The first time I truly experienced Valentine's Day was over a decade ago, I can't remember the exact year, but I do remember that Jacky and I were still in middle school - it was a weekend, and it was already late at night when we sat in the back row of a bus, heading to a place.
"What do you think about giving roses on Valentine's Day?" Jacky, sitting by the window, asked me seriously.
This question seemed childish and out of place, but Jacky had a reason for asking. After we got on the bus and sat down, we noticed a girl sitting in the front row, probably in her twenties, with a ponytail and a beautiful face. She was holding three roses, definitely given by her boyfriend after a date. Some young friends might ask, why would she go home on Valentine's Day? It seemed unbelievable. It was the 90s back then, and young men and women in the 90s weren't as open as they are now. Well, they must envy the young people nowadays.
Back to the point.
Let me describe the scene again: a girl holding three roses given by her boyfriend, just a few centimeters away from us. Jacky and I exchanged a glance and decided not to miss this opportunity. He understood and asked the aforementioned question: "What do you think about giving roses on Valentine's Day?" His volume was just right, not too loud, but the girl in the front row could hear clearly. This question was an introduction, and my task was to expand on it.
"The language of roses represents 'I love you.' Men use the act of giving flowers to express their admiration for women. However, I believe that this is a manifestation of the degeneration of people's ability to love. It's like hearing-impaired people needing hearing aids, and heart patients needing pacemakers. People rely on flowers as a tool to seek pleasure and love, indicating the inherent weakness of human beings. People no longer have the ability to express emotions and themselves, which is even more serious, an inner deficiency."
The girl with the ponytail in the front row twitched her face.
After I finished speaking, Jacky nodded, "Yes, and I heard that flowers are the reproductive organs of plants. When a man gives a woman flowers, it can be seen as a man giving a woman a bunch of reproductive organs."
The girl with the ponytail in the front row trembled, and the roses almost fell to the ground.
Throughout the journey, we discussed the act of giving roses on Valentine's Day from various aspects such as society, philosophy, economy, and politics, until the girl with the roses got off the bus in a panic. Jacky and I watched her stumble away, and as the bus door closed and the bus started moving again, my gaze turned back to the empty seat in front. Oh, those three roses were neatly placed on the back of the seat, she didn't take them with her. Well, after our lesson, it's not surprising that she suddenly felt that roses were a bit sinister.
I really want to make up the rest of the story: those three roses remained on the back of the seat, passengers came and went, as if no one noticed them. The bus passed one stop after another, the streets outside the window flickering between light and dark, and when the bus finished its shift, the three roses were still standing quietly on the back of the seat in the empty bus. The next day, when the driver came to take over, he cleaned the bus before departure and discovered the three roses in the back seat. He pulled them off and threw them in the trash.
But the truth is this: Jacky and I took those three roses with us when we got off the bus. We stopped by a female classmate's house and scattered the petals one by one under her building, so that when she left home for school the next day, she would see these petals.
This ending is more heartwarming. We gave the rose petals to her, not because we had any romantic feelings, but because we had a good relationship with her. We always like to share good things with people we have a good relationship with. This female classmate's last name is Qi.
END