8. The present

"I'm sorry"

Korone turned her back towards him again as he said it for the fifth time.

"Hey I'm really sorry", she turned her back again towards him.

The back of Francis' car open where they were loading stuff for a picnic on his birthday.

"This isn't fair!", she pointed towards the girl," why does she get to be the one to wish you first."

Him and the girl exchanged glances for a short interval of time.

The birthday gift was still flashing on back of his mind. He did not sleep, not even a bit after that.

"So what's the plan for today?", Trevor asked Francis as he loaded the basket in the back.

"We're going to the winter remembrance ceremony for a picnic. It takes place every year on his birthday."

"Does your father know that you're here?", Francis asked Korone.

"Oh yeah", she said while smiling ,"in fact he sent extra people this time".

She signalled him to come close to him.

He leaned towards her.

She whispered in his ear,"There are eyes all around us. Even at this very moment."

He felt a cold sensation creeping up his spine as he heard that.

She burst out laughing,"I was just joking okay! He knows we are here", she placed a hand on his shoulder," how can you believe me like that?", she ran away after that.

He got back up and felt blood flowing through him again.

"She keeps on watching those TV shows and she has a pretty wild imagination." , Trevor said.

The group got on the car but took a small detour before going to the spot.

Led went out first. He bought flowers from a florist and stormed towards the place.

The rest got out and were about to follow him but the girl stopped them.

"Let him go alone. He's visiting them after such a long time."

He went inside the gates of the graveyard they stopped at. Despite the beautiful weather and the shining sun, the air inside felt sad and lonely to him.

He stopped near two graves, looked at them silently for a minute, the light showed two names that he had always wanted to forget about at some point in his life but also remember till the day he died.

He sat on the ground facing them.

"Hey! I'm really sorry it took me such a long time to visit you guys. I miss you guys so much, specially on this day. But I wanted to remember you guys in a way that made me happy and not sad.....or angry.", he cleared his throat," Anyways, I made some friends this year and fell in love too. Can you believe that? ".

He came near them and placed the flowers on their grave," You don't need to worry though, she is a very kind girl", he smiled, but with tears in his eyes, not because of sadness, but because of the loneliness he felt.

"I wish you two were here with me.", he got up,"I'll be back soon this time."

The picnic spot was at a high place on a mountain. One could see the ocean from a distance. Trees surrounded the place with a round clearing full of lush green grass that looked beautiful and comfortable.

A lot of people had already reached the place and a small stage was set up in the place.

"They perform a play in the evening every year", Francis said to the newcomers,"It's the same play every year but it is really beautiful and I love every part of it."

They found a nice little spot but as they unloaded stuff, they found out that water bottles were missing.

"I think I told you to do that!", Shinzo yelled at Pekora.

"AHH the weather sure is nice today", she ignored her

Shinzo held the blue haired girl by her hand,"Let's go get the water", one could see flames surrounding her.

They went down the hill to the main road that had a few shops, bought the bottles and went back up.

"You know", Shinzo said as they were on the way ", Led had no friends until this year. When he talked about you on the phone, i was scared that he might end up being used by you for something.", they pulled up, "He's a really good guy, you know, don't end up breaking his heart."

"Hey he's just my friend okay", she strongly denied it.

"Bah! do you give everyone a birthday gift of that kind?"

All of her defences failed right at that point, "You....saw?"

"Don't worry I won't tell anybody."

She reverted back to her original cold self after hearing that,"Yeah whatever."

She got out of the car without helping her.

"Take good care of him!", Shinzo shouted from the back.

"I got too caught up in the moment", she blushed while thinking.

Led saw her from a distance and waved at her to which she waved back. He felt happy.

"Still happy because of her present?", Pekora asked him from behind.

Korone and Trevor turned their heads towards him.

"How did you...."

"Don't worry, no one knows except for us",all three of them gave a thumbs up.

After all the arrangements were made, Pekora and Shinzo made sure that Led and the girl sat next to each other.

The event started, traditional dances, songs and other things like small speeches from the organisers. The main play was set to take place in the evening. Led was not interested in any of those. He wanted to talk to the one beside her.

A dance passed, then a song, another dance performance passed. He looked at her to say something and found her already looking at him.

They looked down after that encounter.

"The weather is really fine today.", a post he saw on reddit suggested something like this.

"Yeah"

Awkward silence.

"The birthday gift you gave me", he mustered up all of his courage to say that,"No one has ever done something like that for me. Thank you. "

She looked at him with glinting eyes.

"It's okay if you did not mean it and it happened in the heat of the moment.

"I....", she hesitated, "I meant it, every single moment of it. I.....", she looked back and found Pekora, Trevor, Korone and Shinzo looking at them.

"What? ", they looked up forward as soon as she said that.

After the day event ended, they went to the flower garden which was a bit far from the place and was only accessible on foot.

"It's a tradition here that whoever comes here for the ceremony must visit the garden.", Led and the girl were a bit far from their group so they were a bit more comfortable while talking to each other.

"Hey", he asked her, "if I am in big trouble even after your work here is done, then would you still come to save me?"

"I'd come even if you need someone to talk to"

"Then stay", he stopped, "stay with me, we could stay here if you want to or we could go back to the city if it suits you more."

She turned back to face him,"I'm sorry, but I can't promise something like that"

As the wind blew past softly and brushed her hair, he saw tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry for requesting something selfish like that."

She grabbed his hand and then started running, "I want to enjoy this moment, where we're together."

"Hey I love..."

"I know", she looked back at him while smiling, "i do too".

Both of them laughed while running towards the garden.

It's good sometimes to enjoy the things that you have in the present without worrying about the future.