This chapter is set four years after the last chapter of Waffle Cones, when Emily and Fletcher are twenty-one.

emily | fletcher |

T H I R D P E R S O N

"Emily, calm down," Fletcher said frantically, chasing after her.

"No! I. Need. To. Find. Her. I know she's here somewhere," she said, enunciating each word carefully, threateningly, as her green eyes glared right into his brown ones. 

Sighing, he went along with it. He rubbed his hand across his face.

He was tired.

He was worried.

He was anxious.

But before all that, he was also very much in love with Emily Jenner.

And if this is what he needed to do, he would do it. Heck, he would even lay down his life for her if he needed to.

All for this girl, who decided to come into his seventeen-year-old life and mess with him for God knows how long more.

Jogging after her, she rummaged through their things, looking everywhere for Sarah, whoever she was.

The doctors had said that most of what she went on about was based on past experiences, forgotten memories that somehow got dug up.

So Sarah could have been a childhood friend, or someone she made up when she was younger.

She had only started talking about said Sarah this year and unlike other unknown persons that she had brought up, Sarah was the one that lasted the longest.

With the help of Erin and Alex, the three of them had searched through all her kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school records.

Whilst the other people she had talked about could be identified as old friends, distant cousins, not one Sarah appeared in anything they searched through.

Just as Emily was about to collide into a glass cabinet, Fletcher gently grabbed her wrist and steered her away.

She turned around and stared at him. Cocking her head to the side, she widened her eyes.

"Oh my god. Fletcher, Sarah's right behind you."

He turned around.

No one was there.

She raced past me and began talking to Sarah about many things, gushing about some, laughing at some.

Fletcher stood aside and let her talk. The doctors said that that was for the best. If he tried to stop her that would only get her agitated.

Emily was very fragile in this state. He couldn't risk anything to lose her.

Finally, Emily waved goodbye to Sarah and walked back to Fletcher.

She stood in front of him and Fletcher slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, all the while checking for any change in her emotion.

Sometimes Emily could get very protective and flip out at Fletcher if he showed any romantic gestures but other times she was the exact opposite.

He could never be sure so it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Did you know that Sarah has been really busy with her company lately?" she said excitedly, staring at Fletcher with sparkling green eyes.

"Is that so?" Fletcher said, smiling sadly back at her.

Emily nodded vigorously.

"She's the chairman and has a lot of projects planned. She asked me to join her company."

"R-really?" Fletcher replied, his voice cracking.

He saw the hope and enthusiasm shining out in her eyes.

He hated to have to tell her that it would never happen.

That Sarah wasn't real and that she couldn't join her company because all of it, was just not real.

But he wasn't going to tell her. He wasn't going to smash her dreams like that. That would be malicious, cruel, vicious.

And being that way to Emily Jenner would be an impossible crime to commit.

"Mmhmm. Anyway, Fletcher, I'm tired. I want to take a nap."

He cleared his throat and forced out a smile after his previous one had vanished.

"Yeah sure."

He took her hand and guided her into her bedroom.

She lay down on her bed and stared up at Fletcher.

He sat down on the edge of her bed and stared back at her.

So many emotions were going through him. Sadness, disappointment, heartache, love.

Why did Emily deserve this?

That was something he had been asking himself ever since the first day she started hallucinating and then got brought into the hospital.

The rest was a blur of tears and screams.

Ever since they got the shop back, it seemed like everything was perfect.

But we all knew that life didn't work that way.

And the illusion just had to come crashing down on them.

Fletcher didn't understand. He didn't understand why of all things, Emily would get this.

It wasn't fair to her.

What did she do to deserve it? Nothing. She didn't do anything that would make her deserve to ever be in this kind of situation.

But she was caught in it anyway.

And he was determined to untangle her from it.

The chances were low. So low that they were almost non-existent. But there was still a slither of hope, of light at the end of the tunnel.

And they were going to use that to guide their way.

She needed to get saved, to get out, and he was going to help her do that.

She may have been a little bit not like herself most of the time but there were times that he could still see glimpses of the Emily that he had fallen in love with four years ago.

Of course, she was still the same Emily and he was still the same Fletcher and they were still the same couple who had the same love for one another, even if this tried to come and stand in their way.

Fletcher kept convincing himself that it wouldn't but. . . it could. It really could. Anything could destroy the bond between a boy and a girl formed through an ice-cream phone.

But he would put in everything, all his effort, all his time and all of him to make sure that that never happened.

The line between Emily and him was thinning, whether he liked it or not. But he was the only person who could make sure that it never snapped.

Staring up at him, her eyelids started to get droopy.

But not before she shot him a small, weak smile and murmured, "Your eyes are nice to look into. I could look into them all day."

And that, that finally turned on the waterworks.

Fletcher remembered so vividly the day he had thought the exact same thing, when he thought about her green irises.

