Chapter Text
Hmph. Valentine’s Day… the holiday that only exists to sell shitty perfumes has rolled around again. Maya chuckled to herself. Yes, isn’t it that? Well, maybe the perfumes aren’t so shitty, I suppose.
She nervously approached the brown bag taped to her locker. Every year prior, she had only received one rose — from Coco. Coming to it again felt nervewracking — like approaching an iron one has burned themselves on many times. Would the wound be healed this year?
She reached in and pulled out a rose. From… Coco. Of course. She pulled off the attached note and read it.
“Hoi, Maya, my roosknoppie! I hope this rose brightens your day and reminds you of how far you’ve come. May you have many, many more happy Valentine’s Days!”
She smiled. How sweet. She reached in again, bracing for it to be empty. To her delight, there was a second one.
YES! IT’S FROM… Mymy?
“HI MAYA I TROLLED YOU YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS FROM YOUR BELGIAN BOYFRIEND HAHA”
God damn it, Mymy.
She reached in the bag again, and it seemed empty. No… did he not?… Just then, she pricked her finger on a thorn. “Ow!” She pulled out the third rose, smiling widely.
From… Sjef.
“Hello, my dear Maya,
If they had allowed me, I would have bought a million roses to fill your bag! But they only limited me to one. Though it is not enough to say all that I wish to say, I hope it at least provides a small percentage of it.
They say one of the reasons roses are associated with love is that they take a long time to grow — nearly three years! You are a lot like a rose, in that way. All beautiful things blossom with time, light and care.
I hope that you always remember that you are beautiful.
Love, Sjef.”
She pressed the note to her heart. It was honestly sweeter than the rose.
She had, of course, bought one for Sjef too. Though the note wasn’t as elaborate.
“DEAR SJEFIE
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY I LOVE YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH XOXO
LOVE MAYA”
Still, it was perfect in its own way.
She went outside to find him. As she did so, she ran into Mymy.
“Hiya, my dear Belgian friend! Did you get my rose?”
She groaned. “Yes, I got it.”
“Don’t worry, I tricked him too! It was money well spent.”
“Whatever… did Kiki get you a rose?”
“Of course!” Mymy looked down sheepishly. “And I was feelin’ bad about, you know, she didn’t get into Leiden… but then I realized, wait a minute, I’m Mymy! So, let’s just say… she’s going to Leiden.”
“Aww… that’s so sweet!”
Mymy blushed. “Yeah… I’m really happy about that.”
Maya pinched her cheek. “Wittle Mymy is in wuv!”
“S-shut up, you Belgian! I’m an international criminal!”
“And a girl in love all the same!”
“Oh, whatever…” Mymy stormed off to go find Kiki. She found her looking at the rose with red cheeks. “Hey, my darling Kiki!”
“Ahoy, Mymy! Thank ya for the rose! I never got one of these. But I wanted to ask you about something…”
“Yes?”
“Me just got a interwebs mail from Leiden University… who rejected me a few months ago… changing their decision. Was that…”
“Whaaat? Leiden reversed their decision?! Man, it must be because you’re just so talented…”
Kiki pressed her lips onto hers. “Thank you, thank you, thank you Mymy!” Her pirate accent dropped.
Mymy’s entire face was red. “Uhm… what? I didn’t do anything, haha…”
Kiki tightly hugged her. “I’m so happy we’re going to the same university! Now we can be pirates together forever!!!”
“Hey, I will never turn to a life of degenerate law-breaking, thievery and piracy!… Though for you, maybe…”
She kissed her once again. “I’m really happy, Mymy. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Kiki.”
Meanwhile, Coco and Yfke had once again snuck onto the roof of the school.
“Auheh, hiya, Coco!” Yfke tightly hugged her.
“Hi, Yfke… happy Valentine’s Day!”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, my love!”
They sat down. “Everything is so beautiful now that spring has come… especially because there’s still a bit of winter remaining…” Coco said.
“That’s a lot like you, isn’t it?”
She tilted her head. “How do you mean?”
“There’s so much… blooming in you! So much artistic talent, so much love, so much faith… and yet the past has never vanished from you. That’s a hard combination to master, ain’t it?”
“I suppose…” She twirled her hair. “You know I really love you, right Yfke?”
“Of course, Coco.”
“Good. I just want you to know.” She put her head in Yfke’s lap. “Like a deer pants for water… so my soul longs for you.”
“Auheh, isn’t that a psalm?”
She cheekily smiled. “Yeah.”
She pulled Coco’s face up to hers and kissed her. “You’re my little psalmist, aren’t you!…”
“Yeah!” Coco nodded eagerly.
Yfke chuckled. “Well, my little psalmist… there are so many more psalms to be written! Only you’ll be making them with your paintbrush instead.” She stroked Coco’s hair. “Always know I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you…”
“I mean it. And you should be proud of yourself, too!”
“I’ll try!” She laughed. They continued to sit in silence as the gentle spring breeze and warm rays of the sun passed over them.
