CHAPTER 03

Mia Reyes.

When Gabe was in sixth standard, Mia joined his school. She used to wear glasses and also cough most of the time because her health wasn’t good. Gabe immediately pitied her because his aunt’s health also wasn’t good. The other girls in the class teased and mocked Mia a lot in the beginning, but after the quarterly exams, Mia was ranked third in the class, and so most of their mouths naturally shut up.

Mia wouldn’t talk much, but she would help anyone that asked her to help clarify their doubts on any subject.

Gabe also went to her a few times, and she helped him. Gabe didn’t talk to her much other than a limited number of times, but he gave her something that would benefit her health every single time he met her, whether it be blueberries or beets. And he probably looked at her the most than anyone else in the class. He was highly innocent and utterly clueless about the type of feelings he had for her back then.

After growing up, however, he realized that she was his first crush whom he had thought of many times before sleeping. Just thinking about her would make him feel good.

If only Mia hadn’t moved out of the city after finishing school, Gabe might have asked her out, even though he was so afraid to ask any woman out on a date.

He always wondered what Mia was doing. She was not the type to be socially active, so he couldn’t find out any updates about her through his friend circle, either. Eventually, he completely gave up on her. He tried dating many girls afterward, but only one of them reached the wedding stage, only to fail big-time.

After almost sixteen years, Gabe saw Mia again, and he recognized her at first glance. She didn’t have spectacles on. She looked much taller, but her facial features were not something he could ever forget.

“Mia…” Gabe found himself gawking at her like he was looking at a long-lost friend.

[Your heartbeat is increasing. Is she your type?] the system asked in a feminine voice.

Gabe, however, was too lost in watching her; he didn't even care what the system was saying. But then Bart, of all people, met her, and they started talking, as if they both knew each other.

Gabe’s heart sank into his stomach and virulently swam about in the gastric juices, trying not to drown.

Mia soon realized that Bart was bleeding on the back of his head. She took her handkerchief out of her hand purse and pressed it against the wound, then made it hold it in place. She even called the ambulance.

Gabe, who was watching all that, grew utterly despondent. “Are they lovers?”

[One is aggressive, and the other seems the opposite. They’ll make a good pair.]

“No, they don’t!” Gabe hissed at the system. “He looks like a gorilla. She looks like a deer. They don’t look good together. Not one percent.”

[Then why don’t you go and beat his ass in front of her?]

“And become a villain in her eyes?”

[So you have a decent IQ. That’s good. Besides, even if you had attacked him, you wouldn’t have beaten him anyway.]

Gabe couldn’t bother himself talking with the system anymore. His focus was on Mia. “I wonder what they’re talking about.”

Mia asked, “Who hurt you like this?”

“Nobody,” Bart tried his best to not look embarrassed. “Who could hurt me? I’m the strongest guy in the neighborhood.”

“So it’s someone from another neighborhood, huh.”

“T-That’s not what I meant!”

Mia looked around, and her eyes eventually settled on Gabe. She started walking toward him.

Gabe’s heart skipped like a fawn. (S-She’s coming this way.) He turned around and started walking fast.

“Hey, you, wait!” Mia’s voice reached his ears, and his feet automatically stopped. Even though he didn’t want to turn, he ended up turning anyway. It was as if he couldn’t go against her words. Nevertheless, he couldn’t lift his head and look her in the eye.

“You have blood on your face, mister,” Mia said. “Are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine,” Gabe’s heart raced like never before.

[Why are you acting like a chicken? You should at least look her in the eye.]

“Are you perhaps the one who fought Bart?” she asked rather softly.

Bart? Who the hell was Bart? Was she talking about the big guy standing right behind her?

“Bart is my cousin,” Mia added. “If he’s responsible for your injuries, I apologize in his place.” She took out some money from her purse, and gently slid it in Gabe’s shirt pocket without even counting the money. “Use it for medical fees. I hope you’ll recover soon.” She glanced over her shoulder and looked at her cousin. “Bart. You should apologize.”

Bart, however, didn’t have a friendly expression. “Why would I apologize to that pathetic guy? Look at his clothes? It looks like he’s been wearing them every day for the last five years. That’s why you gave him money, right? So he could buy some decent clothes?”

“No, that’s not why—” as she was saying, Gabe frowned and dropped the money on the ground and ran away. “Wait!” She called out for him, but he didn’t stop. “Tch,” she madly looked at Bart who shrugged his shoulders as if telling her that he only spoke the truth. “You should think before you say something bad about others, Bart.”

“Sorry,” Bart half-assedly apologized, for her sake.

Gabe ran to the nearest alley where there wasn’t a single soul. Even the winds were silent there.

He ended up stopping at a trash can that had some old clothes in it. These clothes looked better than the ones Gabe was currently wearing. He bit his lower lip in frustration, less so because she pitied him for his appearance and gave him money, and more so because she didn’t seem to even recognize him.

As the reality of how utterly meager and negligible his presence had been in the world dawned on his slim, feeble shoulders, a tear tore through his daydreams and traced down his cheek in a lone path ever so silently.

[...]