A Day Seized

Love Virus (A Day Seized)

He lowered himself down and took a sniff. The sweet scent triggered his eyes to close and his mouth to craft a little smile.

The leaves rustled as a gentle breeze caressed the trees. It was a lovely day, clear blue skies, intense yet glazed with a layer of serenity so comforting one could lie down at a grass patch and forget about how sad life could be.

Marty stood up straight and stretched his hand forward. With a slight twist with his fingers, he plucked the carnation with a little part of its stem and raised it up to sniff it once again. The same smile showed on his face.

“She is going to love it.” He thought to himself as he continued his stroll along the pathway, a few roads away from her house.

He began recalling, reciting and rehearsing what he had been planning to say when he sees her at her front door.

“I am going to tell her, that we have known each other for quite some time… that she has been so good to me all these while… that she is pretty… and that I love her… and…”

“Cook lunch, and clean the room and…”

He paused, for two seconds.

“NO!!!” he shrieked furiously, shaking his head. “I am going to tell her, that we have known each other for quite some time…and…”

“You think this will work out?”

“I don’t know.”

“It will! Carry on with your speech.”

He continued his brisk stroll rehearsing at the same time. There wasn’t a need for him to hurry. She would only be home by three in the afternoon.


It was a big day for Marty. He was going to ask his first crush in school, Kath, to be his girlfriend. He had it all planned out – what to say, what to do. He planned it out all by himself, no help from anyone. He was proud of himself.

Kath was someone special to him. She was the first person that only spoke to him when no one else did in school. She was the first person that lent him a pencil when he did not have one during class. She was the only one that made him feel all butterflies and ticklish in his tummy whenever her presence was around him. She was the one that made him feel loved.

Fifteen minutes passed, but it didn’t seem like it for Marty. But it was so. There he was, only a few steps from Kath’s door. Like any normal guy’s first confession of his love for any normal girl, last minute hesitations began creeping into his thoughts. He was getting confused.

“I do not think it’s a good idea! This is ridiculous!”

“No it is not! She will love it! Do not stop what you have been planning!”

“But it’s just so ridiculous!”

“No it is not! Go knock on her door and say what you want to say now!”

“But…”

The ware-fare in him went on for approximately five minutes. In the end, both sides didn’t win. Both sides were interrupted by a familiar presence 20 meters away from where he was standing. It was the familiar medium-height figure with the familiar high rosy cheeks and pencil thin eye-brows. It was the familiar collage of baby blue and lime green flower prints on the sides of her tank-top.

It was Kath.

Marty gasped. He was feeling nervous yet calm at the same time. He stood there in awe, watching her stroll along the concrete pathway as the wind breezed through her dark silky hair flowing gracefully just below her shoulders.

A sudden rush of joy burst into his senses and a huge smile that stretched from his left to right crafted on his face.

“She’s waiting for me! So she did read what I wrote to her!” He exclaimed.

All thoughts of backing out vanished the moment he saw that, as though a mighty gush of confidence had rushed into his system, and eliminated all negativity that dwelled inside him. Confidently, he walked towards her direction.

“Kath,” He called, in a calm voice.

“Oh hi Marty,”



A slight pause.

“We have known each other for quite some time, and you have been so good to me all these while….”

He paused for a while, as he tried recollecting what he had rehearsed earlier. Kath had a smile on her face.

She seemed to know what he was about to say, like as though it was not Marty’s first time.

“You look pretty…” he continued. He forgot his speech.

“Why thank you Marty,” Kath replied, “You’re so sweet.”

It was the perfect time for Marty to say what he had always wanted to say. It was okay for him to forget his speech, because those words were merely supporting the main three words he planned to say to her. It was the perfect moment to say it.

He opened his mouth.


“I …I….I….”




“Kath!” a voice from behind them interrupted. Both Kath and Marty turned to see where the voice had come from.

A tall guy with broad shoulders came interrupting the moment. With the gentle wind breezing against his well-built self, he raised his hand and dashingly pushed his dark wavy hair back.

“There you are!” He said to Kath, as he intimately pecked her on the cheek. “We’re late, let’s go already!”

Kath smiled, and looked at him for a while. Then she looked at Marty again.

“I’m sorry Marty; this is Greg, my boyfriend. Got to go now, see you in school! ”

And they left.



Marty, stood there, jaw half opened. He did not say what he wanted to say. It would be pointless even if he had said it. That Greg guy came in and took her away just like that. It was too fast, too fast for him to handle. Who is Greg anyway? What did she say he was again?

The previous hesitations he refused to listen to dissipated into portions of condemnation, discrimination, embarrassment and regret that began creeping into his thoughts once again. This time, it was pushing harder through.

“Told you not to do it! Now look what you’ve done to yourself! You deserve it. “

“And you thought she was waiting for you! Ha-ha, Nonsense!”

“You should feel embarrassed! Stay at home and do your housework!”

“Why should she love you anyway? You’re not even a real boy!”

Marty did not know what to do. With the flower still in his hand, he stood there, motionless.

The virus had destroyed his whole system as the power light on his chest faded off.

“…love…you.”

“Error… Error… Error…”