From: Your Secret Admirer

Chapter Sixteen

I was a coward for I settled in to hiding again. Mer and I didn't have any class the rest of the afternoon. I told her I would be going home straigth but I lied. I didn't go home. I went to sit on the bleachers, sat there and watched the cheerleaders from my college practicing their routines for hours. Why were they even practicing? Intrams was already finished.

I heaved a sigh as I stared ahead. I still felt bad about my situation with Franco. It was perfect, well, almost. But he had to go away to chase his dreams. And I get that. It was for his own good and happiness so I really had no say about his plans. But still it sucks.

So if it was not Franco, then who's the one for me?

I felt someone sitting beside me and when I took a glance at my left side, I saw Mark leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"You seemed to know where to find me," I told him. "Are you stalking me?"

He did not even glance at me when he replied. "Someone told me you're here."

"So... what brings you here?"

"You."

"Huh?"

He pulled out a sigh from his chest. "How about you? What brought you here?"

"Ryan."

"I see." He twisted a little to face me. "Tell me, Kyla, do you like me?"

"Why are you asking me that now?" I grumbled. "That's not fair."

"Then what is fair?" he asked, sounding a bit exasperated.

I turned to look at him. "Mark, I do feel something for you."

"But you're still not sure about it, right?" My silence confirmed his question. "I see. It's him. It has always been him, right?"

I shot him a puzzled look. "What? I don't get you."

"Your friend, Meredith, she was right. You really are clueless." I was surprise to hear him chuckle. "Just remember this--if he ever tried to hurt you in any way, I'll knock his teeth out again."

"Mark, what's with the riddles? I don't understand anything you're saying. You're just confusing me."

"You really are clueless, Dumbo." He extracted something from his backpack and handed me an envelope. "I had a very long talk with him and we agreed to let you decide."

"Decide for what?"

"Just open the envelope after I leave." Mark stood and looked at me. "He said you know where to find him." He started walking away when he suddenly stopped and look over his shoulder. "I still like you, Kyla. If you chose me, I'd be the happiest guy alive."

Mark left after he said those; his shoulders were kind of hunched forward as if he felt defeated.

I eyed the envelope and turned it to the other side. My name was written there. I opened it and pulled out a letter and began to read it. It said:

Kyla,

The first time I truly saw you, you took my breath away.

And since then, my life had changed.

The longer I keep my feelings inside, the more it grows and wants to burst out of my chest.

I can no longer hide these emotions deep inside of me.

And so I want to tell you that...

Your face is the moon the shines my lonely night...

Your eyes are the stars that adorned the velvet sky...

Your hair is as soft as the silk spun of gold...

Your lips are as crimson as a blood red rose...

Your smile captured my soul...

Your touch gave warmth to a night so cold...

You're my angel, with wings so wide...

With stars surrounding your beautiful sight...

Your beauty captivates my heart...

And forever, I will be yours and yours alone...

Deja-vu swept on me again. I knew this letter. I remembered this poem.

I remembered sitting under the tree, my notebook on my lap as I wrote down the words he spoke. I remembered laughing at what he had dictated.

"This love letter is so lame!" I joked.

"But those are exactly the words I wanted to tell her," he said. "That is exactly how I see her. That is exactly what I feel for her..."

This was the letter I helped him write. This was the poem he had said he wanted to give to the girl he really loved.

"Do you think she will like it?" he asked.

"She will definitely love it, Ry. I know I would."

This poem was really for me all along.