Rose sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes.

She noticed it must be morning, as there was a streak of light shining through her curtains. Suddenly, her desk vibrated and startled her. Rose then realised she still had her phone locked in the drawer.

After standing up and getting the key, she unlocked it. She then held her phone but hesitated to turn on the screen. But after a deep breath, she turned it on. A message had been sent. It read:

Are you ignoring me on purpose? Even if you are busy studying, it shouldn’t take this long for you to get back to me.

Rose sighed. It was another message from her step-mother. Knowing she would use this as an excuse to get angry at her later, Rose decided to respond.

I was tired yesterday so I went to sleep early.

She then scrolled up to remember what it was she had to respond too. The earlier messages sent by her step-mom seemed to all be about the money Rose was spending.

“Why does she get so upset,” Rose said to herself. “I’m not even spending that much. Dad would never have—”

But she stopped herself from saying anymore and began typing. After responding to the earlier messages, Rose sat down at her desk and put her phone down.

“He really isn’t going to text me, is he…” she said to herself.

A minute passed by.

“Maybe he’s mad at me for leaving without saying anything.”

Rose grabbed her phone—opened Noah’s chat—and began typing. After a few minutes of trying to craft the perfect message, she hovered her thumb over the send button.

“AHHH!” she screamed as she pressed it.

She then quickly opened her desk drawer and threw the phone inside.

“Oh no!” she said, as she quickly checked to see if it had broken.

After inspecting the phone and confirming it wasn’t damaged, she calmly placed it back inside. All that was left to do was to wait for a response. That was if he would even respond to what she just sent. It was so unlike her, so she didn’t know what he would think.

Rose stood up and stretched. “Why am I being so dramatic?” she whispered.

The drawer then vibrated.

She stopped mid stretch. With her arms still in the air and a funny look on her face, she slowly looked at the desk.

One second passed.

Then two.

Then three.

Rose quickly opened the drawer again and grabbed her phone. There was a reply from Noah, and it read:

You should see the smile on my face. Okay. It’s still early, so we can meet before your lectures start. How about we see each other at the park in about 40 minutes, if that’s okay?

The enthusiasm of his response suddenly lifted a huge fog that was hovering over her. She typed once more.

40 minutes is fine!

Rose then realised 40 minutes wasn’t quite as long as it sounded, seeing as getting to the park was about a 10 minute bus journey. After rushing and doing the bare minimum to get ready, Rose left her accommodation to meet Noah.

When she reached the park, surprisingly he was already there—sitting on their usual bench. Rose also sat, but didn’t know what to say as she felt rather awkward.

“You okay?” Noah asked.

“Yeah,” Rose said. “I…I didn’t think you’d respond.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Noah said. “When I woke up and you had gone, I was going to send you a message. But I felt like I had hurt you, so I wanted to give you some space.”

“I decided to go to the library. Sorry for not telling you I was leaving.”

“No, it’s fine. As long as you’re okay. But. I was surprised to get that message from you.”

Rose started to look embarrassed. “I-I know…but I wanted to do more this time.”

Suddenly, she looked him in the eyes.

Noah froze.

“I…I really meant what I said in my text,” Rose said. “I-I hope you will give me another chance.”

Her words seemed to have stunned him as he sat there silently, with a twinkle in his eyes.

“You really meant it?”

“Y-Yes.”

Noah smiled. He then reached out his arms and gave her a hug.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting this,” he said. “I’m sorry for being so selfish. I feel really lucky right now. Okay. Let’s try again then.”

Rose couldn’t help but cry as they hugged. It annoyed her as the tears were dropping onto him, but she just felt so relieved and happy. At times like this, she was always surprised at just how generous and understanding Noah could be.

Eventually, they had parted ways—with Rose heading to her university to attend her lectures. But when she got there, she happened to come across a poster for the archery club. On it, was a new trial event for newcomers to attend.

Also, there was a picture of the club’s captain.

Sabrina.

After seeing this, she went on her phone and opened Noah’s chat. Rose then looked at the message she had sent him in the morning.

I want to be someone that makes you happy when you’re with them. Someone that makes your day better instead of worse. I want to change.

Rose then began to recall the several moments in which Sabrina had asked her to give the club another go. With the captain always having a fun and positive energy each encounter, it was hard not to feel happier when she’d talk to you.

After a slight pause, Rose took a picture of the poster and looked at it on her phone.

She smiled, as there was now a new path for her to follow.

“I told you she was bad news man.”

Suddenly, Rose overheard a conversation between two boys walking by.

“How could she lie to me like that? She said they were just friends.”

“Don’t look at me, I warned you didn’t I? She was hanging out with him way too much.”

“It hurts man. My chest hurts so bad.”

“Sounds like you’re heartbroken dude. I’ll come over today and we can chill okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah that’s fine….If I see that guy again, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“I don’t blame you. Even I’d want revenge for that.”

Just like Rose had been hearing recently, it sounded like another relationship had gone sour. But—as they walked off—she got a notification on her phone.

Recently, her phone’s browser would send random daily life advice. For some reason, they recently were all about relationships. Rose had heard people talking about phones secretly listening in on your conversations, so it was quite creepy at first. But she hadn’t been bothered to figure out how to turn it off, so usually swiped it away whenever it popped up.

“Five love languages?” Rose said, as she read the notification.

Deciding to click it, it sent her to an article about something called the ‘5 love languages’.

As she read down the page, the first tip she came across was about the ‘acts of service love language’. It was then Rose suddenly had a strange thought hovering at the back of her mind.

She felt like she had forgotten about something very important.