I headed home, texting Kailee that I was on my way. Before I even finished, a man in a suit walked up to me.

“Jiyuru Medola?” he asked.

“Yes…Do I know you?”

“No. I am a government agent.” He handed me his card. “I’m going to have to take you in.”

“For what? Am I in trouble?”

“Not at all. This is about your friend Mara. He is in no trouble either, however.”

“Um, alright then.”

I followed him to a black SUV.

I swear if I get kidnapped I deserve to die for being so stupid.

But he drove to the nearest government building. We went to the interrogation room.

“Do you know Mara well?”

“Um…Kind of. He’s a good guy. I don’t know everything about him though.”

“What about his parents?”

“His mom likes me…his dad not so much. But that’s because of a problem they had with someone who wasn’t really a friend, apparently.”

“We know you and Mara are in a relationship. I promise you again, he’s not in trouble. We wanted to ask you about his parents.”

“...What about them?”

He placed a file on the table, revealing three burned bodies. “These are three hermaphrodites. We believe they were murdered on the other continent by Mara’s parents. He does not know this, however.”

“Why are you telling me this? Doesn’t it concern him more than it does me?”

“You’re intersex, Jiyuru. We’re afraid you might be targeted. The victims were all around your age.”

“No…I don’t think they could do something like this.”

“Believe what you want to, Jiyuru. We’ll be issuing protection for you tomorrow.”

“But I can go home now?” I asked.

“Yes. We’ll drop you off home.”

~.~

Obviously the first thing I did was text Mara to come over.

He stopped by shortly, and I sat him down in the living room.

“What’s up, Jiyuru?”

I took a deep breath. “This is going to sound crazy, and it probably is crazy, but a government agent picked me up while I was walking home.”

His eyes widened in shock. “What? The government? Are you okay?”

“No, listen, they told me the craziest stuff about your parents killing three hermaphrodites. I said that there was no way. Because you said your mom liked me, right? And your dad’s just suspicious of me.”

“Well, yes…” He looked doubtful.

“Hey, come on. This is the part where you’re supposed to tell me I’m out of my mind or something.”

He smiled softly at me. “I can’t do that. My parents haven’t killed anyone, but the Underbrush government chasing them is not out of the question.”

“What? What are you guys gonna do?”

“I’ll tell them what you told me, but I won’t tell them it came from you. And we might disappear if it turns out to be true.”

I stared mutely at him. He simply gave me a kiss, saying, “I love you.”

“So, what? I’m just supposed to forget about you?”

“Hey, we might not even go anywhere. You’ll see me at school tomorrow, and this conversation never happened. I’m only giving you the worst case scenario. But I have a bad feeling…so that’s why I’m saying goodbye. Just in case I don’t have another chance to.”

“Goodbye,” I whispered, leaning in to kiss him.

He returned it, then rose. “I need to hurry and tell them. If we leave, I’m sorry we had to go.”

“You couldn’t help it…I love you too, by the way.”

“I know.” He embraced me, reluctantly pulling away to head home.

~.~

I didn’t see him the next day.

~.~

<Jiyuru’s Journal>

It’s been a while. Since I’ve seen him, that is. And I’ve been trying to forget about him. We weren’t even together that long. But he was my first love, so I suppose he’ll always hold a special place in my heart.