Dream Star

She didn"t notice anything wrong with it, and she genuinely liked it. However, during middle school, Lila noticed some changes in the darkness. It felt like it was trying to consume her bit by bit. Had it always been that way? She couldn"t say so for sure. The changes in darkness felt so abrupt to her that she couldn"t accept it. For a while, things seemed reasonable until her health deteriorated further.

When people decided that it was time for her to go on her journey, Lila persuaded them to delay it longer. Her journey to find the light to appease the darkness inside her. She understood it was necessary, but she postponed it to be with Kiryu more. That was naive and stupid of her.

Her fears have yet to vanish - but more than her own anxieties. The one who is suffering the most is this person in front of her. He"s trembling so much, why didn"t she realize it before? If she recognized from the beginning how fragile he was, then perhaps something would have changed. If she came to his side sooner, maybe he would have suffered a lot less.

Lila continued to him tightly, and for a long time, n.o.body spoke until a quiet and meek voice said.

"I"ll tell you the truth..."

.....

When she was comfortably resting in his arms, she looked up at him and waited for story time to start. Haruka, however, was looking at her with wide eyes, a deep sigh pa.s.sed his lips, "So, what do you call this?"

"Cuddling," Lila said simply.

"Shouldn"t you lay back down?".

Their current position was her perched on his lap as she buried her face in his arms, Lila looked up, "But this is comfy, and it"s story time."

"Seriously you," Haruka murmured but shook his head and gently kissed her forehead, "This is going to be long, do you mind?"

"I don"t."

Haruka caressed her hair as he started, "It"s like what I"ve hinted at before. I"ve known you for a very long time. When you were born, I was living alone with Mother by that time she and the old man were separated. One day he unexpectedly showed up and said he wanted to introduce me to someone. I remembered looking towards Mother wondering if it was okay to go. Though they never married, my parents had lived with each other for a long time. But all of a sudden after my father received a phone call, their relations.h.i.+p became sour and the peaceful harmony they built as friends vanished. So when the old man eventually moved out, I wasn"t surprised."

"Ah," Lila interrupted, "This was when Mother called Ren-san back."

Though it was something that happened before she was born, Lila heard all the details from everybody else.

Haruka nodded, "Your mother didn"t exactly tell the old man to drop everything to go with her. But her words could have easily been misunderstood," Haruka paused briefly as he sighed," Hearing the woman you love crying on the phone, it"s only natural you want to fly to her side. It was late when your mother called the old man, but he immediately made arrangements to leave right away. He was on the plane to j.a.pan and was there by the following day."

As sweet as it sounded, Lila understood that Haruka"s tone contained slight bitterness. Ren-san didn"t act rationally. He didn"t even tell Haruka"s mother where he was going, "Ren-san stayed in j.a.pan and didn"t go back abroad for a while. Is this what you meant by things going sour?" Lila tried to fill in the story with the gaps she learned from everybody else.

"Yeah, a lot of stuff happened in between before you were born. I"m sure I don"t need to mention it," Haruka murmured.

"Ah-huh, they told me."

"You see Lila; I thought nothing behind his unexpected visit that day. I thought he simply wanted to spend some time with me. Even though the old man said he wanted me to meet with somebody, I thought that was an excuse. So when he lead me to you, I was surprised. All I saw was a cute girl that looked like a fairy, with her dark hair, beautiful eyes, and fair skin..."

Lila"s cheeks colored red at his comment, "Dummy, what fairy," she hits him lightly, and Haruka chuckled.

She spotted Haruka casually reaching over for her legs then and was about to protest when she felt him ma.s.sage them lightly. Oh, her gaze softened. Only a few minutes have pa.s.sed since she sat down though. Her legs aren"t tired yet.

Haruka smiled and continued, "I"m serious; I thought you were a fairy. Back then I was just as bold as you and didn"t hesitate at all to approach you. You seemed startled actually but looked towards my father before happily accepting my hand. It didn"t take the two of us long to get close, but then again I spent the first few minutes wondering if you were actually a real person. I mean your beauty seemed unreal, and your hands were all soft..and fluffy."

Lila interjected then, "Y—you know I"m not that pretty, you can tone down your compliments a bit." She was feeling very embarra.s.sed.

Haruka leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead, "But, I"m serious. In my whole life then I had met no one as beautiful as you. The other children my age abroad all had fair skin - but for me, you stood out. Well, maybe it was love at first sight."

"Maybe?" she asked him cheeks puffed into a pout.

Haruka laughed, "If I directly admit it, it would be too corny."

But she doesn"t mind him being cheesy, almost as though Haruka read her mind he continued, "Well, for me you were the only one. I stayed with my father for the next few months, and we spent a lot of time together. The month we first met was July, so we spent my birthday together. When we met, you were still three years old. We spent many important events like Christmas and new years together. I was happy being with you, and it looked like it was the same for you as well. It"s not like we were always together like you and Austin Kiryu but," Haruka paused, "The fleeting moments we spent together were equally special."

As Lila listened to him, she observed him carefully. This was a first for her, seeing such fondness in Haruka"s face. Though he smiled quite a bit on his birthday, there was something different about the smile he wore now.