Sadness Exists

I always find myself watching sad things on the internet. Guess that’s just how the vibe is this year. Woeful. Nevertheless, I learnt something about love and I want to tell you the best way I know how.

So here goes: Emily was a pretty girl in high school. People admired her because she was so hardworking. Often, you’d find her in the fields, harvesting and pounding mahangu.

She lived next door to Deon, a boy her age whom she always found annoying. But they had known each other since they were children – playing in the sand and always getting up to no good…

At some point, Deon took over the responsibility of making sure Emily got to school and returned home safely, because the floods were common during the rainy season. It was sometimes difficult to move around, but Deon was always there to take care of her.

Eventually, they drifted apart, because Emily got serious with school. Deon made sure he did everything he could to keep her in his life, even if it meant taking on the role of an overprotective big brother.

At some point, Emily had a crush on a new guy at school. His name was Paul. He was a quiet guy and Emily found him terribly attractive, even though the other girls didn’t pay much attention to him.

She’d often feel her heart speeding up and got nervous whenever he was in the vicinity. It took her some time to realise that she was falling in love with him. What other explanation was there, when he was the only one who made her feel different?

Her best friend encouraged her to tell him the truth otherwise she would live with regrets. This thought played around in her mind often. What if he rejected her? But also, what if he loved her? She was unsure of Paul’s feelings for her, but she knew that holding her feelings in would only make things worse. The thing about Paul was that he grew even more handsome over time and the other girls started paying more attention to him. That made her sad.

Deon watched from afar as Emily stole glances at a guy who was always surrounded by girls at school, except her. He could almost feel her pain.

But Emily insisted on telling Paul the truth about her feelings. Maybe he would change his mind. Deon knew it was a bad idea and warned her. “Don’t tell him until you’re sure.”

She did not listen.

She needed to confess.

One day, Emily wrote him a heartfelt letter, pouring out her soul. She almost felt free. Now, all she had to do was give Paul her heart and hope for the best.

She chose to do it after school. Paul was always staying behind to help the teachers, so she’d catch him then. Just as she was about to give him the letter in the corridor, she noticed his distraught appearance.

She was torn inside seeing him that way. What happened?

“I just lost the love of my life,” he said. Someone in his grade had confessed to his crush of three years – he watched it happen minutes before.

“You should go home,” he urged her with saddened eyes.

As soon as he walked away, she dropped the letter and fell to her knees. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She never had his heart, she realised. Not at all. Little did she know that Deon was leaning against the wall with a love letter of his own addressed to Emily. Slowly, but surely, he tore up the letter and went to comfort his crush.

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