4. Cemetery

Sometimes, keeping things to yourself can grow to become your coping mechanism.

Kristina stood before the cold gravestone. Sun blinded her - a few black spots appeared in the corner of her eye, slowly moving around like a bunch of spirits dancing gracefully, honoring her father's grave. 

She rubbed her eyes. All spots disappeared like they weren't there in the first place. 

Kristina missed her imagination. Her inner world lost its spark as she got older. She wanted it back, just for a moment - so she could forget about the worldly worries seated on her shoulders, weighing her down.

Four of them stood there in silence. Henry's hand gently placed around Millen's waist. Alec stood two steps behind them. Kristina wasn't sure what he felt. Coming to the stranger's grave every year, honoring someone he never met. 

Kristina squatted and carefully swept away the fallen leaves. She took out a lighter and lit two lanterns placed on the pedestal. 

How does dying feel like? 

A few last breaths you take before your body becomes nothing more than a fertilizer for plants - repaying your debt to the earth. Right, Kristina's father wasn't here anymore. The only thing left of him is a half-decomposed body in a fancy coffin, which won't ever see the light of day again. Rotted body in a decorated box. Why do humans even do this? Why do they feel the need to cling to someone who's no longer in the realm of living? How pathetic.

"Happy birthday, Kristina," her mother said softly.

Millen took off her long wool scarf and tied it around the base of the headstone.

"Don't be cold, honey. Winter is nearing," Millen murmured, addressing her deceased husband.

"Mom, you like this scarf. Don't leave it here," Kristina said without much thought.

Henry gazed at the scarf elegantly wrapped around the base of a headstone. The same scarf he had gifted Millen on their first anniversary now adorned the monument of a man destined to be his rival even in death. A hand that held Millen just a moment ago stiffened, forming a loose fist. Millen merely chose him because he resembled this dead man. There was not much aside from a resemblance she searched for. Henry frowned.

"Let's get going," Henry sighed, forehead relaxed. He can't compete with a dead man. 

Kristina's eyes ran around the nearby graves as they left. The cemetery was a strange place - it was beautiful during the day, sorrowful in the rain, scary in the darkness of night. Yet it drew every soul like a charm.

Alec texted with his friends, seemingly unbothered by the thick silence filling the car. 

"Mom, can Tristan come over?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"Why wouldn't he? Tell him to stop asking such silly questions."

"He'll be happy to hear that," Alec said before returning his attention to the screen.

Kristina got out of her room and descended the stairs. She saw Tristan and Alec sitting in the dining room. 

Tristan matured handsomely. He had grown-out blonde hair and emerald-green eyes. His lashes were unusually long and pale - one almost couldn't see them from afar. He's a head smaller than Alec, and his body is slightly muscular. However, he is still higher than Kristina.

"Ah, I don't get it, Tristan! Why is it so hard?" Alec exclaimed theatrically.

"It's not that hard. It's just a quadratic equation." Tristan sighed.

Kristina sat down next to Tristan, briefly looking over the page filled with calculations. 

Kristina didn't have many friends. However, she considered Tristan as one of them.

"Are you stupid or what? We've been stuck on this problem forever!" Tristan hit Alec lightly with a notebook.

"This can't be math - it's pure torture!"

Kristina giggled at his comment. She took a pen and solved the problem on the next page quietly. Meanwhile, Alec and Tristan quarreled like a married couple.

Sometimes, she felt this strange pull from Tristan, this unfamiliar familiarity she couldn't place - As if she knew him before he introduced himself before they met.

"It's not like I'll need this in life."

"Mabe you won't. But you can't fail math!"

"Why would I fail if I have you," Alec winked at Tristan with a smirk.

"Done," Kristina interrupted them.

Tristan looked at the solved problem. "This looks about right. See, Alec, it's not that hard."

Alec pouted.

Kristina noticed that Tristan still had his baby cheeks, which gave his strict aura a soft touch. 

'They'd look good together.'

Kristina surprised herself as this thought crossed her mind. She looked at Alec. He was smiling brightly, his eyes fixated on Tristan. Is it just her imagination, or is Alec really-

Kristina stood up and left.