You're different

I smiled, "And then what?"

She sighed, "And then I figured out that what's amiable is just because I'm an outsider, plus my uncle's friendship with dad, but you're different."

I hmmmed, "I know."

She finally laughed out loud and reached up to poke me in the head, "Just say 'I know'."

When she finished she sighed, "You're really not leaving this time, are you?" She sniffled, "You did the same thing last time, acted like nothing happened in front of me and then left without saying a word."

I shook my head, "Not leaving, really."

She stared at my glasses for a long time, as if trying to see through me.

After a long time, she sighs slightly and says to me, "Zephyrine, do you love me?"

I looked at her glasses in the same way, at the tears hanging under her lashes, and the seriousness of the moment unlike any other.

Without hesitation, I reached up and hooked my hand around her pinky and said, "Love."

I really like her.

The first time I saw her, I was about 10 years old