It was the day that he met her, for the very first time, after months of phone conversations, right outside Waffle Cones, the place where all the magic had taken place.

"Y-yeah, for yours too," Fletcher whispered so quietly, he thought Emily hadn't heard him.

But Emily had heard a lot of things that she wasn't meant to hear Fletcher say on the ice-cream phone. And this was no different.

So she shot one last smile at him, before her eyes shut completely.

A tear dripped down Fletcher's cheek, creating a dark patch on his shirt.

It wasn't like him to cry. But it also wasn't like him to have so much love for one person.

But both had happened. All because of Emily Jenner.

Emily Jenner, the girl who flipped his life upside down and yet still managed to turn it right side up, making it look better than before.

Emily Jenner, the girl who had managed to break down his walls, who had managed to get him to tell her things he vowed would never be said to anyone.

Emily Jenner, the first and probably last girl that he would ever, truly, love.

And staring at that girl in front of him, that girl who had had so many bricks thrown at her, and this especially large one that would leave an imprint on her forever, he couldn't help but have his heart break for her.

She looked so peaceful asleep. Nothing at all like when she was awake. That caution, that panic couldn't be found in her eyes when she was at peace, when she was calm.

She was too wary around Fletcher for his liking. After all, they were a couple. He wanted her to trust him.

But it always seemed to slip his mind that life with Emily wasn't like before.

It wasn't like four years before when they could have normal conversations with one another over the phone, it wasn't like four years before when Fletcher didn't need to be on the lookout for Emily not to accidentally, or even intentionally, end her life.

Life with Emily wasn't like that anymore. But that didn't mean that their love was gone. No way. It was far from that.

He liked to think that their love was stronger than most couples their age. After all, how many twenty-one-year-olds had the illness Emily did?

And if their love really was that strong, they would be able to overcome anything. Even this.

Two years ago, Emily and Fletcher had been a couple for twenty-four months.

Two years ago, Emily and Fletcher's life were as normal as it had been for the two years they had been together.

Two years ago, Emily was always by Fletcher's side and Fletcher was always by Emily's side.

Two years ago, Emily and Fletcher were in love.

But two years ago, Emily was also diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Two years later, Emily and Fletcher had been a couple for four years.

Two years later, Emily and Fletcher's life were as different as it had been for the four years they had been together.

Two years later, Emily was still suffering from schizophrenia.

But two years later, Emily was still always by Fletcher's side and Fletcher was still always by Emily's side.

But two years later, even with the different lifestyles, the illness, Emily and Fletcher were still in love.

And well, that's really all that mattered.

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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal social behavior and failure to understand what is real. Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, hearing voices, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and a lack of motivation.

People with schizophrenia often have additional mental health problems such as anxiety disorders, major depressive illness, or substance use disorder. Symptoms typically come on gradually, begin in young adulthood, and last a long time.

Late adolescence and early adulthood are peak periods for the onset of schizophrenia, critical years in a young adult's social and vocational development. In 40% of men and 23% of women diagnosed with schizophrenia, the condition manifested itself before the age of 19.

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Although not many people feel the same way, my favourite character in Waffle Cones has to be the main character, Emily Jenner.

I like how I can very much relate to her, in the sense that academics mean a lot to her.
The author having an Asian background, moreover Chinese, knows very well how much the numbers or letters on a test score mean to us and to our parents.

Though many try to convince their children that the scores do not define them, some children take it more seriously than they should, even resorting to suicide at times.

I wouldn't say that I come from a very traditional Asian family, though my grades do play a big part in my life since I was brought up that way.

And I like how the importance of Emily's grades to her weren't portrayed in the way that made her look like a nerd, much like how other Wattpad books express characters that regard their education as one of their top priorities.

I like how she truly, genuinely, cared, knowing that it would affect her future. Very few people have this planning-for-the-future mindset but because it was instilled in me since I was young, it has become a part of me, and evidently, in Emily as well.

It was nice that I could connect with Emily while reading the book and that she wasn't like most main characters in Wattpad books. She wasn't desperate, whiny or even weak.

She was just normal.

And with many authors trying to think of crazy plot twists, they lose sight of the real meaning behind writing a book, moreover planning one.

Good books, bestsellers, get to the top only because readers can connect with the characters.

They understand what the characters are feeling and they can empathise. But that can only take place if the character has a normal life, just like everyone reading it does.

I'll admit, meeting your future boyfriend over the phone and talking to him for more than a month is a bit unrealistic but that's what makes the book special. It wouldn't be the way it is without that plot twist.

But what Emily felt while she was talking to Fletcher? Now that was very relatable.

I very much enjoyed reading the book and entering this contest was a good experience for me to play around with this twist.

And to everyone who's reached this far, thank you for reading my long-winded note and I hope you enjoyed reading this one-shot as much as I enjoyed writing it.

P.S. the title is not a Melanie Martinez reference, in case any of you were wondering.

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