Chapter 21

“Ma'am, if you keep acting like this I will have to call security. Please leave before that,” said the secretary annoyed with my persistent begging.

“I will leave, you don't have to call security,” I replied already going away from the desk she was seated at.

After questioning the secretary for the past hour or so, this was the first time she gave me a proper response. Except for repeatedly saying that he was in a meeting, the secretary was telling me nothing more. I was at the Cunningham company looking for a person who I thought was My best friend.

I sat on the bench that was outside the building and waited in hopes of meeting him. When I saw the Cunninghams in the newspaper and then the photo, I one-hundred-percent convinced my mind that I needed to see if it was Leo. I was that eager to know if it was really him.

The clumsy me hasn't brought an umbrella and the hot sun was crisping my skin. But it didn't matter at all because it was Leo. Because I was waiting for my best friend, nothing else mattered. Whether it was burning sun or freezing snow, Leo was the only person that mattered to me. If it meant that I would meet him, I didn't mind waiting for him, seated on this very bench as the seasons changed.

I stared at my legs, trying to entertain myself while also looking at the building entrance every now and then. I felt relief from the burning sun as its rays were covered by an umbrella, which was held by a kind-faced man: my Leo.

I slapped my hands on my mouth, not bothering to express my thoughts. I stuttered trying to form coherent sentences and all I was saying was nothing in a state of disbelief. Even if he grew much taller and looked like a different person, I knew those eyes.

I knew those eyes that looked at me with admiration and love. Those eyes that gave me peace and tranquility. I knew those eyes that reassured me they have my back every time something went wrong. Those gray eyes that have smiled and cried with me.

“You were sitting alone in the sun, so I figured you might need this more than me. I feel like you are waiting for someone,” said Leo in a voice that has matured so much from the last time we saw each other.

He has bulked up which told me that he still loved to exercise. To be honest, he hated exercising and only started doing it when he noticed that I was being bullied. He said once he grew up, he will be so muscular that nobody would mess with him. He said he would protect me, and he did with a skinny body that was barely strong.

“Agent Lee...” I uttered the name we so frequently used in a game we created with rules so many only we understood.

“What did you just say?” asked Leo, his British accent still unchanged.

“Agent Lee?” I repeated confused; it was as if he hadn't heard me the first time.

“Shut up! How dare you try to play me!? Who do you think you are?!” I saw the face of my best friend change from calm to furious in a matter of seconds.

“Leo, it-it's me, Lia,” I told him trying to make him understand that I was his best friend as he just shared his head in denial.

Have you forgotten who I am, Leo?

“Stop lying! Lia is dead! Who are you pretending to be her, huh? If she was alive till now, wouldn't I have found her?” he yelled both his hands on my shoulders.

His eyes were burning a hole in my soul and I felt his hidden wish that I was really Lia. I wondered if he was as lonely as I was without him. His umbrella long forgotten on the ground behind him as he was focused on something must more important.

Think of something only you and he know, then he will believe you.

“The boy I had a crush on was in your class and his name was Peter. You stopped eating a peanut butter sandwich because I told you I couldn't eat them due to my allergy. You had a fish named Oxygen because you liked saying I have Oxygen in my fish tank. You used to–” I was cut off by Leo's hug that squeezed me until I felt like my bones were about to break.

I reciprocated as if wanting to compensate for all those times we stayed apart. We broke apart to look at each other and then hugged back again as if we would wake up from this dream if we let go.

•••

“I can't believe you still have that!” said Leo pointing to my locket, his voice a little loud as if wanting to be heard over the slow song that was playing.

“How could I not have it? You even cried to your mom and dad that you wanted something special to give me as a birthday gift. This baby was made from your blood and tears.” I smiled, imagining 7-year-old Leo throwing a tantrum.

“I thought you had died. You were nowhere to be found. But why haven't you come home all this time?” asked Leo, his eyes looking at me in anticipation.

“I went to your house a lot of times in the past but they told me you moved out. They said you guys went to England to live there permanently. I didn't want to believe them but going there repeatedly, I saw that you guys were really not there.” I explained, looking down at my hands, which were playing with the straw of the strawberry juice I ordered.

“Who told you we permanently moved out? We went to England to visit Grandma but when she got really sick we had to prolong our stay there. Maybe that's why I never met you.” he said adjusting his chair a little further from the cafe window.

I looked around the busy cafe trying to see if there was a person I recognized. I felt like there was someone watching me. It was a gut feeling and I didn't want to dismiss it easily.

“What is it?” asked Leo sensing my discomfort.

“I don't know but I just feel like I'm being watched. I can feel someone staring at me.” I told him trying not to dwell on the matter.

“I met my Best friend after so many years, the only person that's staring at you is me.” he joked in an attempt to change my uneasy expression and it worked.

“No wonder, you're not even blinking,” I replied smiling.

“I missed you, Leo, so much that it hurts,” I told him wiping a lone tear that fell from my eyes.

“I think I missed you more and you know what? I am here and you are here, that's what matters. I am here for you now, you're not alone. I promise.” promised Leo holding both my hands and looking at my eyes, his protective gaze making me believe that nothing changed.

I was 9 again looking up to Leo, my hero who protected me all the time. My best friend, the older brother I never had, and a friend who always had my back.

“I know. I'm not alone anymore.” I replied with a smile.

A genuine smile.