Love in the Fire

Admidst the thick smoke bellowing over her head, she was kneeling down. Choking, gasping for breath, she was praying. In the middle of the raging flames, at the brisk of her life, there she was praying.

Where no one could reach her, where the firefighters failed to crash into, where the walls are collapsing and the roof burning, there she was, alone, frightened, scared, and staring straight into the face of death.

And as she looked at the end of her journey on earth, the last thing on her mind was him.

"Lord, protect him Lord, I've failed to love him, but please find him a girl that will love him truly the way he deserves to be loved.." she sobbed.

Will you want a second chance to love him the way you should've loved him?

A second chance? If only someone could save her now, but who could?

And she closed her eyes, and her mind wandered back to the days where she was still in high school. She allowed herself to bask in the glorious memories of her haydays where she was popular, beautiful and influential. She was the school crowned princess, she was the cheer captain, she was smart and topped the form, she was everything a girl wanted to be.

Every guy in school would've died for her. Flowers, love letters, chocolates, calls and messages that'll beg for her for a date.. but she all rejected them. She thought, who are these guys? They're not worth my time nor effort.

And one by one, she turned down the guys, she hurled nasty words at them, she insulted them, she put all of them to shame in public. Her girl friends would mock and jeer the guys who tried to approach her, and she'd trot off as if as she's just won another victory. Her victory was crushing guys who had a crush on her.

And as time passed, she was no longer the princess. Girls who were not as beautiful as her, but kinder and nicer girls eventually became more popular than her. While other girls were already getting boyfriends, she was still single and alone. Eventually not a single guy in high school would want to date her. The next thing you know, even her girl friends left her to be with their own boyfriends.

She was now lonely. The most beautiful girl in school, sitting alone in the cafeteria with no friends to talk to, with not a single guy looking at her. All she did was sit alone at the same spot on the same table in the cafeteria, and from a distance watched her other friends chatting happily in the hands of their man. Loneliness creeped in slowly, and then envy and sadness. If only I wasn't so mean to all those guys..

One fine day as she sat down on the same spot for recess she saw a folded piece of paper on the table. She opened up the paper and saw the words:

Why are you alone?

Weird, she thought. So she scribbled back, because nobody wants me anymore. She left the piece of paper on the table and went off for classes as soon as the bell rang.

The next day, again she saw a similar folded piece of paper on the table. Inside it: may I be your companion then?

She smiled to herself. She tucked the piece of paper into her pocket, and sat on the table and wait.

"Miss, is this seat taken?" a guy's voice was heard from behind. She turned back and saw a fine young man standing behind her. He was tall, a bit tan, with big brown hazel eyes and a nicely curved nose. At that point of time, she thought he was cute, but she was careful not to expose too much of her thoughts too soon.

"Nah, not really.." she said. The guy motioned to sit down, and she just nodded with a little smile on her face.

"I sense some loneliness here, that's why I dropped by.."

That's right, I'm dead lonely.. and it was my fault..

"I'm just curious, why would you be sitting by yourself all alone?"

She stammered as she looked for an excuse. "Well.. that's actually because.. uh.. my friends are all busy with their assignments.. they're doing their research in the library now.."

"Oh, and you don't have to do your research?" he asked.

Uh oh.. now what am I going to say?

"Maybe you don't need to research after all.. the smart folks will wait for their teammates to do the research and all they'll do is analyse the information."

She let out a small chuckle. Phooh, that sure was a close one..

Almost immediately both of them clicked. They both enjoyed watching one tree hill, they both loved their biology class, and they both went to the same church. Later on she found out that he actually stayed near her house, so from that time onwards he would walk her back home and they'd happily chat along.

She started to grow fond of the guy, and she thought she was going to fall in love with him.

She was falling in love with him, as a matter of fact.

Her lifestyle started to change a little. She used to lock herself up in the room every saturday night listening to her hip hop charts while reading her girl fashion magazine. She used to turn down every single offer to go watch a football match (oh, she even quit the cheer team because she was becoming less popular at that time) and she'd hate to go outdoor activities.

But when she found out that he was in the school football team, she would never miss a single game he played whether it was a home or away match. And she made sure that her seat would be one that's near the players bench so that he could easily spot her. And every time she was there, he spotted her, and from the field he would wave and jump up and down to catch her attention. Then she would smile to herself and feel happy.

First time in her life she felt happy for someone. Before that she would only be happy with her achievements, her glory in class and in cheer.. but now, she was happy for a man. She was proud of him, and she wanted to be with him.

The stuck up her started to loosen up. The arrogant her was now down to earth and more than ready to talk to him. She didn't want to lose any single moment of being with him, and she wanted to be with him at any chance possible. He loved the mountains and the hills, and every summer holidays he would be at the nearby hills hiking and camping alone. She was scared the first time she went, but she went because of him. She thought, if only I could get closer to him, I'd do anything.

She never hiked before, let alone climb a mountain. And from in front she would be struggling and pulling her way up. But she was not afraid, because behind her was her man, her handsome charming prince that was always encouraging her to go on. When she couldn't pull herself up anymore, he would give her a gentle and loving push to help her get up. The touch of his strong palm on her back warmed her heart, and her heart melt at his loving gestures.

Both pitched their tents at the top of the mountain, and at night he set a little fire for their barbeque.

