"Why don't you want to talk to me anymore?"
The girl who, for Ren at that moment, was the bad girl of his story had cornered him in an alley that he always used to get home.
That unexpected encounter for the pale boy was not improvised. Yina had waited there all day, without moving, just to talk to him.
Ren, with resentment although his eyes did not show it, looked away.
He did not want to talk to her. His way of saying it was simple. He tried to walk and ignore her.
But that action did not work.
When Yina saw that Ren did not even look at her, she grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall.
After so much time, the two were face to face.
Each one showed different emotions in their eyes.
In Yina's there was anger and seriousness.
In Ren's were reflected fear and surprise.
That fear did not please the girl. Much less that Ren tried to ignore her again.
"Look at me, Ren… tell me, why do you ignore me?"
Her voice weakened. A second later, it broke.
"Did I do something?"
Although the pale boy kept his gaze lowered, he could notice how some tears fell in front of him from where Yina was standing.
It was then that some simple words came out of his mouth.
"Because I was happy with you."
Ren's eyes were not very different from those of that bad girl.
"Did you fall in love with me?"
"Yes," Ren admitted, while tears ran down his cheeks.
In Yina's eyes appeared an illusion that mixed with her smile.
"Me too, Ren."
After hearing those words, the good boy freed himself from her grip.
He ran out of that alley.
That was the last day Ren saw Yina. The last time he saw that girl who perhaps already knew him too well.
***
"Ren, do you remember when you told me not to do something I might regret?"
The pale boy did not answer. He remained still in his place, motionless, with his gaze lost.
Miya smiled when she saw him like that.
"I suppose not… just like everything else."
Her eyes opened with an unsettling intensity.
"At last… at last we will be together, Ren."
A manic laugh escaped from her lips. She seemed completely satisfied, as if everything were turning out exactly as she had imagined.
"The past no longer matters. It does not matter that you moved away from me. It does not matter either that you left me in my most vulnerable moments in front of those wolves. No… that no longer matters. The only thing that matters are the good moments."
Her words began to come out with more emotion.
"Like when I met you. Like when you saved me from my loneliness. Like when you gave meaning to a life that for me was absurd. Yes… only those moments. Those moments… and the ones that will come."
Miya was agitated. Her body reflected an anxiety difficult to contain. She wanted to do many things at the same time, although at that moment she could not do any of them.
If she could ask for a single wish, it would be to return to the past. To return to the moment when she met Ren.
In that hospital.
When the doctors had told her that she had no more than ten days left to live.
With a slight smile, Miya calmed down a little.
"If it weren't for you, I would not be here. If it weren't for those men, I would not have done all this either. If it weren't for fate… I would never be telling you this."
A strange illusion seemed to surround Miya. Her emotions changed so quickly that it was difficult to fully understand them.
"I wish I were immaculate, Ren. I wish I could be a girl like the one you fell in love with… pure, gentle. But now you see it. This is me."
Miya lowered her gaze a little.
"Even so, just seeing you… you are the reason for my happiness."
Her gaze seemed to acknowledge everything that had happened. Everything she had done up to that moment.
"I never thought I would see you again," Miya said, with her voice completely trembling. "After you left me in that alley, my school life was a hell… and even more without you."
She breathed with difficulty before continuing.
"I tried to forget you so I could surrender to life… but I couldn't. Because even if death comes… I will keep loving you. And there is nothing I can do to avoid it."
A nervous laugh escaped from her lips.
"I don't know why I am afraid now… if I have you. Everything I did to be with you again should no longer hurt. Because if you are by my side… nothing else matters."
Miya turned her gaze toward Ren.
There she saw a dark ocean.
"Please… tell me it will be like that, Ren."
There was no answer.
Miya looked away toward the front and then fixed it on him again. The silence between the two was becoming heavier and heavier.
"Ren… you will be with me, right?"
Her voice broke.
"Ren!"
He was only an empty shell. His mind was lost in a deep darkness.
Miya's eyes moved from one side to another while she breathed agitatedly. On her face appeared a smile, or perhaps fear. Not even she seemed to know. Her expressions changed every second, although she herself did not notice it.
The silence during the trip began to drive her to desperation.
Miya could not bear it anymore. She had to find a way for Ren to at least look at her.
"Will you be in that game now?"
"…"
"Wasn't I supposed to be your partner? That I would be by your side when you needed it the most?"
"…"
"Aren't you going to answer?"
Her voice began to tense.
"Don't you want to know that your father is even worse than you think? No?… Or don't you want to know how your mom really died?"
At that moment, a small glimmer appeared in Ren's eyes.
Almost without thinking, he slightly turned his head to look at Miya.
That filled Miya with sudden joy.
"Now you do… you want to listen to me."
Miya let out a slight smile.
"You seem scared. I really think it is better not to tell you that she died in my hands… because if you find out that I was the last person your mom saw, you might hate me."
Ren opened his eyes in surprise.
He said nothing.
His only response was the tears that began to fall without stopping. Several seconds passed, perhaps minutes, he would not know how to say, since the atmosphere itself seemed to swallow time.
That good boy, with reddened eyes, stopped resisting.
His body no longer wanted to fight.
He did not want to do anything.
He only wanted to rest.
And meet his mom again.
Chapter 38: Victim of a Destiny