Chapter Seven: “I’m here”

His eyes are still the same, just different colors. I always envied him for having those beautiful eyes. That green and brown combination mixed with the sunlight—how his eyes can hold all those colors when I am only surrounded by black.

"What are you doing here, Raza?"?

"I study here," he said with a slight smile on his face.

This is the first time I saw his smile, and this is the first time someone smiled for me.

"This is not what I meant, Raza."

He sat in front of me. I was too stunned to speak; his smile was getting wider. I couldn't think about anything; I just wanted to stop time and keep looking into those eyes and smiling forever.

"I'm here to protect you".

I couldn't realize what he just said, but what is this? What is this feeling? I can't recognize it; it just feels warm. He moved toward me more closely, and I flinched and stepped back.

"Don't worry, I will not touch you; my skin will never touch yours. I don't want to take anything from your soul; I just want to memorize your smell". I still don't understand what he keeps saying.

It's midnight, the moon is too bright, and what is happening I can't know. My mind is full of thoughts that I can't explain. But that night, I was able to sleep. Why was it hard before? I didn't know that sleeping that way was beautiful. It's geography class. I hate to move around, but I love to know about the world. The class is over; I went to the same place as always. He is there; he was waiting for me. He turned around with that smile.

"Hello Mara". Huh, what? Did he just call me by my name?

I don't remember the last time that someone called me by that name. In class and with my cousin, they always called me "FUYU," the name my parents gave me. I was silent when he added

"I want to talk with you; you seemed confused yesterday, so I want to explain". Ok. This is what my mouth could say.

"I was there that night; I saw everything."

"I don't want to talk about it, so if you want to keep talking about it, just leave.".

All my life, I have never expected or imagined what he just did: hug me. I couldn't move; I couldn't react. Is that what it feels like to be hugged by someone? Is that how it feels to be touched? It's so beautiful that the word beautiful is not enough to describe it. He broke the hug and stared into my eyes.

"I promised you to never touch your skin; don't worry, I will never make you suffer from that pain".

I was in shock that speaking was so hard.

"Why? Why didn't I feel any pain?"

"You look weird and scary, but you are stupid, Mara, simply because I touched you but didn't touch your skin."

I was speechless. How did he know that? He just keeps randomly making a mess inside me. What is this? Is this my tear? Why am I crying right now? He stared into my teary eyes with those eyes, and he said:

"I'm here, I will protect you".