“Hey!” I jumped and looked behind me. “Don't scare me like that... dude!” I snap back. He lowered his gaze, “sorry...” he said silently. I groaned, “and we talked about this, no apologizing!” I pointed an accused finger at him. “O-ok...” he said while fiddling with his fingers. I sighed. “You still don't want to tell me your name?”

“Nope.” I frowned. “But I'll tell you if you tell me yours!” he added with a smile. I scoffed, “I already told you, I won't tell you unless you tell me!” I crossed my arms to emphasize my words. “Hmmm, ok!” I looked at him with bright eyes. “I'll tell you on our last day together,” letting my smile falter. “You always say that,” I said sadly.

“Because it's true, I will tell you then. I promise I will tell you my name tomorrow!” he said with an even bigger smile. I gasped, “tomorrow? Yay! But you said you'll tell me whe-” I stopped talking like the sound around us just vanished in an instant.

“wh- whe- when y-you're not... seeing me again,” I said quietly, trying not to choke, with the tears welled up in my eyes. The boy who looked happy before, now looked worried and tried to reach out with his hand, but stopped when I started talking again, louder than I intended to.

“Why are leaving all of a sudden! It's been just a week and you want to disappear already!? Are my feelings that irrelevant?! Is it- is it because of me?” I asked, not able to hold back my tears any longer. Ahh, what children we were. The boy however had an almost terrified look on his face, finally making a move to comfort me while I cried.

“You're wrong, it's not because of you! Your feeling aren't irrelevant, you know?” he shouted, starting to cry on his own. But my dumb, stubborn, child self wasn't like me now. “You liar! How could you do this to me, after all this time we spent together?! Didn't you realized, all this time, that I actually l-liked you, you idiot!” I shouted with tears in my eyes, turning around to run away.

He stood there, dumbfounded, eyes wide, completely still. It was only when I started to run that he raised his voice crying out for me, “you know? I, I also like you!” At this moment everything was going slower, like time would stop any second now.

He... he likes me too... I clenched my hands into fists and continued to ran, ran out of the park, ran past the cafes and stores, ran home, crying my eyes out, much to the worry of my parents who desperately tried to comfort me after I told them what happened.

After I calmed down my mother took me to my room and sat with me on my bed. “You know Diana, I don't think it's your fault, or his fault. I think he really likes you and wanted to say goodbye the best way possible, don't you think?” I sniffed twice before answering, “do you really?” she smiled genuinely. “Yes, I really do think so,” she said and kissed my forehead.

“Now think about it, if you want to see him tomorrow, ok Sweety?” she stood up walked to the door to turn off the lights. “Mhm, ok mommy,” I answered wiping away the last tears. “Goodnight.” “Goodnight.” And with that she left me alone with my thoughts.

She really always loved me and helped me out, didn't she? My mother...

“-ana.”

“-iana, din-.”

“DIANA, DINNER!” I wake up with a short scream. A... dream? “Oh my, Sweety, no need to scream,” she says with a chuckle. “Had a good dream?” she asks, winking at me. I smile, “yeah, actually,” I say honestly. “I...see,” she responds, smiling too.

“I love you, mom.”