Fiore

Did you ever fall in love? Or did you ever felt loved by someone who is very dear to you? Well, if your answer is yes from both of the question then i bet you are very lucky and happy with your life. But if you said no in one or both of the question then you should wait for the right time for it to come.

Love. What does love really means? Is it just a trend or a word that people invented in stories? There are too many things that we may think when hear the word love. Each and everyone of us has our own different versions and meanings of love. It is a word that has a vast definition that no one can exactly define its true meaning. It is a never ending mystery that all of us may feel in our lifetime. It’s inevitable and deep. Some may be able to express it by sharing their thoughts through talking and writing, some express it based from their actions and some may even use things as a symbol of what they feel to one another.

Seek and dare to know what love is and fall in love again.

Joshua Zipagan

Rosamund Mary

I wore a sleek tuxedo red as crimson

The same shade as the dress you’ve put on

Your smile lit up the whole of London

When you said “I, do” and put the ring on

You’re immersed in the beautiful melody

Now it’s time you’ll stop having nobody

You’re the best thing that happened to me

I will not give you up to anybody

In my own dessert, you were the garden

You were the primrose that were so golden

A red rose that would have never rotten

And the orchids that were soft as linen

You only were my everything

Now it is time to stop pretending

I’m just sad and deeply longing

for the love I am now missing

Your life was took in front of me

Now you’re just a vivid memory

I’ll love you till the death of me

My only Rosamund Mary

Kristine Cureg

Red Rose

Adrian loves to fetch a Red Rose for Rosamund mary.

It was his daily routine.

Running to his Mom’s flower shop and greeting her every morning and later on picking up the most beautiful, most delicate, and near perfection Red Rose that he can find that is fit to give for Rosamund Mary.

He clearly remembers the first time he picked a rose for her. The day wasn’t the loveliest sight for the young girl was crying and when he approached her and asked why, she replied “I wanted to pick a flower because I love how beautiful it looks, but I was pricked by the thorns of it.” while silently sobbing.

The Young Adrian neared the bushes where the said flower was connected and picked the one that Rosamund was aiming to get. He handed her the flower to try and stop the girl from crying out. Young Adrian told her, “You know, my Mom is a florist. She has a shop full of beautiful and different kinds of flowers.” with exaggerated way of speaking that’s is usual with kids which caught the attention and excitement of Rosamund Mary. “She also has a lot of roses there and if you want, I can give you one so that you won’t have to hurt yourself just by taking a flower here.” he continued when he realizes that he caught the interest of her. He noticed how the girl got so excited and as he might say, he might have seen stars sparkle in Rosamund Mary’s eyes that time. “You would do that for me? Really?” she replied with a high pitch voice and a smile plastered on her face directly sending a contagious happiness to the boy he is with. Young Adrian would be lying if he said that his heart didn’t feel anything when he saw her smile. He smiled back to her and replied with a simple “Yes”.

On that day onward, he promised to himself that he’ll do anything just to see her smile everyday and not be the same girl he met near the bushes of Roses.

“Here’s a flower for you” he started off when he reached her. She looked up and met with the same brown eyes of a raven haired guy she’s been with for the past few years, 5 years to be exact. She smiled and replied with “You don’t have to bring me a rose everyday we meet you know.” but nonetheless accepted it with a chuckle and not forgetting to say “thankyou”.

For the past years that they’ve been on each other’s side, both realized at some point in their friendship, there bloomed a new different set of feelings. Their friends are always teasing them but no one really made a move yet to approach the other about it. It maybe brought of lack of courage or maybe constantly pinning at each other and holding on to their pride. But one thing is sure, that they truly like each other a lot.

“Adrian” she called him out which he quickly snapped his head towards her to let her know that she has his attention. “Do you know why I really like Red Roses?” she said which made the boy curious of the reason but was quickly answered by Rosamund Mary by continuing with, “One out of two reasons is because I was named after this beautiful flower. Mom told me that her and dad named me after it because they believe that I am similar to the beautiful flower and it’s because they said that I was as fragile and beautiful as the red rose is.” she continued with a chuckle.

The reason of it was kept in his mind. He said in his mind that her parents wasn’t really lying when they said those. Because in his eyes, she’s truly as beautiful as a Rose. Maybe even better.

Adrian is confuse as to what was the second reason, so he asked.

“What’s the second reason?”

Rosamund Mary was taken aback by how fast Adrian became curious with the other reason, but still expected it.

“Because it holds a beautiful meaning.” she said, full of positive emotions radiating through it. “The Red Rose symbolizes True Love.” She lets go of a breath that she didn’t know she was holding that’s maybe because of nervousness. “The true love of being with someone who never fails to make you smile, the true love of having someone by your side till the end of you time. My dream of getting my own True Love.” She ended with a smile before walking away from Adrian.

