Chapter 10：Shining like the Stars (1/2)

Rummaging through my bag, I search for the keys. I sighed when I remembered Jett talking about the past earlier. As I enter my apartment, I can already tell my evening is going to be filled with the thoughts of the time from when I started dating him... leading to 'our' end.

I let out something akin to a self-deprecating laugh. ”Hah!...”

”He asked... Do... I... IF I... 'REMEMBER'...?”

After saying that out loud, my mouth could no longer keep up with the words my mind seems hell-bent in spewing out. So fast and so aggressively, that it's just like an avalanche - an intense rush of verbal vomit.

Indeed, yelling all my frustrations out is much quicker and easier when it's all done in my head!

...

YES.

OF COURSE...!!!

Of course, I still remember those times! I remember them quite fondly even.

Does he even realize how many 'what ifs' consumed my brain back then when we were apart?! Well, maybe not. He wouldn't have a clue, because I never told him.

When we just landed at Laratié, and we were all still trying to get all settled, living in a new country and all, I cried almost every night for a few weeks. Not only because I was apart from him, but it was rough to leave everything behind.

My home!

My other childhood friends...!

My school...!

The neighborhood I walked through every day to and from school...!

The corner store where I bought all my snacks with Jett...!

But now...!

NOW...

Everything was unfamiliar!

ALL of us mostly had to start all over again!

When I started going back to school, I realized again that I didn't know the people I sat next to. None of the friends I made at school were there either.

It was hard for me to keep in contact with anyone from Uiso even when we had the internet. It hurt so much being reminded every time I talked to any of them that I was no longer there.

They weren't making fun of me or whatever. They were so considerate, even! But whenever they told me about all the exams, trips, school events they attended, etc. The things they said only served as a reminder that I'd never been able to experience it with anyone who lives at Uiso ever again.

After the tears ran out, I decided that it was time to stop and just faced reality. I had to move on.

At first, I had considered Jett as a special case, and I wanted to keep at least our relationship going even if it was no longer romantic. As the days went on, however, my motivation was slowly getting chipped away. This was all because of the pain I had to endure. It was the price for holding onto the past.

Eventually, the days we either received or sent e-mails to each other started to grow more and more infrequent.

Weeks turned to months; months turned to years.

They all went by until we no longer were in each other's lives in any shape or form. I know that we bore no animosity or hatred towards each other for letting it happen. It was just... the inevitable. We allowed time and distance to wear down all that was left between us until the only things that remained were just memories of days gone by.