Down below, Maya finally found Sjef, waiting by their typical lunch spot.
They kissed. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Maya!” Sjef was hiding something behind his back.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Sjefie!” She still clutched the three roses in her hand.
“Did you like the note I wrote? Took me a good hour to write it!”
“Yes! It was very romantic. And… philosophical? But that somehow made it more romantic.” She grinned. “Did you like mine?”
“Very much so!” He kissed the note. “I’ve never read anything better!”
“Say, Sjefie, what are you hiding behind your back?”
“Well, um… I thought one little rose wasn’t enough, so…” He revealed a large bouquet of roses, along with a green book. “Surprise!”
She covered her mouth. “Oh my gosh, Sjefie! You shouldn’t have!” She excitedly took the roses out of his hands. “They’re so beautiful… thank you!”
“Of course, Maya!”
“What’s in the book?” She asked, taking that as well.
“Well, it’s uh… a collection of poems I’ve been writing. For you. And about you.” He blushed.
Her face went red. “Y-you… wrote… poetry… about me?!”
He nodded.
She embraced and kissed him. “Oh my gosh… that’s so romantic!… for me???”
He chuckled. “Yeah… I think about you a lot.”
“Me too. About you, I mean. Only my obsessiveness feels a bit creepier.”
“Hey, your scrapbook is a work of art and no one can convince me otherwise!” Sjef asserted.
“Thank you, Sjefie…” She scratched her hair. “Oh, that reminds me! Did you get your result back from Ghent?”
“Yep!” He pulled the envelope out from his pocket. “I have it right here! I wanted to open it with you!”
She pulled out her own envelope. “Me too! Let’s tear them together on the count of three. One… two… three…”
They each tore open their envelopes and pulled out the letters.
A look of relief and excitement came over Sjef’s face, and likewise over Maya’s. “Alright, on the count of three, let’s say what we got! One… two… three…”
“ACCEPTED!”
They screamed and tightly embraced each other, giggling like little children.
“We’re going to Belgium, Sjefie! Our dream is coming true!”
“Yes, Maya, it really is!” He began to cry onto her shoulder. “I’m… so happy…”
Maya began to tear up too. “Me too, Sjefie… I never dreamed it possible.” She sniffled. “I guess the essay really worked!”
“Thank God it did! Tell everyone on the group chat, we have to go out and celebrate!”
“Good idea!” She pulled out her phone and opened their group chat with themselves, Coco, Yfke, Mymy and Kiki.
Maya: “WE GOT INTO GHENT UNIVERSITY”
Mymy: “CONGRATULATIONS BELGIANS!!!!!!!!
I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT
GOOD JOB
VIVE LA BELGIQUE”
Coco: “0MG C0NGRAT5 R005KN0P13 AND SJ3F!!!”
Yfke: “auheh good job mara and golden haired boy”
Kiki: “ARRGH MATEYS CONGRATS! I KNEW YE HAD IT IN YA MAYA DE BRABANTSE! YO HO HO”
Maya: “come to the mall after school were going to celebrate!”
Mymy: “for sure for sure!
im bringing champagne to celebrate”
Coco: “N0 MYMY”
Kiki: “AYE MYMY”
Maya: “do as u please!!!”
Kiki: “yarrgh we should all ride the pirate ride again
together”
Coco: “n0 fUcK1nG wAy
1t5 wAY t00 sCARy”
Kiki: “nay coco ye just be a coward!!!”
Maya: “its a good idea
but well figure it out when we get there
:)
happy valentines day everyone
i love u all”
She laughed as she put her phone back in her pocket. “They’re coming.”
“Great!” The bell rang. “Well, I guess we’d better get going.”
“Yeah…” She chuckled. “Life moves on.”
She looked up to the bright spring sky.
Just to think… so many years spent in a bathroom stall…
So many years spent locked in my room…
So many years spent ignored by everyone around me…
And it only took one person…
And now the sky is sunny again…
And now I’m going to Belgium.
Life is strange that way.
What is life? What does it mean to live, and can it even be spoken of as a uniform thing? In a sense, to examine what life is, you have to look at the individual life of every creature in the world — yet to grasp the life of even one individual creature is, seemingly, impossible.
But is individuality itself flawed? Are we all truly nothing more than entirely distinct, instantiated beings colliding with one another?
No, and a thousand times no —
If the triumph of love exists — and it is difficult to claim it does not — it only exists because of the shared life all beings subsist in. A family may exist as six distinct individuals, or as a larger network, or as a nation, or as humanity as a whole — we may broaden the horizon until we arrive at existence itself, which the Creator bountifully shares with us. And He, in loving us first, has caused love to abound within the hearts of even the smallest organisms.
He says both “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) and “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) — for all is His light. That is life.
And so life will continue to illuminate the serene Dutch fields. It will continue to illuminate the hearts of all people. Natural beauty, after all, can only be truly resplendent when it is lit — or else, it remains dull and lifeless. Can one appreciate a bed of flowers in the night without the moon?
Positively not THE END.