Everything seemed to go colossally right and collide at the exact right moment.

Graduation Day.

The smell of hospitals always scare her. But this time, she wasn't afraid. She was agitated, her grandfather impatiently walked to and fro the hospital asking about where the doctor was, in the end another doctor treated her and her ears are back to normal.

When she came back to school, she went to check her phone to see endless calls from her friend. 

They have not agreed to meet anywhere, but there they were.

She was holding two vouchers, vouchers to be redeemed as gifts. Being her impatient self, she couldn't wait to go redeem her gift. Who, in this world would ever give anything to her? Her friend, who was cheekily smiling as she went to the mart? Her other male best friend as she jokingly told him to get something for her? She was perplexed and she couldn't restrain her curiosity anymore.

There she was, waiting for the person in charge to give the gifts to her. As she was waiting, she saw a shadow of a purple shade lurking into the mart, then quickly went out of it. She thought the figure was familiar, but she brushed the feeling off and got a tap on the shoulder as she was shown the gifts she were receiving all this while. 

Three roses. White, pink, red. 

It didn't stop there, there was a plastic bouquet of flowers with a dainty tiny bear jutting out from the bouquet with flowers of her favourite colour. Finally, she received a card with her name wrongly spelled. Her friend popped out of nowhere and cautiously told her not to open the card yet.

As she walked out with her friend, they decided to head to class. Then, everything seemed to happen in a flash. They came to a stop as they saw the figure she saw at the mart a few moments ago.

He stood there in his crisply starched purple traditional clothing with the shyest impression she has ever seen in a guy. He scratched his head multiple times as he cautiously mumble out the careful thought-out words that fall out from his mouth. She squinted her eyes as she couldn't hear a word he said, the only thing she could remember was his stutter.

He handed a dainty red envelope and told her that he was supposed to give the flowers personally. She handed the flowers back to him and told him to pretend that she didn't spoil her surprise. He gave it back to her like normal, as if nothing ever happened. Her friend talked to him personally. As she was waiting, she was agitated to know what's to come. After that encounter with her friend, she gave him a card she made a night ago. In the end, he just walked away while they went to class.

She thought the moment would be over until she saw him in class. She hurriedly walked away to another class with her friend as he stopped her. He continued being uncertain, probably carving his words out carefully. She was certainly perplexed by his sudden peculiar behaviour. Then, the only thing she remembered was a thank you for him.

She was truly happy for the flowers as it was the first time anyone had ever bought her one. The last time she had experienced this feeling towards the other, it was virtual. This time around, it was real. Everything was real, it wasn't made up.

When the graduation event came, she was in the third rank in her school. She tried so hard to be the first.

"Why be top 3 when you can be number one?" 

The voices in her head screamed. Perfection chased her like a train wreck. She was still a disappointment to herself. She thought she was always one. She would beat herself up for it. When the time came for her to be announced as the best Co-Curricular female graduate, she kept a happy face. "I must keep up with this charade", she said. She put on her best award-winning smile as she stood at the corner. She could see her family's face up close. She was sorry. She was sorry, she was sorry she couldn't get the Best Student Award.

But when the emcee finished talking about her achievement, everything changes.

The first thing she saw was the standing ovation from her grandfather. She felt her eyes became glassy as she walked to the Head Director to receive the award. She heard the cheer from her mother and the proud face of her grandmother.

That was when she realized, that was all she needed. The happy faces from her family. To make them proud.

It was indeed the best day of her life. She would constantly ask herself whether these incidents did occur, because everything felt surreal, yet real at the same time.