I like you.

"Where is his highness?"

"Chen lets go see his highness!"

"What was the king doing?"

That was all he ever heard.

Covered in sand and thin clothing one summer day, Chen laid unconscious. Upon being continuously slapped on the face, he finally opened his eyes. He had awoken by the shore and the scene in front of him was too unfamiliar.

Scrunching his face, he tried to adjust his eyesight from the brightness.

A young girl's face suddenly appeared and bent over, hiding the sun's overbearing light as well as his view. Her round eyes and furrowed brows were shouting at him.

He stared blankly at her.

"Are you okay?!" The girl shouted in a worried tone. "How did you get like this?"

So loud.

He slowly sat up.

Chen grasped his head and groaned.

There was no recollection of how he got here, just only his name stuck with him. It made him panicked a little that he could not remember.

Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing? Those were his first thoughts.

That was their first meeting.

Anne was like his saving grace at the time. Fed him, taught him, and let him have a place to stay. Eventually, he grew accustomed to this new profound life. He accepted his fate and lived the way he did. Her existence was a comfort that voided the emptiness he felt in a land he wasn't a part of.

Chen still wasn't able to remember anything, but his body remembered his past.

The early discovery that he was able to use magic, shortly after discovering him at the coast gave him a job. People who can use magic were scarce and were mostly circulated within the nobility.

Magic and his intellect shot him up to a high ranking and soon, he was promoted quickly to be the King's advisor.

In the back of his mind, he sometimes wanted to figure out who he was; but the thought of what should he do in the future scared him more.

He continued to focus solely on the present.

Eventually, Chen was able to support himself within a couple of years, earning the title of youngest advisor to the royal family.

Anne would often come to his place.

When Anne visits, she would often talk about her days while he cooked for her. He let her have a place to stay when she was in trouble.

Her existence close to him was good enough.

"Stop worrying about me. I am fine." She brushed his concern.

"Thanks to you I was able to get in touch with his highness!" Her excited voice sounded his heart.

"You know you're very important to me, right?" She touched his face.

"Only you understand me!"

He accepted that this was how it was and eventually how it will be.

It was satisfying.

————-

Anne barged into his house one day.

She grabbed her face and blushed at the front door. "He likes me! He likes me! We are lovers!"

"Who?" Chen asked her, but he knew who she was talking about.

After knowing their story, he congratulated her immediately.

There was no chance from the beginning.

Later that day, he left for a bar. It was the first time in his life he ventured to one.

_______

She came into his home and ran into his arms another time.

"We fought again!" Anne cried.

He comforted her.

Hugged her, took her to places to get her mind off of it.

"I..." I'll protect you...

He lived under a pretense that she was his.

A soldier soon came for her to go to the palace.

_______

"I love him; we made up." They reconciled multiple times. He congratulated again and again.

The routine was very often; he busied himself with work to avoid it.

________

Finally, Chen was scared, but he wanted to say it just once.

"I like you." He told her seriously.

"Un! I like you too!" She kissed him on the cheek.

"Un....yeah..." He stopped.

She didn't understand.

Chen hid his feelings.

_______

He had questioned himself a long time ago. Why did you like her? Was it an obligation that she saved you? Was it because she spent some time with you? He knew she liked the king. He didn't understand why he turned out this way. She probably knew at some point, but chose to avoid it.

It was a long journey.

Chen had only learned disappointment and loneliness that he had forgotten what happy feelings were. Was liking someone suppose to be like this?

He had to let it go. Chen knew to end it was the only option to stop this farce.

It was hard.

Seeing each other every day, being the "older brother," being close. But if she was happy then it was all fine, he continued it.

That was his first love.

Time passed.

"We're planning to get married soon!" They told him in early spring.

"Congratulations." He smiled.

Anne clapped her hands, "I can't wait to introduce you guys to a lovely guest soon! If she attends, that is."

"That's great." He said motionlessly.

Little did he know, this was an encounter that would move him.

____________

When he met Lily, it was in mid-spring where the flowers came out to greet the world.

And him.

She is indeed a beautiful woman. As beautiful as her name. Very mysterious, yet always showing all of her emotions. Even after two years, she was like an addicting drug.

He couldn't forget.

Talking to her, she always said bizarre things that made him speechless. Very blunt, cheerful, and true to herself. She was always the first to approach him and took him off guard.

With Lily, he felt different.

"Chen, Are you happy?" She gazed at him.

"Come! Let's have fun! I shall let you embrace womanhood!" She dressed him up.

"Look, isn't it cute? Chen!" She held his arm.

"Hubby! Let's go near the cliff and look down!" She grabbed his hand.

"Are you having fun?"

They spent most of their time venturing out into towns finding food, visiting shops, and buying useless things.

She would also make him food at his home saying, "thank you."

He laughed in his heart.

You're the one who made it. I'm the one who's suppose to say it.

They hadn't met for long, but the times he was with her, he never felt hurt or tired. He felt at ease with her. Her everything was embedded in the depths of his heart.

Everything felt so clear in his eyes.

She always accepted his care for her, waited for his tending. She didn't mind spending time with him, nor did she reject it.

When they take strolls out in the city when they walked to his home together, and when they stayed in the same roof, it was simple yet fulling in his heart. Their actions gradually became more intimate. All the possible feelings he hadn't felt in years came rushing in a short time.

Her face would occasionally feel sad. There were times she looked off. She sometimes refrained and kept to herself.

His heart breaks for her, a flower that should be protected was slowly wilting in his eyes. This only made him want to understand her. Comfort her. He wanted to know more. He wanted to be patient.

After all, he had a feeling they were one and the same. Carrying burdens and wanted that special someone to find them. What he felt from her was always a different kind of emotion each time. It wasn't bad.

The space she had in his heart grew day by day, and eventually, all he thought of was her.

He didn't really know how these feelings sparked. Maybe because they met at the right time and place? Perhaps it was the comfort and warmth that she provided? He had long forgotten the painful infatuation from years ago in a heartbeat.

He reminded himself to not be hopeful, to not do anything.

Sometimes, he felt it was too fast, but she never gave him time to process anyway.

Maybe this was what love was supposed to be.

Pleasant.

After confirming it in his heart over and over again all this time, Chen gazed at her affectionately.

Her eyes seemed to show him the way.

It felt like it was saying. "It's okay; it's okay."

"Lily" He murmured her lovely name.

"Yes?" Her soften spoken voice replied.

She looked at him with all of her attention, his frozen heart melted instantly.

He gathered all the courage his body could give him, stood high and tightened her hand.

Chen parted his lips.

He finally voiced something he thought for a while now.

"I like you."