Page 41

Now

The park was near empty today, as if it’d been cleared just for him and Nina. It was ten minutes until their designated meeting time.

Anxiety choked him, so much so that he paced around the park bench, rather than occupy it. Sweat tickled his forehead, and he hastily wiped it away. He needed everything about this to be perfect.

In his pocket, rested his last chance. His own letter, his response.

Don’t give up on me, Nina. Not yet. Not now.

Last night, he barely got any sleep. He tossed and turned, then reviewed his letter over and over, making sure that it was in the best quality, deserving of Nina.

He even sent it over to Jae, to read over. And Jae, ever the supportive friend, spammed him with a multitude of crying emojis.

Jae: You’ve become a poet for this girl, Seth. Good luck

“Seth.”

Hearing her voice, after so long, froze Seth. Carefully, he lifted his eyes from the park bench, and drank all of Nina in.

Beautiful. She was wearing a beige singlet, with a loose maroon cardigan falling from her shoulders.

Stunning. Her hair was clipped back, and as always, strands of it tickled her cheeks.

Gorgeous. Her eyes, warm like honey, held his.

“Nina,” he whispered, scared that the sight of her was an illusion, and it would all go away.

They stood like that, wordless for a moment. Until Nina shifted on her feet, and cleared her throat.

“Seth - I’ve been having a lot of thoughts….”

Seth took the two steps forward, into the space that divided him and Nina, until he was just a mere step away. He couldn’t let her end this, not until he’s said his part.

He was done running.

“Wait, let me go first Nina, if that’s okay. I need to get this out, before you say anything.”

Likely sensing the desperation in his voice, Nina nodded.

“I read your letter.”

Her brows furrowed, her expression perplexed, and the crinkle he loved appeared between them.

“What letter?”

“The one you’d written for me, in Year 8. The one you threw away at the end of that science lesson.”

The pieces fell together, and her face morphed into one of shock.

“You - you found that? And kept it?”

“Yes, I had put it in my bag and wanted to read it, and I must’ve forgotten it was there all this time. So I read it and I - I finally wrote you a response.”

With a hard swallow, Seth pulled out the two pieces of paper from his pocket. Unfolded it.

This was it.

There, before him, immortalised in word, was his love for her.

“I just need you to listen to what I have to say.”

With a deep breath, he began to recite what it said. Words that summed up everything he’s felt these past few months, and even further back than that.

It was everything he’s felt since the moment he met her.