The Life of Eirḗnē

Chapter 17: Greatest Love

Sara

In a world where love can be used in a significant and lethal way, to balance the right and wrong of what love is supposed to be. Some people neglect the authenticity of what love is. One would go far as to even lose oneself to manifest factual love.

Last July of 2018, I had gotten out of a relationship, moving on quicker than I anticipated. It became a defensive mechanism to rapidly move on because I didn't want to take my time to lose myself in the void or swallow the truth of it being another trauma that I had to hold onto. This resulted in me dismissing all the trauma I've kept aside for so long. It had always found its way to shut me out no matter how much I wanted to save myself from it.

I spent months regaining myself mentally and physically. I considered my stay in the Philippines a breather and my reset button in life, if you will. Later I came to find out that I would eventually meet someone who would be the only reason that risking myself would become a liability.

It all started with him.

December 22, 2018

A month before we planned to meet, where and how we met was rather unusual. At fourteen, I couldn't take anything seriously, especially how I was living my life. It was a normal day when I needed something– or rather, someone – to keep me entertained. Albeit, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I thought it would be hilarious. It took less than a minute for it to download, and I created a profile right away. I stared at my screen, assessing the profiles of men left and right, until I had a notification ping me.

Bryce Pax

You're perfect.

Jae Min

Haha okay? Thanks though.

Our conversation escalated from then on, it left me astonished that we ventured right off the bat about how life was treating us individually. Originally, there was no intention of flirting whatsoever, but rather about taking one step ahead of getting to know one another. Shortly thereafter, we started taking our conversations elsewhere and followed each other on Twitter. I found myself unconsciously stalking his profile finding out he had released a song cover. I didn't hesitate to play the video, catching myself listening to it with a smile on my face.

I fell in love with his voice.

"Ayo, your voice is prettier than most girls in my school," was the first compliment I'd given him. Bryce felt proud, sharing a screenshot of our conversation in his story. It was the second interaction we had since the first time we had met.

Each day became more memorable than the last, the energy and effort of keeping each other in check were getting into my head at that point.

I took the first step in clearing the air and asked him, "Bryce? I have a question."

"Yes Sara?" He replied instantly.

It had taken me at least a solid minute to finally have the courage to ask him the question that had been boggling my mind, "Bryce, ano ba tayo?" I wanted to make things clear between us.

I had thoughts circulating in my head, already regretting that moment. The thoughts didn't stop until he said,

"I've liked you ever since, and I don't think it's going to change anytime soon."