The Love of An Invisible

[Iuri Stevens’ Vision]

I’ll be damned! I feel as if time has frozen; Aya is standing right in front of me. She is wearing a sky-blue bare-shoulder dress, black sneakers, and for the first time in her life, she is wearing makeup. She looks stunning. After a long time, again I see her round glasses. I think she is so cute when she has them on, along with her earpiece with the kitty ears.

“Son,” I hear my mother’s voice snapping me out of my reverie.

“Y-yes,” I answer, blinking my eyes several times until my vision focuses on my mother.

She walks quickly towards me, and I focus my vision on her as she speaks softly just so I can hear.

“Close your mouth; you’re almost drooling.”

I feel my eyes widen slightly; I gasp and compose myself. I stretch my shirt a little and turn my attention back to what is going on in the room.

“Shall we go to the game room?” I hear my father calling Aya’s father.

“Come on, dear, I’ll show you the new flowers,” my mother says, dragging Mrs. Millenis into the garden.

I feel my fingers trembling and a few beads of sweat on my forehead. It’s just me and Aya left in the room. I need to say something.

“You…” Her eyes are finally on me. How nervous. “You look so beautiful!” I speak quickly and lower my head, closing my eyes.

“Ah! Well… Thank you.” I raise my eyes, and she smiles weakly.

She is so beautiful when smiling. The first and last time I saw her smiling was when she was five, on that cold winter day, with her little window. Now her teeth are complete and without any defects.

“Ah… Do you want some refreshment? Juice, water…”

“I’ll have water.”

“Okay, the kitchen is this way.”

I start to walk, and she comes right behind me. I grab a glass from the cupboard and go to the filter built into the refrigerator.

“Natural or ice water?”

“Can it be mixed?” she asks me, frowning, and I think this is so cute.

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I mix the water and give the glass to her. She smiles and starts to drink the water. As soon as she finishes, she gives me the glass back. And again, the uncomfortable silence. I always wanted to get closer to her, and now that I have this chance, I don’t have any idea what to do, what… Ah, our common ground!

“I like anime. You like anime?” I cheer in thought. “That she doesn’t think I’m weird.”

“Yes,” she replies.

“Wanna go watch some while dinner’s not on?” I ask and hide my fingers in the pockets of my shorts; they are trembling.

“In the living room?”

“Well, the TV in the living room is programmed only with my dad’s game shows and mom’s soap operas,” I say, scratching my hair and messing it up in the process.

“So come on, can I choose any anime?” I feel my heart melt when I see her eyes shining.

“Of course!” I say, smiling like a fool, and even lose track of time.

“Well? Let’s go?”

“Oh yes, of course, it’s this way.”

I hope my face doesn’t turn red because it feels so hot. I’m such an idiot. I’ve been lost in time twice, fixing my eyes on this cute and beautiful girl.

We walk up the stairs in silence. My hands that were shaking before are now sweating. For the first time in my life, I’m taking a girl to my room, and better yet, it’s the girl I’m in love with.

[ Iuri Stevens’ Vision ]

We walk down the corridor, and when I reach the door to my room, I open it. At this moment, I am thankful that my mother told me to clean it. I enter, and then make room for her to enter as well, and she does.

“Your room is very nice,” she says and sits down on the small sofa in front of the television.

“Thanks. Do you have any anime in mind?” I ask, grabbing the remote control and sit down on the sofa.

“Guilty Crown. I put it on my list yesterday,” she says, and I see her eyes light up.

“Okay, then let’s watch it.”

I turn on the TV and search for this anime. It doesn’t take two seconds, and I find it.

“Why didn’t your sister come today?” I ask in order to continue talking to her, to hear her sweet, soft voice.

“She had to go out to solve some problems at school,” she says without taking her eyes off the television.

“Oh, I understand. I hope she will make it.”

“I’m sure she will. How old are you?” she asks, now looking at me.

“Eighteen, and you are seventeen, right?”

“How do you know?” she asks me with one eyebrow raised.

“My mother said that you are a year younger than me,” I speak and scratch my head again.

“I understand. I’m only a year younger than you, I’m in the last year.”

“I know; we are in the same class,” I say and look at the TV again.

“I don’t remember ever seeing you in the room,” she confirms what I have always known; hearing it hurts.

“I just sit in the back,” I say gloomily.

And there the conversation ends; no more words are exchanged. The only sound filling the room is the anime opening music.

I feel my heart beating; I hit my right foot several times on the floor; I feel suffocated.

“Children?” I hear my mother calling us with only her head inside the room. “You can come; dinner is on the table.”

Aya gets up, and I turn off the TV. We follow my mother to the pantry of the house. Her parents and my father are already seated; mine sits next to my father, and there are only two seats available, one next to the other.

“You have grown up a lot, young man,” Mr. Millenis says as his daughter and I sit down.

“True,” I speak and smile politely at him.

“How did you meet my daughter? I heard that you both study at the same school; was it there?” Now who asks is her mother.

“Actually, no. We never spoke at school. I met her in Central Park a few years ago,” I say and start putting the food on my plate.

“And when was this? Our daughter never told us,” observes her father.

Oh, how complicated. This happened so many years ago, and after that, she never spoke to me again until today; how am I going to tell her father that I have been in love with his daughter since I was six years old? I hope he doesn’t look down on me.

“Well, that happened many years ago. Your daughter was kind to me; I was six years old when I met her,” I speak and look down. I don’t want to receive looks of disbelief; not even my parents I told this fact.

“Why didn’t you ever tell us, daughter?” This time Mrs. Millenis directs the question to her daughter.

“I… I didn’t know who he was, and I had no recollection of this fact,” she says, then lowers her head and starts to eat as well.

The only reason dinner wasn’t silent was that our parents kept interacting with each other and occasionally questioning me about something.

Dinner is over; now we are all at the door in the entrance hall of the house.

“Say goodbye, daughter,” Mrs. Millenis says to Aya, who is coming towards me. Again, I feel my heart beating faster.

“Thank you for dinner; it was a pleasure to meet you,” she says and hugs me.

Even though my fingers are trembling slightly, I manage to return the hug. Her sweet smell enters my nostrils, and I have to control myself not to sigh in front of everyone.

“It was my pleasure,” I say as she undoes the hug.

I wanted to stay longer with her, but unfortunately, this hug didn’t last even five seconds.

“Come back safely,” I say as they enter the room.

I don’t wait for the car to start; I know my parents are going to ask me a lot of questions. So, I escape by going to my room and locking the door. I take the blouse off my body and bring it up to my nose; her perfume is still here; I will not wash it off. I take off my shorts and jump on the bed; I know I shouldn’t, but it seems that the love I feel for her has become even greater after today.