For Your Eyes Only;

Cherry Red

Nakakapagod na.

Maine surrendered to a deep sigh before she finally found the strength to put on some lipstick as she stared at her sullen face on the mirror. She deliberately chose this mellow tangerine lipstick shade-a secret rebellion against the outlandish and slightly annoying cherry-red motif of the wedding. As a wedding planner for the last five years, she's had her fair share of dealing with ridiculous demands and quirky requests and this is yet another one of those episodes. She's done everything she could possibly do to convince the engaged couple to re-consider their chosen color motif by telling them politely over the past couple of months that the shade, although perky, would be a little bit harsh and painful to the eyes, but apparently, it's the bride's favorite color and what the bride wants, the groom wants too. It didn't help that the newly-married couple happened to be two of her closest friends from high school, either. Maine loved them too much to object further.

She took a deep breath and walked out of the ladies' room and tried to put a smile on her face as she re-entered the hotel grand banquet hall where the after-wedding reception was being held. She took her seat at the table with her other high school friends who were also mutual acquaintances of the couple. The overwhelming redness of everything assaulted her sight almost immediately and she had to blink a couple of times to ease her eyes from hurting.

Red roses centerpieces on every single table. Red chair cushions. Red bridesmaid dresses. Red fairy-light curtains draped at the back of the red platform stage. Red wine. Even the wedding cake was red velvet topped with red cherries. Red is a gorgeous color but this is definitely an overkill, and yet what can she do?

Ano ba talaga 'tong inorganize ko, kasal o Valentines?

"Meng, pang-ilan mo na bang wedding 'to na inorganize?" one of her classmates asked her aloud.

Suddenly, Maine became hyper-aware of the fact that pretty much every one of her friends on the table were either currently in a relationship or were already married too.

"Pang-24."

"Eh yung wedding mo, kelan mo i-oorganize?" another one of her classmates quipped, earning a light chuckle from everyone. Maine tried to smile and not take offense, but her own brand of sass is too strong to control sometimes.

"Ay, bakit mo hinihintay, sinabi ko bang invited ka?"

Their table erupted into cheers and high-fives. Despite her exhaustion, Maine grinned. She always has a way of making every situation light even if her own heart feels so heavy.

Twenty-four weddings. Damn.

As if on cue, the reception host called for all the single ladies to join the ceremonial tossing of the bridal bouquet. When her unmarried female friends got up to join the rest of the singles on the floor, she stayed seated on her chair. She's never joined the tradition, ever, and even her friends have grown tired over the years of forcing her to be part of the classic segment.

The bride stood centerstage and prepared to throw the bunch of flowers upon signal. At the count of three, the bouquet of red roses flew high in the air...

...and landed on the hands of an impeccably-dressed man in an elegant all-black suit. All eyes inevitably went towards his fair face and it's clear to see on first glance that he was the most handsome man in the room. No one present knew who he was. Still, the ladies collectively gushed.

He started to walk in Maine's direction.

Her heart pounded with every step he took as the rest of the world burned into an irrelevant backdrop and the slackjawed faces of her friends faded to a complete blur.

The handsome man gave her a bedimpled smile before he gave her the roses. She took it in her hands, holding his gaze steadily. The entire banquet hall watched silently.

And then, he leaned down to kiss her, setting Maine's lips on fire.

When he pulled away, she stared at him, reeling at the realization that this is actually the second time she has kissed this stranger and she still didn't know his name.

She almost laughed when she noticed that her tangerine lipstick left some traces on his lips.

His lips. Oh dear god.

They're the most breath-taking, most beautiful shade of red she's seen in her life.

Author's Note: Waleeeeeey hahaha. As previously advised, For Your Eyes Only will be a 30-chapter story and will be updated daily. (Yes, this writer is paranoid as hell when it comes to writing multi-chapters so she pre-wrote everything until the end hahahahaha. So as of the time you're reading this, tapos na yung last chapter and hahahaha wala lang, see you when we get there.) This had been one of my worst brain-itches for the longest time so I just really really need to get it written down to get it off my mind. There's nothing groundbreaking at all in this story but I hope this would still at least be something that could make your time worthwhile. Maraming maraming salamat po! 💕