Are you still there

I noticed them a few weeks ago. I haven't told anyone about them yet. I'd only come here to give them some food, play with them for a while, and then I'd leave.

Not just anyone would dare to play with wild kittens; they could be dirty and scratch one easily. But I dared to, when I saw how cute they were.

I love them. I did not come here yesterday because I was sick and I've missed them a ton. It has probably become one of my habits to visit them regularly. But I have to be careful because I might get shit from my mother if I was caught.

My mom is rather strict when it comes to staying clean. She, for example, thinks animals are dirty. For that reason, I need to wash my hands and clothes after petting an animal or if I have had them touch me. If she finds out that I've been feeding wild kittens that: "no one knows where they came from", she will definitely not like it.

Her reasoning is understandable, I cannot oppose for that cause. So, I'll keep playing and feeding them for the time being, and yet, I'll change my clothes and take a bath when I'm back home - a solution. That way, it would not be that bad for any of us too.

I was worried about the kittens. I'm not sure how it went for them when it was raining. Did they manage to take a shelter from the rain, the other day? The rain was rather heavy that even I fell sick afterwards. So, what if they were sick?

I started to stress out the more I thought of it and Zachary might have noticed that.

* * * *

We parted ways with Mira near the train stop. It's funny, because she hugged Zachary but left right after without saying goodbye to me - yeah, it made me kind of mad, but I was alone with him now.

When we were about to leave I noticed him picking up a bag, I remember he wasn't carrying anything when we first saw each other. "You bought something?" The bag was rather heavy and big to be one for the brushes that he might have bought.

"Yeah, I did" he answered me. He seemed to be happy about it. "I heard from your classmates that you didn't come to school yesterday, why is that?" He asked me, then.

I thought to myself for a second; am I supposed to tell him the truth, that I was sick with a high fever, or come up with a lie, to cover it up. What if he gets silly again if I tell him what really happened?

I ended up telling him the truth and came up with something as I was telling him about the story: "...doesn't that mean that you, yourself, were not there too yesterday..?"

I wondered why he would have skipped a school day, could he have been sick too?

He looked at me strangely, maybe I figured something I shouldn't have... "Well, yeah" he said. "Remember the color I went to get the day I met you?" I nodded my head as a reply. "I got it and started working on my canvas right after I got back home."

At that moment I thought I might have been too much to have been disappointing with him over not coming all the way with me, he had his reasons after all. "I continued painting until late at night" he says. "Then I went to buy some things - totally forgetting about school. I was just too caught up in it. I'll show you once it is done." He seemed to be happy and I smiled. I like to see him jolly like this. I can tell that he is smiling from the bottom of his heart.

What is happening, my body is running wild. What is he about to do?!

He came closer to me as he looked me deep into the eye.

Shit! What should I do? I'm freaking out.

That's when he leaned in closer to me, touched my forehead and said: "You don't have a fever anymore. I just had to make sure that everything was all good, oh! Was it sudden? Sorry about that" he laughed nervously and I was rather disappointed. I guess my mind wondered a little too far.

Then, he seemed to have remembered something since he stated looking at me very seriously, all suddenly. "Adrienne, I'm very sorry. I didn't know you were sick, didn't see how you were and also, I didn't check up on you - I do have an excuse for that though. Can you hear me up, please?"

I could feel his sincerity, "I'm not mad anymore" I wanted to tell him. But seeing him being so cute in front of me, I couldn't help myself from being mad, this considerate side of him, he cannot show it to anyone else.

"Yeah, sure" I said instead.

* * * *

Whilst, the park was close to my place, and Zachary's, to en instant - we would still not come here often. The place felt too close and too familiar for us to hang out in. Instead it has become a place were we would meet in, when it comes to a short notice gatherings. That way, it's very suitable.

Sometimes we would bring picnic blankets with us, other times we would sit on the grass while sometimes we sit on a bench or we'd only be taking a walk.