But Adrian quickly called for her to make her stop which successfully happened.

“I like you.”

They both tensed up. But Adrian continued. “I like your eyes, your nose, your lips, the way you smile, the way you laugh, how adventurous you are, the way you always make me comfortable around you and the way you radiate happiness to everyone and… and—

—I just like Rosamund Mary. The same girl I met 8 years ago in the bushes of Red Roses here in London…—

—I like you.”

She smiled at his confession. They both waited for this for so long. To tell their feelings and to hear the other person say what they feel about the other. “I like you too.” She replied with a smile and pink tinted cheeks. He didn’t waste much time and ran over Rosamund Mary. Both Adrian’s hands wrapped around her waist and her hands wrapped around the raven guy’s neck.

“Is it true that you like me too? You’re not joking right?” He quickly asked her, worry is visible in his tone which made the girl chuckle a bit. “I’m not joking, I like you too” She replied. With that being said, he didn’t waste time. He pushed Rosamund Mary nearer to him as much as he could and captured the lips of her which resulted to both of them smiling contentedly through the kiss.

Nothing could possibly ruin their happy ending.

They lived their lives and later on decided to marry each other. It truly was their happiest day of being together.

Rose found her true love.

But it was not all hugs and kisses. It was not only joy and contentment.

Tragedy payed them a visit.

One day came and Rosamund Mary felt sick and vulnerable. She was running a high fever which was very unusual since she is always by his husband’s side to be taken care of. Adrian was so worried of his wife that he stayed by her side the whole time and didn’t open their flower shop. She said that she was okay and it’s just a fever so she can calm him a bit and showed him her usual smile.

The fever did go away or so did Adrian thought. Rosamund never told her husband about the constant cries she does every midnight and tries not to be loud that much so her husband won’t hear him. She feels pain all over her bones but shrug it off and only intake medicines. She tried to hide this as best as she could which resulted to it lasting for atleast a good year of keeping the pain to herself. But she failed to hide it nonetheless when Rosamund Mary fainted in the flower shop which resulted to her being rushed quickly to the hospital.

They are waiting for the results of her check-up. Adrian is confused and worried as to what is the reason but her wife doesn’t seem to feel any fear or worriedness.

“Miss Rosamund Mary?” the doctor said after coming back, holding the results in his hands. “Base on the results of all the tests done, I’m sorry to say but you’re suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia and because of lots of time wasted before you went for a check-up, it rapidly affected other parts of your body which resulted to lower possibility for survival.” the doctor finished. “What are you saying?! My wife is not gonna die. You’re useless of a doctor!” Adrian immediately attacked but he was startled more with what Rosamund Mary asked. “How many years left?” “Love!” adrian interrupted. “9 months” the doctor replied which Adrian answered with a “NO!!! She’s not dying!!”

Adrian convinced her to be checked by other doctors and go to better hospitals but later on failed for they received the same results. Adrian was truly a mess but Rosamund Mary? She was empty. Adrian later on accepted it with a heavy heart because of a smile and a simple reassurance from his wife that she’s okay.

She said that she doesn’t want to undergo transplant. She just wants to spend her remaining time with his husband and live as if everything was normal. Adrian lived the way her wife wants it to be. He was able to even fool himself that there weren’t really something that would take his wife from him. She spoiled her with love and she gave her all that she deserves. He knows that this wasn’t fair to him and mostly to his beautiful woman.

Early in the morning, She is right there. Smile is planted through her face and that hurt Adrian more than make him happy. He was hurt that she was able to make everyone who would come to their store happy when she herself is slowly losing the opportunity to feel that same emotion again.

Rosamund Mary quickly looked at her husband’s side when she felt him staring at her.

“why are you cryin– ” she asked but didn’t finish what she were saying when adrian cut him off.

“why didn’t you tell me? ” he mumbled.

“w-what? ” Rosamund Mary asked.

“I said why didn’t you tell me? ” Adrian repeated what he said. Wiping his tear away but can’t stop crying louder.

She only smiled in return and gave him the smile that Adrian love the most. The smile that Adrian wants to wake up to everyday. The smile that he wants to see for the rest of his life.

Rosamund Mary suddenly started crying and went near Adrian more so she can caress his cheeks and wipe off the unending tears that’s flowing down her husband’s cheeks. “You should have told me, so you don’t have to suffer alone Love, Y-you should have told me before…You know that I’ll do anything for you “He said while crying so hard and leaning in her palms more.