That night the stars were shining brightly in the sky, and both of them were lying down on the grassy spot near their tents. She slowly leaned over to his shoulder and rested her head on his chest. He in return pulled her closer until her whole body was over his, and he reassuring put both his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.

"I've never felt so loved before.." she murmured.

"I know why you were alone back that time," he blurted out as he was holding her in his arms.

Oh no, she thought, and tears were starting to well in his eyes..

"People told me you were stuck up, proud and arrogant. You would turn guys away in the nastiest and meanest manner. And I saw you doing that with my very own eyes, but I prayed. And as I prayed, God revealed something to me. He revealed your loneliness, your desolation.. and He said, go and befriend her, for out of you I will make something beautiful in her life.

"And that day when I took my seat at your table, as I looked into your sparkling sapphire eyes, I said to myself, she is going to change for the better. I don't know why I said that, but I knew it, deep down in my heart."

This time, the tears really fell from her eyes. She didn't want him to know that she was crying, but she was sobbing in fact.

"Do you love me?" she asked.

He was about to answer the question when suddenly loud crackle was heard from the fire, and a pretty large fire spark flew from the fire unto him. He was shocked and he leapt up immediately, almost forgetting that he was holding her in his arms.

She was stunned.. what on earth was that?

"Sorry, that spark scared me.."

"Scared you?" she couldn't believe her ears.. "You're scared of fire?"

"Listen .."

How could he be scared of fire? How is he going to protect me if he's even afraid of fire sparks?

She cried, and she thought it was gone.. Her man was afraid of fire sparks. She went into her tent and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. She had always dreamed of a man who would be brave enough to save her from villains, who would dive into the sea if she fell from a ship to save her, to rescue her from a burning house.. but here he was, a man so perfect that God sent into her life..

.. and yet, scared of fire.

They packed and climbed down the next morning. Both of them were silent, they did not speak much, and they went their separate ways.

For a few days she didn't talk to him. She felt so hurt that she didn't want to talk to him. A week later, a good friend of her's came over to drop by in her house. She held a rose in her hands and passed it to her. With the rose was a little note, from him.

"Dear sweetie, I saw this rose and I thought it was the most beautiful flower on earth, and I thought the most beautiful girl deserved it.. I know that I do not deserve your love anymore, and I know it will be my lost..

Just find a man that will be brave enough to face the fire ok?

Love"

God, that's so not fair.. I loved him..

"There's a reason why he's scared of the fire.." the friend started to explain. "His dad was killed in a fire when he was still a kid. With his very own eyes he saw his dad burn to death alive as he tried to save him from the flames.."

Her tears dropped from her eyes and now she felt so sorry for the way she reacted to him. She didn't even give him a chance to explain himself, or to tell the story, and she wanted to call him up to tell him that it's ok, and probably apologise..

She was still immersed in her thoughts when she heard a loud scream from upstairs. Quickly she and her friend ran upstairs to where the scream came from. It was her younger sister's room, and as she opened the door, a ball of fire flew past her, barely missing her.

"Fire!!" she yelled. Her sister was in the room, and without a second thought she dashed in and pulled her out of the flames. She handed her sister over to her friend. "Please take her out, I need to wake my parents."

She flew to her parents room, crashed their doors and woke them up. Hurriedly they all scrambled out of the door, and as she was about to get out into safety she remembered something..

The rose.

She turned back to get it. All she could hear was her mom screaming from behind not to go in again, her dad pulling her mom back to stop her from chasing after their oldest daughter, but she ran in and she found her rose.

She took the rose and was about to go back out when the second floor crashed down right in front of her, sealing her exit. The house was burning down, and the flames were engulfing her. She knew she was sealed off and boxed up in the flames, and her knowledge in first aid reminded her that in the instance of a fire, stay low.

She crouched down, and suddenly she recalled that night. The night where she saw him jump up from the flames. She saw the fire all around her, and she started to cry. She so wanted a man to rescue her from the flames. "But it's not going to be him," she cried, holding the rose close to her. "He's afraid of the flames."

"Lord, protect him Lord, I've failed to love him, but please find him a girl that will love him truly the way he deserves to be loved.." she sobbed.

Will you want a second chance to love him the way you should've loved him?

A second chance? If only someone could save her now, but who could?

And she closed her eyes shut, holding the rose close to her heart, waiting to be taken away. She felt a strong hand touching her shoulder, and she asked, "Lord, is it time to go?"

"No sweetie, it's not time to go, it's time to get out."

She turned back, and she saw the face of her man. The man she took pride in, the man she loved, the man that she thought was afraid of the fire.

"I thought.." she gasped for air.

He didn't waste much time in that flaming building. He scooped her up in his arms, and wrapped his damp shirt around her. With great speed and ferocity he dashed out of the building and a splilt second after that the whole house collapsed behind him.

He held her in his arms the way a groom held his newly wedded bride. He gazed into her sapphire eyes as she looked into his brown hazel eyes.

"My greatest fear was once the fire, but I realise now that my greatest fear was to lose a girl that I love. I nearly lost you once, and now nothing's gonna make me lose you again. Ever."

Perhaps the rose wasn't the last thing salvaged from the burnt down house. What he saved from that house was more than her, it was their love. It was the rose that made her realise, that for her, no fire will ever be too great or too fearful to keep him and his heart away from her.