet, people think the worst of her. People think she’s a liar, people think she has someone else other than him. But she knew. She knew her heart belonged to him and him alone. She knew that she can love him for a very long time if time and circumstance allowed her to. But a lot of things went wrong, and both of them struggled to be together.

It came to a point he was unsure whether she was loyal. It came to a point that everything got the best of him, and he listened to everyone else except her. 

It came to a point that their love, their relationship was hindered by her mom. Yes, she was 13. He was 14. They were in love. But they were too young for a commitment, so her mother says. His brother though disagreed. But he understood her mother, so they both agreed to decide on the fate of the relationship. Things ended, but not their love. Being apart was hard, but it became harder because people fed him information, and thoughts which he knew weren’t true, but believed it anyway. She wanted him to stay with him, but she knew it was hard. She loved him with all her heart and kept her heart locked for him alone for a long time. He walked away, and decided to stop loving her because he thought that she lied to him, cheated on him, and that she was never the person he thought she was. It broke her heart. It broke his heart. Their 7-month relationship ended. But their love? They never knew. They never knew if it ended.

She later realized who he was in his life. Her first love. They say first love never dies. This might be the case for her. But she will always remember him. She will always think of him once in a while and what could have been. They used to be inseparable. She thought of forever with him. It was the first time she believed in happily ever after. She always believed in him. There was never a time she felt nothing for him. She always knew he will be special forever. But up until today, she remembers. She remembers everything. And she hopes he does too. Good and bad memories, and learning from them.

To the first love, to the first one who made us believe in happy ever afters. To the person who sweep us off our feet, and to our dreams of having our first love, our last.

To my first love. I know you won’t be able to read this. But tomorrow, is a very special day to the people who know you and love you. To me, it also marks the 31 day mark before I turn a year older. To you, happy birthday. May your wishes and dreams come true.