[Margaret]

"WHY is it that Valentine's Day has to come, anyway? It's draining my energy," I boredly complained as Mayu and I reached Oceanside University's school gym.

But my witch of a cousin just laughed at me.

The university's school festival happened to be on the same day as Valentine's Day that would last for a week. That was why there were so many activities and booths from each college departments and clubs all over the campus. It was the first day of the school festival and it so happened that it landed on the so-called "Day of the Hearts".

There was nothing wrong with the said occasion to me, to be honest. It was just that--

"Choose me to be your date, babes!" I heard it screamed by someone familiar who always knew how to ruin my day. His voice was truly enough to set my blood's "boiling point" to the highest level ang dugo ko. Grr! This was irritating!

"That's the reason why this kind of occasion is draining my energy," I said annoyed. And I was even more annoyed because no matter what I would say to myself, my heart won't stop from reacting too much even though I've only heard Jerk Brent's voice.

"Come on, just give Brent's attention to you a thought. See? He's already the one presenting himself to be your date. It doesn't happen all the time, according to Neilson."

I scoffed. "Seriously, are you kidding me? If he'd be the only one volunteering to be my date, I'd rather not have a date. It will only ruin my day."

"If you say so." But if I were to base it in Mayu's tone, she doesn't believe one bit of what I said.

I saw Neilson approached us not long after. He whispered something to Mayu that made my cousin's expression bright after that.

"Marg, is it okay to you if I leave you here for now? Neilson and I have somewhere to go to for a while," Mayu said, her smile had never left his face.

I nodded with a knowing smile. "It's okay. I'm already used to being left alone in this occasion, anyway," I stated jokingly.

Mayu just shook her head and left me there. I was smiling as they left but it slowly faded when they finally disappeared from my sight.

I don't know if it was right for me to feel envy for my cousin because she had the chance to be with the man special to her heart. Even though I said it as a joke, the words I spoke of were true inside me. I was used to people leaving me during Valentine's Day. Used to being ignored.

Only Mayu knew that Oliver broke up with me on Valentine's Day. At now that Brent was the one making my heart beat fast-- no matter how much I tried to stop it-- I couldn't bear another rejection-- another pain-- for the second time. Anyway, I didn't have any plans of letting him know about my heart's reaction whenever he was near. I'd die first before he even realized it.

I noticed that most of the students there were couples obviously in love with each other as I looked around the area. I couldn't help sighing. Anyway, I shouldn't be confused with this. It was the day of the school festival and the Valentine's Day, on top of that. There were no classes so the student were free to wander around the campus grounds. But then, I still couldn't stop myself from feeling envious. Maybe it was a bad idea for me to have come to school, after all.

I heaved another sigh. With nothing left to do, I decided to leave the gym. But as I finally stepped out, I felt my heart began to beat unusually fast upon hearing a familiar voice from the speaker placed on top of the gym's entrance. I didn't dare turn around for me to look at the stage where I knew Brent was standing at because I didn't want to.

Goodness! I was feeling it again. In an instant, the memory of everything that had happened at the Christmas Ball flashed in my mind. It was almost the same. However, I found it weird that I didn't feel anything close to my blood boiling because of that. In fact, the voice warmed my heart for some reasons.

"Since it's Valentine's Day today, I just want to enhance the romantic mood here. But I also want to dedicate this song to the girl who wondered if she could still find that special someone despite the heartache she'd been through. This is for the girl I could say is already special to me."

I was able to make out the teasings coming from the gym but my mind wasn't there. I wanted to hear more of Brent's dedication to that girl special to him. But that thought pricked my heart many times-- without any idea why.

"I don't usually do this for a girl. But I want her to know there's still hope for her to find that special someone. And if I would be given a chance to hold her heart, I promise that I'll take care of it and love her truly. I could only hope that she'd believe me. The song I'm going to sing today is something you're all familiar with. To those who couldn't find a way to confess properly, this is one of those songs I deemed perfect to you."

After that, they all went silent. A few seconds later, melody started playing in the background, followed by Brent singing the lyrics of the song. I knew that song.

It was titled "Sana (I Hope)", sang by the group Shamrock.

In all fairness, Brent's voice wasn't that bad. It was beautiful. That was the second time I heard him sing. Though it was extremely weird, I could feel my heart being serenaded. It felt like the song was meant for... me.

I frowned as I thought of that.

For me? I had a feeling that it wasn't the case at all.

But why does my heart thought otherwise?

I sighed. "Maybe I should leave this place before I end up insane because of thinking too many useless things."

And I started walking away from that place. But I could still hear his serenading voice. All the more reason why I decided to walk faster.

'Lucky girl,' I thought bitterly. I didn't know the reason why I thought of that. But that thought was enough to stop me to my tracks. Why was it that I felt hurt at the thought of that jerk liking another girl? I shouldn't even give a damn about it.

'Really? Not even a little bit?'

Ah, whatever!