1

*crowd clap*

She is obviously a goddess.

Uh-oh...

Someone just accidentally hit my chair which I was currently standing on, making me lost my balance all of sudden. “Woahh...*loud bang*…”The guests were all looking at me as I made a loud nice when fell hard on the floor. Even Mia stopped from playing her piano…Oh God, this is so embarrassing.

“Hehehe….*grins*…sorry about that,”I scratched the back of my hair, trying my best to cover my embarrassment.

“Oh God, Aiden…”my uncle approached me, crouching right in front of me with a worried tone. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…I’m fine,” Both of cheeks felt burnt maybe I was blushing so hard right now. “But uncle…can you please take me to somewhere else…” I whispered to my uncle. “Quick…before she saw me…”

“Hey calm down, boy…”my uncle tried to calm me down as he tried to get me up on my feet again.

“No, I can’t…I have to go now,” my right foot was damn hurt, but I held it so I could get out from the hall before Mia saw me. It’s just I don’t know where to hide my face if she saw me in that kind of condition.

It’s embarrassing, you know.

“Aiiden….stop!”Oh come on, Uncle Jay. Don’t call my name too loud. I just ignored him, quicken my limping paces even more towards the building entrance.

I went to the pond where I met her earlier with my heart pounded so hard. I sat on the bench, catching the heavy breath as I ran with my limped right foot.

I guess I sprained my leg, that’s great!

*sighs heavily*

Why is this embarrassing thing happened at the wrong time?

“How am I supposed to face her after this,” I complained along with a heavy sigh.

“Face who?” A voice suddenly startled me from my back, again. “You totally sounded like an old man…”then burst out of laughter.

And of course that person is Mia, there is none other person who kept made my heart almost stop twice in a day.

I knitted my eyebrow when looked at her who was still laughing, “Are you done?”

“Yeahh…*laughs*….I guess…sorry about that,” she replied while catching her breath. “Here take this…”she then handed me over a pain-relief spray.

“Y-you saw???” Oh God, this is totally embarrassing. My cheeks felt burnt so much and luckily the lighting here was kind of dim so she wouldn’t be able see I was kind of blushing right now.

She nodded, “Yup…here, let me help you.” She even offered her help to spray the medicine on my foot.

“What?? No…no, I’ll do it myself,” I declined, grabbing the pain-relief from her hand but apparently she took it back from me.

“Come on, Aiden…let me help you…” she still didn’t want to give up. “I just..umm…feel bad for you,” then tried to avoid my eyes contact by crouching in front of me while grabbing gently my right food and took off my sock so she could spray the medicine directly to my sprained ankle.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked her confusedly.

“Repaying you….”she replied while taking the seat back on the bench beside of me. “Don’t you remember, 3 years ago?”

“What? Did I do something bad to you???” The way she replying me totally made me felt nervous.

“No silly…*pokes my shoulder*…”she giggled a bit. “You once helped me to treat my wound when I fell from roller blading….so I want to repay you,”

“Oh, that’s right,” I agreed with her while scratching the back of my hair. “Seems like you still remember of that, huh…”

She slightly nodded and even swung her foot back and forth.

Okay, this situation slowly becomes awkward.

“So how’s Germany??” I quickly changed the topic.

“Well, it’s great. I have so much fun there…” she replied along with a small smile curved on her lips.

But still, I wondered why it became more awkward than before.

“Hey Mia….”I suddenly called for her name, making her to turn at me with her beautiful chestnut eyes were looking into mine. “I really love the way you were playing the piano earlier. You’re so beautiful…eh no, I mean it sounded so beautiful….but you’re beautiful, Mia.” What the heck I was saying!

She giggled beautifully, “Thank you, Aiden…”

“Sorry for not recognized you earlier,” I continued. “I really didn’t mean to…but still, I really appreciated you for still remembered me.”

“That’s okay, Aiden,” she replied. “How could I forget you anyway…”

Wait….what did she mean by that? Was that mean Mia used to have a crush on me??

Whoa…but I just can’t ask her like that. She won’t tell me anyway…maybe she already moved on from me and has somebody else in her mind. It has been 3 years already.

*phone buzzes*

My uncle just texted me that he waited for me at the hotel parking lot since the party was over. It was almost at midnight, around 11 minutes left until 12.00 am.

1st July…and it almost at the end of the day, I still didn’t wish Happy birthday for her yet. I never thought that party was her birthday party instead of the welcome back party not until I saw the notification from my phone calendar.

“I probably should go…”Mia finally broke the silence and got into her feet again. “My father must be looking for me now.”

“O-oh…sure,” Wait, please don’t go yet. I tried to get on my feet too, but unfortunately my swollen ankle made me hard to walk properly now. I almost tripped my feet, but with a quick reflect Mia managed to grab my hand, causing me accidentally pulled her into a hug as to balance my body.

My heart beats faster, well of course it does since my old crush is practically in my arms now.

This is so unbelievable!!

The beautiful moonlight made her look more stunning and gorgeous, making me hardly to move my eyes from staring at her. We both were still in each other arms and practically staring at each other with no words at all.

God, I really want to kiss her so bad.

But what if she doesn't like me? Or worse...has a boyfriend.

*clears throat*

"I-I should probably go," I broke the silence, slowly released my grip from her. "Thanks for the party and for helping me earlier...."

"O-oh...yeah, sure," she replied with a little bit stutter. "Any time..."

I made my way, slowly leaving her with my limping paces.

Why am I regretting so much for missing my only chance to express my love for her?

That's it!

*stops from walking*

"It's now or never," I finally made my mind, then turned to look back where she was about to leave the pond area to the opposite direction.

I flinched a bit because of my injured ankle as I quicken my paces to stop her. "Mia..." I called out of her name, stopping her walking away from the pond. She turned at her backside, looking at me in confused as I was walking toward her.

"I'm sorry, Mia...." I said, grabbing her hand before pulling her into my arms again. She seemed a bit shocked with my sudden behaviour but I didn't let her to speak at all, instead just leaned closer to her and pressed my lips against her warm lips. The kiss...I mean, I don't know what to call it anyway, well, it wasn't last long since I quickly pulled it back since I felt guilty right away after did that thing. I released the grip from her and slowly took a step back away.

"Sorry about that," I apologized again. "I don't mind if you want to hate me or not, but I just want to tell you that I've like you since the first time I saw you years ago..."

She suddenly took a step closer to me, with her right fist clenched tightly, "Why didn't you tell me before?" She then hit me right on my chest several times, with teary eyes. "How can I ever hate you, Aiden, you're my first love...and I still like you, very much, you know that..."

I was in a bit shocked when heard her words. Honestly, I didn't expected that she felt the same way to me.

I grabbed both of her hands, staring into her beautiful glimmering eyes, "I like you too, Mia O'Brien...." I curved a small smile for her, while gently wiping the tears from falling on her cheeks with my thumbs. I leaned closer to her again, then gently pressed my lips on her lips all over again. But this time, she kissed me back and we kissed tenderly, totally forgotten about my uncle who was waiting for me.

《F l a s h b a c k E n d s》