I. The Start of a Chapter

I believe in beginnings.

Because every splendid start, resembles a potentially wonderful ending.

Then again… Maybe I never want it to end.

I don’t even know how to describe it.

It’s the same cosy feeling, yet completely different altogether.

He’s that one guy I know I could spend my life loving like I’ve never loved before; he’s that one guy I know could turn my life into hell, if he ever, ever turns away.

The thing about us: We have so much in common, and he’s everything I look for in a guy.

He walked all the way to the campus to find me, claiming that he really missed me and wanted to see me. I waited for him to come, and when he did, we walked out to buy some drinks and a few notebooks (all the while arguing whether we had five or six subjects this semester. It didn’t really matter, anyway. I already knew what I wanted to know. That I’d be sharing all my classes with him.)

And then we walked back. We didn’t want to part. Or at least, I knew I didn’t.

So we stayed. We took a campus tour. We ended back on the first place we knew in this university. The main field.

It was so surreal, sitting there watching stars, and just plain talking.

We talked about so many things, things I never knew we could talk about. Friends, family, school, past relationships, scarred memories…

He said it wasn’t easy. That he didn’t usually open up so quickly in front of others.

I smiled. Something about that statement made me feel light-headed with pleasure.

It was way past twelve when we (no, he) decided that I needed rest. Quite unwillingly, I got up, and he walked me back to my hostel.

“Will you be okay?” He asked suddenly, and I nodded, not quite sure what he meant.

He laughed lightly and pulled me into a big hug, then pressed a kiss onto my neck, holding me for a while before I insisted on letting go because the security guard was nearby, and I felt awkward.

But my gosh.

I couldn’t even begin to describe how wonderful it felt.

The little kisses he dropped on my ears; my forehead; my neck.

It made me feel… Loved?

He said he likes me. He said I’m a nice girl (… He must have been high on air.). He said I’m understanding. He said that even though we’ve only known each other for four days, it felt like we’ve known each other for at least a year.

I told my friends, barely half a day ago, that I felt like we’ve known each other forever.

And I hope; I truly, truly hope that I’m the one for him.

(Diary entry, written on the 16th June, 2008.)

You were horribly stinky the night we got together.

Okay, I’m sorry. That was a tad rude. I shall rephrase.

You didn’t smell all that great, the night we got together.

But it was the last thing on my mind.

I mean, think about it. We’ve only known each other for four days, and we’ve already held hands. We’ve already shared a few embraces. You’ve already kissed me… On my ear, of all places. But we weren’t anything.

It confused me to no end.

“I just… don’t know what to do.” I grumbled to Alex, our senior, your housemate. He liked playing the role of matchmaking, and I liked him when he was doing it. I liked it when he helped us. I sighed and hugged my knees close to my chest, my eyes darting back and forth, following your every move on the basketball court.

You held the ball in your hands, dribbling down the court with speed. Before I knew it, you jumped up and shot the ball into the hoop (You said that’s a… lay-up?). Despite my gloom, I smiled. You were a natural.

“What do you want, then?” Alex asked earnestly. I found myself shrugging, even though I knew the answer. “Do you want him?”

A shrug. I felt shy.

“Do you like him?” He pushed on, dragging a little on ‘like’.

A blush. I felt so shy.

“Silly girl.” He muttered, smacking me playfully. After a moment of silence, he continued. “You could ask him, you know.”

“Ask what?” My gaze were on you, my mind travelling way too fast from the present. In my mind, we were already happily getting married at the chapel, uttering vows that we’d hold true to our hearts.

So near, yet so bloody far.

“Ask him to be your boyfriend?”

My train of thoughts came to an abrupt halt as I turned to face him, my face the perfect portrait of horror.

Me? Asking you to be my boyfriend?

What?

“But… I’m…” I let my sentence hang in the air for a while, not knowing how to continue. I stared at him, still terrified with the idea. “But I’m a little conservative, see.”

And guys are supposed to ask girls to be their girlfriends; Not the other way round, for God's sake.

He rolled his eyes, “Fine, then. Keep pining for him. Keep going through whatever it is that you’re going through for the past few days. Keep staying unidentified. If neither one of you is ever going to pop the question, then so be it. But you’d feel awful. Trust me on this, babe.”

And he got up from his seat and left.

You looked out from the basketball court, your gaze roaming through the place, as though looking for someone. Then it landed on me, like a little boy who found the pebble he's been looking for, on the ground. You winked, and then refocused yourself in the game.

I hid my face in my hands, and faintly wondered if you were ever going to be a man.

“So…” I trailed off, not quite sure what to say.

We went for some drinks after your basketball session, my skin tingling each time our body came into contact. I hated you for causing all these effects; I loved you for not stopping.

But what, now?

We were walking back to the school hostel again, our speed a lot slower than our usual lightning pace. You were holding your bag with one hand, the other hand placed gently on my back, supporting me as we walked. I don’t understand why, but for some reasons you were always afraid that I’d somehow trip over thin air and fall.

I’m sure it has anything to do with the fact that ever since we met, all I managed to do was trip and fall, trip and fall. No, of course not.

“So…” You mimicked, putting on a challenging smile. “What is it, darlin’?”

I groaned inwardly. You were never going to ask, were you?

“What are we?” I asked in a rush, my words coming out in a mass of tangled, incoherent jumble. You raised an eyebrow, amused. I felt like grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you till your eyebrows fell off, but I refrained myself. I had wonderful self-perseverance. “Are we together?”

“Uh, yes?”

Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows.

“As in, officially?”

“Yes.” Your lips were twisted in a very weird way, like you were trying hard not to laugh at my bewilderment.

I persisted, “But, since when?”

You smiled. We were crossing the road now, and I looked both sides before crossing, but you held me back, pulling my left hand and intertwining it with your right.

Everything happened so fast, and the smartest thing I could do was blink. A few times.

Your smile turned smug.

“Since now.”

“Aack, no!” I protested, wringing my hand away. You frowned in confusion, and I remember stifling the urge to burst into fits of giggles. “You never even asked, and you expect me to be your girlfriend, just like that? No ring, no flowers, no kisses under the moonlight?”

If you hated me right then, you didn’t show it.

But ah, like the gentleman that you are (No, not really), you held my hand delicately in your own and asked, puppy-eyed and all, “Would you be my girlfriend, my love? Please? I’d kneel on the ground, but the road’s still wet from the rain this evening.”

I wrinkled my nose playfully, pretending to mull over this request.

“Just a reminder, this is the part where you go all hysterical and say ‘yes, yes I would!’”

And I said yes.

Yes, I would.

Then I pressed the light button on my watch. It was 10.53 p.m.

We became an official couple on the 17th June, 2008, at 10.53 p.m.

And by the way, you were horribly stinky the night we got together.

But its okay, I love you, anyway.

Your Belle.

a/n: I don't know if this is what you expected, but it just sorta came out like that, so yeah. I wanted it to have a flow, like all my other stories, from how they met, the things that happened, and all that jazz. But I thought I kinda covered a few of those bits in my prologue, so it'd be weird to talk about them again. I don't know. Could be editing this chapter. What d'you think? :)

Oh, and for those who're wondering...

Well. This is some sort of a true story. Some sort of. Haha.

Much love,
.