“Hey, hey, you, you I don’t like your girlfriend! No way, no way, I think you need a new one!”belted out Emerald, singing along to the song playing from her speaker. Her addiction for Avril Lavigne has consumed her young self. With pigtails, black eyeliner, and a rock star costume, she danced around her room like a mad man, her arms flailing, her head banging. Suddenly, the door opened with a bang and a gangly boy her age came in, turning the speakers off as he did.
“Enough with Avril’s shrill voice, please!” Justin, her best friend, cried out. Emerald stopped dancing and shot him a deadly glare. “Shrill?! Come on! You just don’t know how to appreciate her type of music!” she bit back, turning the music back on. Justin wouldn’t let her get away with it, though. He turned off the song and hit next, playing a Westlife song. And so the fight for Avril’s and Westlife’s songs started, a stupid fight that soon turned into a fit of giggles.
Their friendship grew. They were fifteen when their families gathered for a small celebration. It was at that time when people started to notice something between them. While everyone else was busy having fun, the two of them sneaked out of the room. They sat on a bench in the backyard garden.
“You know, I’ve been thinking. If neither of us is married by our 35th birthday, we’ll have to marry each other. But it’s just a thought,” Justin said, his eyes glinting with hope.
“Sure. Why not? I’d marry you.”
“Really? That’s 20 years away, though.”
“Yeah. Promise.”
And so, a promise was made between the two of them, a promise that one of them was holding on to.
During their high school years, the girl blossomed into a beautiful young lady, causing suitors here and there. Every time a boy would try and court her, she would always tell Justin about the said suitor. Then, Justin would have a talk with Emerald’s suitor, which sometimes led into fist fights. In the end, the two of them would just laugh about the whole thing.
Every day that they were together, the stronger the bond became, the higher the hopes of them fulfilling the promise they made with each other. But, like any other story, the problems came. College came.
They both knew it was going to be hard for them to be together at all times ever since they stepped into college because of the different courses they took, but they did try to spend time with each other as much as they could. Every morning, they would go to school together. But as time stretched and school work piled up, the bond between them stretched and thinned as well. Justin spent every second on his thesis while Emerald enjoyed her precious time on both her studies and her friends.
Graduation came, but still, no words were spoken between the two of them.
Eventually, both of them found jobs. Justin thought that maybe Emerald was just busy with what she was doing, and that she was happy, and so he let her be.
On the year of they were both turning 35, he realized that he had to tell her. He had to confess. He had to tell her that he was still holding on to their promise. He did know she was still single. Well, he thought he knew that she was single.
On Emerald’s 35th birthday, Justin showed up for the event, taking up all his courage to confess his years’ worth of love for Emerald.
On the occasion, a buzz of excitement hung in the air. A crowd formed in front of him, blocking whatever was there. Then, he saw her. Her face was lit up with a smile that has been glued to his mind, and his heart. But the smile he remembered was not the smile of the same reason that she did a long time ago. She was smiling because there in front of her, a man was kneeling, offering his love to her, asking her to be his wife.
“Yes,” said Emerald.
Justin’s heart sank with melancholy. How could he have thought that they were both holding on to their promise?
Tears ran down his cheeks. It was such a pain to see her hug her future husband, but it was all so beautiful as well, seeing her happy like this.
She locked eyes with Justin, giving him a warm smile, but all he could manage to give back was a weak one. He waved and turned away, his eyes wet with tears.