“Love…this was bound to happen. You don’t have to worry. Remember when the doctor said that my remaining time was 9 months? Guess what? God gave me a year to continue and be with you. Tomorrow will be our anniversary. Happy 8 years of friendship, 5 years of being your girlfriend and 3 years as your wife, Love.” Rosamund Mary said, still crying but kept her smile planted on her face.

She was breaking, she is hurt, she is in pain, but she chose not to let it show. She don’t want others to worry and wants her husband to live his life in the future with no pain and suffering.

“I-i can’t live without you ” Adrian stuttered and cried louder. “You can. I believe in you. You’re stronger than anyone I know.” She said before handing him a rose that She got earlier.

It’s her most favorite flower. The reason why they met each other.

Red Roses.

“For 15 years, you were always the one who give me flowers. I never got to show you how much I love you and never spoiled you the same way you spoiled me. I promise that you made me happier more than what I showed you. Your simple act is far better than any ferris wheel rides or expensive restaurant dates and is a very special thing that i’ll always be greatful for. Now it’s my turn to give you one. Take that as a sign of my unending love for you. Please be happy. I may not be with you physically on future days, but always remember that I’m in your heart. Forever, Love.” She was crying but surely it was a tear of not only sadness, but also joy and contentment.

Suddenly She started to tremble, Adrian doesn’t know what to do other than to cry. He tried his best and quickly carried her all the way to their car to go to the nearest hospital. Fear enveloped him.

“Please Love, Hold on please…Please Love, Please ” Adrian said while crying louder and harder this time. They were so close to the hospital when he noticed that she stopped moving. She stopped breathing.

She left him.

A year later

A bouquet of red roses is on his hand, ready to give them out to his precious lady. He was so excited to see her again and talk to her about their anniversary.

He placed it infront of her and spoke his words. “Love, Happy 8 years of friendship, 5 years of being your boyfriend and 4 years of being your husband. I miss you so much. It’s been a year but you still never fail to visit me in my dreams. I can’t forget about you and I’m seriously trying very hard.” He said while wiping the unending tears that flowed in his eyes.

“You truly are similar to a red rose like your parents told you. You were this gorgeous women who I never deserve in the first place. But like a rose, you come with thorns. I didn’t know that having you in my arms will be this much of a pain, but i’ll gladly accept it anyways.”

“You taught me to love you, but not how to stop. I’m about to say goodbye to you, but I seriously don’t know if I’ll be able can move on. Though nothing is easy, I wish I could laugh and be happy once again and say that i made you proud, My Greatest Memory.” “You were that photograph that I wish I captured in my life. Longer than I did. Forever is possible. But I guess OUR destination ends here My Love.”

“I love you till the death of me.”

“My Only Rosamund Mary.”

Fin.

Ricmar Manding

“Helianthus”

Have you ever thought of why things happen the way they do? Like happiness just lasts for a minute or worst a second. Because the moment you survive through a storm, life suddenly whispers behind your ears saying ‘Wait, I have more.’ No matter who you are or how old you are, we all face various obstacles and challenges that makes our lives difficult. The road will not always be smooth. Do you believe that how you react to what you are faced with determines what kind of outcome the rest of your journey through life will be like?

A lot of times life doesn’t go the way we want it to but we have to learn how to deal with it. I remember the day she left. It was raining so hard that time. Maybe that’s the reason why I’m afraid of the thunder and the storm. Or should I say I’m afraid of life cause my life has always been a storm. I wonder what she looks like right now. It’s been years since the last time I saw her. But last month was a different kind of heartbreak. He left. I can’t help but to question life. Of all people why should it has to be me? Why do I have to be away from my parents? A lot of unanswered question. It is true that some of the challenges we face will test our courage, strengths, weaknesses, and faith. But at the end of the day it is the person who we become that is important. Now I recalled how my father used to call me “Helianthus”, another term for sunflowers and I learned that sunflowers symbolizes endurance and strength to persever through the hardest moments. There it hits me. I really am like a sunflower who always look at the brigther side of life. And so I decided to visit my father. On my way home i drop by the flowershop nearby our house. As i was choosing for a sunflower something caught my attention. A decayed sunflower. With no hesitation i decided to buy it. The vendor asked why would i want to buy a decayed sunflower. ‘With proper care i could help it bloom again. Maybe this sunflower needs someone who understands’ i answered.

Difficulties test the true character of a human being. Life is beautiful just like a sunflower but it has challenges just like a storm and have to be faced and overcome by all. As for me, I choose to perceived the struggles i’m faced with to polish my character and make me a better person. Don’t be afraid to battle with the problems that you encounter. We live in a world we didn’t choose but we shouldn’t make this world choose the person who we become.

