15 Chapter Fifteen

It takes a moment's courage to change your life. That's all it takes, genuinely. You need to disregard any thoughts you have and disregard your better judgement and just take the plunge and say YES.

And that's exactly what she did. She said yes. A yes, that's all it ever takes.

And in that exact moment, she realised she'd say yes to opportunities. She has been sad for way too long and it was starting to all come back. The more she kept realising that she was wasting the prime years of her life by being inside of her shell, the more her future self was going to regret it.

She wanted to be a carefree girl again who ran around the narrow streets barefeet, laughing at things that made no sense. Although, to some, that may seem like the most normal of a thing to do. But to her, it was a whole new world. In the last hour, she wished a stranger happy birthday, cut their birthday cake, sang them a song at a bakery, wrote them a note, and said yes to them for a tour around the town from a perspective that was completely different from hers.

Was she going to regret it? She didn't know yet.

Was she excited for the first after a year? Definitely. A big yes. The adrenaline was coursing through her veins and she thought she'd almost pass out. She felt too big and too small at the same time.

She suddenly felt in the mood to fall in love.

She wanted to fall in love with herself. With this town. With people. With memories. With flowers. With everything that was coming her way.

She wanted to fall in love with her life.

When she'd left her house in the morning, subconsciously making her way to her school which supposedly ended a day before, she wasn't even sure where she was heading. She didn't know what to do with her day. Maybe she'd have called Kevin after her realisation had finally dawned upon her, or maybe she'd have strolled around the park, or something.

She didn't know what to do because a year ago, she was spending this day with her now ex-boyfriend, who she loved more than herself.

It was Jesse's birthday. And she didn't know what to do with. She wanted to call him and wish him and tell him that she still wonders what went wrong, but every time her fingers found enough courage to actually get to the dial button, she feverishly quit the idea. What if he didn't want to hear from her, she wondered.

Should she have sent a text for old times' sake? After all, the did have a history together?

She was contemplating all sorts of yes and a no before just deciding to stay put at that one place who she knew she was completely safe at.

But turns out, life is a funny little thing. She ended up celebrating a birthday anyway, if not Jesse's. Truthfully, she didn't much mind it. Conversely, this was the first time in a long period that she felt such joy in her heart. A part of her still felt bad about not being able to give him something he could possibly cherish.

As if on cue, she suddenly remembered something.

"Uh, wait, Ryan, I actually do have something for you… I mean, it's not something precious and has no uh material value… but it's still, how do I say this, uh, irreplaceable for me."

"Hey, no! It's fine. I was just messing around with you. I mean, I am a stranger who literally pushed you towards giving me a birthday present. It's not your fault that you came unprepared," Ryan tried to reason with her as he could see she genuinely felt guilty about his this whole ordeal. He thought that with her gullibility, people could manipulate her into doing anything. He needs to change that.

"No, it really is fine. I mean it isn't anything special or of monetary value, but it's still very personal. I think you can have it, that is if you don't mind?" She proceeded to take out a baby pink envelope and extended it to Ryan. Ryan, of course, still surprised by this, looked at it for a little too long but accepted it anyway.

"Uhm, it is a letter from my mother and I have had it for way too long now. I remember it verbatim, but this is the most precious thing I can offer you at this point," she went on explaining but he barely paid any attention. He looked at the envelope in her hand and thought a lot about the situation at hand. He was genuinely fascinated by how kind she was but at the same time annoyed by it that she would go to such grave extents for a stranger. Her kindness could be taken for granted and he didn't like that idea.

On the other hand, Myra decided it'd been way too long that she sat around in a circle of mindless worries. It was all over now. And it's ironic and hilarious, both, that her moment of courage came from a strange meeting with a dude celebrating his birthday at a bakery at 9 in the morning.

She looked outside, the sun still shone brightly. The town was covered with a blissful yellow shade and it made her happy. The day reminded her of a field full of sunflowers.

Earlier, whenever Myra got her heart broken, she automatically started jogging. When she fought with her cousins at her previous home, or when nobody in her previosu school wanted to befriend her due to the rumours that her cousins, Sidney, had spread.

Why? Because jogging makes your body lose water, and that makes it difficult for me to wail and sob. Every day, after school, Myra would walk out of her school building, before taking the 13:07 bus, she would cross and touchdown the bus stop, further through the staircase, and walk her way to this bakery. The cityscape is beautiful, and maybe that's the only good thing about it.

Amore… the only place she could afford. The owner, Mary, here had been quite encouraging and was trying er best to set her up with the hot boys that came to her shop day in and out. It'd been well over a year but Myra was still too dejected.