The Only Delicacy

Hearing his words, Scarlet was astounded and impressed on how considerate her first friend was. He cared for her enough to not be angry at her direct and inconsiderate remark. Hence, she was grateful for having such an understanding friend.

One thought of him as a friend; the other thought of her as a lover.

This was a happy misunderstanding between the two who would never even have the chance to realize they had a misunderstanding in the first place.

Scarlet immediately nodded from his response.

For her, the name 'Scarlet' was quite short.

Literally speaking, her name only had two syllables, so making her a nickname would be useless, she thought. But, who was she to judge?

If her first friend wanted to treat her in a special way, then she would happily oblige.

Right now, she was too filled up with happiness that she forgot all the anxiety and sad endings that she watched from the past movies.

Seeing that she seemed so happy from the look on her eyes despite not displaying a smile, Kevin, too, burst out with glee and seriously thought of a nickname.

He must choose wisely, for this would be his manner of address towards his beloved for the rest of his life.

Hence, Kevin became serious for the first time in a long while. He was not a free individual anymore, but a man confined in her shackles. He had to be serious in order to keep those shackles to himself.

While seriously pondering over a nickname, he thought that he should only use a single syllable. So if he shortened her name to one syllable, he would end up with "Scar."

No! That was just plain wrong, he thought.

His beloved was absolutely not a scar towards his heart. She was his addiction.

In a way, she was like a scar, which would leave a mark in his heart forever. It would be okay to use that term if the meaning of the word was used like that, he thought.

However, it did not sound cute, lovely or endearing.

Therefore, he placed that undesirable manner of address towards the back of his mind and thought about the second syllable he could use.

However, if he used the second syllable of her name, "Let," then his manner of address would sound just plain boring and weird.

While contemplating on her nickname, Kevin felt like he had encountered some sort of a difficult math problem for the first time, even for a genius like him.

Meanwhile, Scarlet was oblivious to the suffering and uneasiness she unconsciously gave him. Since he seemed so serious that he even forgot to continue treating her wound, she patiently waited for him to decide.

If she talked now, she would break the path of his thoughts, making her end up with an odd nickname.

She would not risk that, for she prided on the name her mother gave her.

Being unaware of how patient and considerate his beloved was because of her own ulterior motives, Kevin finally landed on an endearing and one-syllable nickname.

With a smile as bright as the sun, Kevin proudly gave her his answer after some serious thoughts and consideration.

"I will call you 'Li.'" Kevin said while looking deep into her eyes.

This was the name he had seriously decided on, which he knew would leave him with no regrets.

While he looked at the girl in front of him with his hands currently forgetting to treat her elbows, Kevin knew he had decided on the best manner of endearment and was highly grateful towards his parents for letting him be born a genius.

This was yet another first for him. He never cared or even had pride for his parents, but now, he was genuinely grateful towards them.

Unbeknownst to her, the girl had given him way too many firsts that it seemed almost impossible to count, like the stars in the sky.

While happily thinking of how brilliant and special the nickname was, Kevin thought back to how he had decided on it.

As a matter of fact, the affectionate address that Kevin chose, 'Li,' came from the name of a flower called "Lily."

From what he recalled through his intelligent mind, Lily was the flower most bursting with symbolism throughout history. These symbols were amiability, purity, love, fertility, femininity, unity, and transience. Of all these symbolic meanings, what stood out the most were femininity, love, purity, and transience.

The shape, the variety of colors, and the sweet scent in particular made the Lily an ideal symbol of 'femininity.'

As his most beloved woman, Scarlet was nothing less than his expectations, but more than what he had ever expected.

The next most symbolic meaning of Lily was 'love.'

Hence, if a person was given a Lily, it would mean either a confession of love or a proof that she was his lover.

Of course, this meaning fitted Scarlet greatly, for she was the only woman he had ever loved.

The other most symbolic meaning of Lily was 'purity.'

She was the rarest kind of all humans. A human void of all dirt and impure thoughts.

Last but not the least, Lily symbolized 'transience,' which meant the visible and apparent expressions that the flower exhibited.

Like the serene and pure look of a Lily, Scarlet also exhibited the emotions of her heart.

Everything she felt was plainly written on her face, thus making Kevin see it all.

However, if she were to meet a stranger, the stranger would never be able to see through her, for her blank expression would only fill up with color once something noteworthy occurred.

Not only sounding affectionate and appealing to the ears, the flower's name, "Lily," had merged a thousand words, that his heart could every use to describe her, into one word.

Therefore, Scarlet could only be described as the Lily in Kevin's heart.

However, calling her "Lily" would make it seem like it had not come from her name, "Scarlet."

So he decided on using only a single syllable "Li" in order for it to seem like it came from the syllable "Let" from her name "Scarlet."

He was a genius, indeed. He proudly thought while unknowingly growing a big head.