Krisha Mae C. Acoba

Tesseract

“Tesseract” is a 4 dimensional cube but in Garland’s title it refers to 3 dimensional one. ‘Garland’ His characters intersect in a metaphysical web and also in a violent series of coincidences. We can see the thing unraveled, but not the thing itself. For me It was like an action thriller book. Those 3 stories interconnect to each other. The book follows several different characters and jumps around within the timeline. Those situations all seem completely unrelated but the links become clear towards the end of the book. For me you will understand the movie and it’s not confusing if you clearly understand the plot of the movie, it was not a good book.

Jaylord Bautista

A Low Art

The novel talks about the view of Penelope of her husband, Odysseus. On the highlighted part where Penelope knew that other people talk untrue stories behind her back. Nowadays, as we look into the scenario where judgement of people really vary. There are a lot of people who are like Odysseus who are delighted in making stories of other people. Making unreal stories is now highly used in social medias and even in person. Gossiping can affect others’ life. It causes also of high rate of low self-esteem, depression having and the worst is, it can ruin someone’s life. These people are the kind of people who always gossip even no one is bothering them. The story made us realize that, we shouldn’t judge a person by the story of others because in the first place we do not know the real story behind we might step out and destroy their dignity as a human person. We should allow others to explain and defend their selves. We should not look onto the mistakes of others but instead just look how clean their hearts is. As this line says, “The world is being unfair”, we people created how the world is being so unfair to everyone. We should be fair at all times.

Paulmark Calayag

The GOOD BODY

This evening I attended a play that one of my teammates acted in called “The Good Body,” which is derived from Eve Ensler’s book. The play was all about how individuals perceive their body, and in one part all of the girls onstage were posing as trees. But one tree (girl) was talking about how we are all created with an individual and unique body, and conveyed the message that just because you don’t look like the next tree does not make you any less beautiful.

The reality is that the way we look is important everyone; I have realized that even if we don’t look like a model, it does not mean we don’t have beautiful features, and your size whether skinny or not does not determine how radiant you can be. At the same time, loving your body is also about eating and exercising in a healthy manner on both ends of the spectrum because you can eat and exercise too much just as you can eat and exercise too little.

Jaymark Orpilla Fabros

The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time

The story is all about a 15 year old boy named Christopher Boone who is very intelligent in Math but he thinks people are confusing. Then one day he discovered a dead dog in his neighborhood, Mrs Shears garden. And in a while his father refuse his son “Christopher” to not get involve in the incident that happen in the garden of Mrs Shears, so Christopher went curious about the incident and he decided to investigate the death of the dog. In a while he discovered something about his mom, he learned that his mother is not dead as his father told him, and as he goes on in the investigation he learned that his mom is well and alive, and living in the city of London. And as the investigation goes on he discovered that his father was the one who killed the dog. As he discovered that his father was the one who killed the dog he feels that his father is a murderer, and he began to not trust him anymore, and so as he finish his investigation, he bravely travel to London to search for his mother. As he discover his mother, he’s difficulty settling into his new life in London and as he was dealing with this he returned to Swindon to take his A-level Math exams and after that the story ends with him passing the very difficult exam.

On this story i learned a lot of new things. Like you cannot accomplish your goal if you’re not serious about it. There are many things that will distract you so all you need to do is to just focus on what are you doing and finish this important task. In that way, you can get what you are aiming for.

Mark Airish Duca

The Silk

The Silk by Alessandro Baricco was an amazing creation. It is not a novel nor a tale, it is a story. A story of a man who traveled to Japan, to carry silkworms for his company. In his adventure, he met a woman in Japan, which bloomed a flower in his heart. Unfortunately this woman has tied up to his master. This man is named Hara kei, wherein Herve fall in love with his mistress. During his second visit to Japan, Herve learns about the aviary of exotic birds that Hara kei builts; he leaves a glove for Hara keis mistress to find a pile of clothes. The mistress gives him a love note written in Japanese that says “Come back or i shall die”. During his third visit to Japan, Hara kei mistress releases the birds from the aviary. Herve and Hara kei mistress had sex by proxy. During his fourth visit to Japan, war has broken out. Then he finds out that Hara Kei’s village burned out. He then went back to his country, not finding the girl and the silkworm. Years later Herve’s wife died, then he finds out that the one who is sending the letter is his wife. Too late when he finds out that it’s his wife who sends love notes to him. The moral of this story is that appreciate the one who truly cares before it is too late. I’ve learned in this story, that loved is unconditional. If you love a person, you need to set his happiness. Even if it hurts you. and learn to appreciate someone who had offer you thy worth.

Ervin Jasper A. Jacobe