Is yellow the most beautiful color?

Familiar noises, familiar faces.

Greetings here, catch up there. The excitement can be heard from their voices as they finally see each other again after quite a long time. It's the time of the year, it's the time for the annual family gathering that the whole clan is always looking forward to every time.

"Hey Luke, come here! Your great grandpa is looking for you."

"Hey, Luke! Looking good. I heard you're doing well on your studies."

"Hey Luke! You look thin. Are you stressed with your studies? You should drink vitamins."

"Hey Luke! Your grandpa is so proud of you. I heard you did well on the business presentation and you didn't even prepared for that."

"Hey Luke"

"Hey Luke"

"Hey Luke"

My cousin, the favorite one, finally arrived. I don't even know who's speaking anymore. My dad, my aunts, my uncles, all of them have their attention focused on Luke. I bet they don't even know the right words to say just to give him praises.

I'm fine with it, I can take it. I'm just there sitting on the corner without any company. No one wants to be acquainted with me huh? Who would like the black sheep anyway? So I just stayed quiet in there while listening to their praises for Luke the great.

"Luke! I heard about your presentation. You're so good even without preparation, unlike Jake who's all prepared but backed out on the last minute. What a shame." Ouch. That's my dad talking.

"Why are you taking architecture by the way? Didn't you want to handle the business? We can't trust that to Jake." Another uncle talking.

"Looking good Luke! I heard you have such good grades. Unlike your cousin Jake who always have subjects behind." My other aunt says.

"You're so good, unlike Jake"

"You can really do great on our business, unlike Jake"

"You have bright future ahead of you, unlike Jake"

"...unlike Jake"

And that's my cue to plug in my earphones. Earlier, I can take it. I have no objection about their praises for Luke but this is the one that I really can't take. I understand that he's really great but the comparison? Why do they need to drag me down so that they can pull Luke on high?

I know Luke isn't the problem here but I just can't help it but hate him. Am I that bad? Am I not their family? Why do they have to treat me this way?

It's true I'm the family's black sheep. And the more that they do this to me, the more that I want to rebel against them. It annoys them and that makes me happy. So I spend my days annoying them just to catch their attention. Just to have a title in the family. At least by doing this I'm proving them right, right? I'm just doing them a favor so that they'll be right about what they think about me. That I'm nothing, very unlikely to Luke. Even my own dad is ashamed of me.

So I keep living like that. I spend my life like that. I cut classes, I drink, I smoke, I involved myself with worthless fight. Every semester, I'll choose one subject that I'll fail so that I can retake it the next year, just to annoy them.

I'm living my life without direction, just like what they thought about me. Are they happy now that I proved them right?

But then, we had this one subject which I decided to fail this semester. I'm going to class late and I'm not doing the requirements but this annoying professor of ours requires us to do every activities by pair.

My partner then approached me but I ignored her. I told her that she could do it alone and if she doesn't want to include my name on the activity, then don't. The professor already dismissed the class so I immediately go out but I was surprised when a shoe hit my head. I look back to find the culprit only to see my partner glaring at me.

She was so mad that I can almost see smoke coming out from her nose.

"hey hey, mister. Where do you think you're going?"

"out?"

"Didn't you hear Prof to do it by pair?"

"Didn't you hear me told you to just do it alone?"

"Are you dumb? Prof says it should be by pair. Of course I can do it alone but prof won't accept it."

"That's not my problem." I said and then turned my back against her to start walking again.

I'm just about to take my third step when a hand grab my arm forcefully making me face whoever it is. And then I saw her, gritting her teeth because of too much anger.

"You know what, if you want to fail then don't drag me down with you. If you can afford to fail and pay for the tuition fee, well I can't. I won't force you to do it with me if not needed. Please, cooperate. I am only studying here because of my scholarship, I have a grade to maintain. And if I failed this one, I couldn't afford to pay for this subject so that I can retake it."

And then it hit me. I know exactly how it feels to be drag down. I may be a good for nothing guy that my family thinks but I'm not someone who drag people down. So from then on, I just found myself going to class on time and doing my part on our every activity.

