The salty sea breeze, the sun already beginning to set but still high in the sky, the fragrance of flowers and freshly made food reaching her… together with her friends, Nora felt happy for the first time in days, days during which worry had been gnawing at her from the inside. Connie sat across from her while Adrian was at her side. They talked about trivial matters and some more serious topics, but nothing that overwhelmed any of them.
Sometimes, Connie would glance back and forth between her and Adrian, her cheeks turning a deeper pink each time. She didn't really understand why she felt that way—she herself didn't know why just looking at him made her face feel warm.
For a brief moment, she glanced at Adrian from the corner of her eye, as if searching for an answer, but was caught off guard by Connie's little smile, a "gotcha" expression on her face. I just took a sip of my apple drink, trying to play it cool, pretending nothing had happened. I couldn't quite understand why I felt the way I did.
"So your parents almost forbade you from hanging out with us?" Adrian asked Connie, who nodded in response.
"Why am I not surprised," he sighed, shrugging to lighten the mood.
Connie was about to say something, but her gaze told me she was unsure whether to speak or not. She stared at us for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. Her face took on a look of determination when she decided to speak.
"And you? … You know… how is it that you don't have any memories?" Connie asked, nervous despite her resolve to learn more about such a sensitive topic that weighed on a friend.
What she said caught me by surprise. I nearly crushed the drink in my hands, and I immediately turned my head toward Adrian. His face showed nothing—not discomfort, not surprise—but rather the weariness of someone who had accepted something I couldn't understand.
He gave me a brief smile that said "I'm fine" before responding to the expectant Connie, who had been watching us all this time with an accusatory look.
"The truth is, it's hard to explain—too hard to accept as well. And finally, it's something you're not ready to know," he said in those melodiously magical whispers he often used. "You could say I made a choice. I accepted a deal where I gave something equivalent to what I received." His eyes closed as he pointed at himself with one hand and extended the other as if holding the whole world. "It was that or become one with the void of nonexistence. Of course I chose to live." The last words that came from his mouth were heavy, spoken as if that had been his only option.
Connie looked at Adrian, uncertainty on her face, and something like confusion filled her mind.
Meanwhile, my thoughts wandered through Adrian's words. What he said was an explanation, but it didn't go much deeper than mentioning a choice or a deal. His situation was incomprehensibly complex, as I had already deduced the first time he told me. I was pulled out of my thoughts by Adrian's voice.
"But life has to go on. It's not like the world stops moving just because of my situation. I have to move forward too, because staying stuck in my own misery would be complete foolishness," he said as his eyes opened again. The supernatural air and tone slowly faded, replaced by his normal voice.
Connie looked at him before saying simply, "I suppose that's a pretty realistic perspective." Her tone suggested she wasn't satisfied with the answer, but she accepted Adrian's words anyway.
"Just remember that I—we're here if you ever want to talk about it," I quickly added my opinion. Halfway through the sentence, my words came out a bit differently than I'd intended. Connie looked at me, still with that dissatisfied look at Adrian's previous answer, but it was also accompanied by a look of understanding as she glanced quickly between the two of us.
"For now, I just want to enjoy these peaceful moments with my friends," he said—not in that supernatural tone he often used, but in a more mysterious one, as if he knew peace would be nothing more than fleeting.
Connie and I exchanged a knowing glance. We wouldn't push this uncomfortable topic born from our concern any further. Adrian had accepted whatever it was he'd done, so as his friends, we should respect the decisions he made.
I sighed softly. I had already expected those words from him. Even when I told him not to give up on his situation, he was always so stubborn… but still, we would support him.
"Well, if you're done with your overly sentimental internal conversation about friendship, we should probably start the picnic," he said calmly as he winked and that teasing smile formed on his face.
Connie almost choked on her juice, and I jumped from the surprise.
"WHAT?" Connie exclaimed, coughing.
"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" Connie and I grabbed Adrian by the shoulders and started shaking him. He just let out that melodiously supernatural laugh, with that mocking expression on his face like some kind of clown.
Even though I was embarrassed at that moment, I couldn't help but laugh with him, and Connie seemed unable to resist either.
…
If I had known how things would turn out in the future, I would've wished that moment had never ended—that their smiles had never faded beneath the weight of so much that was yet to come.