Little by little we become closer until I just found myself opening myself to her about my family issues.

We were doing an activity and she doesn't get the case so I explained it to her and she was so impressed on how were I able to get that easily.

"You're a genius! How did you get that so fast?" she asked so amazed.

"I'm a natural, babe. Really, I'm a genius." I replied to her boastfully and playfully.

"Then why are your grades like that? Why do you have behind subjects? Why act like that?"

"Because that's what my family thinks of me. Whatever I do to prove them wrong, they won't acknowledge. So I just decided to give them a favor and prove them right. I'm good for nothing? So am I." I blurted out before I can even watch out for my words. I don't really share this side of me. I don't want their pity, I don't want her pity.

"If I say yellow is the most beautiful color, am I telling the truth? Is it really the most beautiful color?"

"huh?" I was really surprised with her sudden response. But before I can even speak again, she added more things that surely makes sense to me.

"No, right? Just because I said yellow is the most beautiful color that doesn't mean that it's right. It's merely an opinion and an opinion of one or two person isn't the general truth."

"All of those that they are saying are just mere opinion and there is no proof that can attest that it's true. You don't have to prove yourself to other people because they will just think what they want to think. They will just say what they want to say."

"You are just wasting you time for the wrong things. Stop it. Stop proving to them if they are wrong or right. Start proving to yourself that you're the one that is right."

I was left speechless.

Her every words are like freezing cold water that was pour on me while I was sleeping that it made me so awake.

So I started fixing my life. I started proving myself to me... and to her.

I like her. She gave my life a direction. And my current state doesn't deserve her. She deserve better so I'll be better.

I started to not mind my family. I stopped proving myself to them. I muted their voices on my head. There's nothing that they can say that can affect me. I just found my direction and my aim is clear. There is nothing that they can do that will make me lose my focus to my goal.

I was so determined and that same determination put me to the place where I am now.

Standing at the end of the aisle, waiting for what seems like forever for her to finally reach me. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. The one who gives light to my dark path so that I can see my direction clearly.

The one who made me change for the better. The one who makes me see my worth. The very same person and the very same reason why I decided to change to make myself worthy of her because she is the best and she also deserves the best.

Now, I can finally say that I'm worthy of her.

I'm already the CEO of our company, my cousin Luke pursue architecture so the company was left to me. At first, all my relatives are against the idea of letting me lead it. But eventually, they have seen my potential without me trying to please them.

I finally heard them say praises to me now that I stopped craving for it. I have no more hard feelings for them and we're all in good terms. I feel so successful and now that she was finally declared as my wife, I feel so complete.

I am doing well on my job, I am in good terms with my family and relatives and now, I can finally call this wonderful woman beside me, my wife. My heart is so full and I couldn't be any happier.

Through the years I realized that we really don't have to please everybody. We can try all we want but we can never be successful on pleasing everybody because no matter what we do, their minds will work on their own condition and it'll think what it wants to think.

We should stop investing our time and energy trying to prove our worth to the people around us. Be better for your own self, that's the key for a happy life.

"It's a rough journey for me but look where I am now. Just never ever let the opinion of others consume you. Just be you, you don't have to prove anything to anybody. All you have to do is to prove to yourself that you can and then all the good things will follow. Automatically." I smiled as I said those last words of mine to end the interview for a magazine about the secrets on how to become successful.

Looking back to what I am before, I didn't imagine that I'll be able to turn out just fine like this. Thank God, He gave me her. Thank God for waking me up through her. If not for that freezing cold water that woke me up, I wouldn't feel the contentment that I am feeling right now.

---END---

Hey there folks! I honestly don't have any idea how I was able to write this. I just let my fingers to type and it goes on like this. I don't have any idea about what to write earlier and then tada, here's the result of my fingers non stop typing for more than an hour.

I'm nervous about this. Stories are not my forte but let me know about your feedback about it. And I hope that the message I want to share was clearly delivered through the story.

Thanks for reading this far. Take care! :)

PLUG!!

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09 September 2021