befall

x

"You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not."

― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

There was a missing boy from class for a consecutive of fourteen days but no one had noticed his absence.

Except for one girl.

Her tension grew rapidly day by day, her mind pounding with questions for the boy.

Her eyes would constantly be fixed at the closed door of their classroom, in hopes of seeing the boy enter the door.

He never came.

It was until a week later, the girl saw him at the staircase, where they had their first encounter.

He had been sitting on the step of the staircase alone, his eyes staring into space.

The girl felt her breath hitch in her throat at the sight of him, her words scattering messily in her mind. Her tongue was tied with unsaid words and anxiety.

But she overcame her raging nerves by walking towards him and stopping in front of him.

The boy snapped out of his self-made imagination and held his alarmed eyes fixed on the figure in front of him.

The girl saw his state; his right cheek had a new bruise and the corner of his lips had a small cut.

The boy noticed the girl's eyes on his new marks but this time, he didn't cover them even though his stomach churned with embarrassment.

He just stood up and began to walk away, forcing himself to ignore the girl.

The boy felt his loathe for himself growing increasingly as his hands balled into a fist.

But an action of the girl made the boy stop at his tracks abruptly.

An action that made the boy's eyes widen in surprise.

An action that made the boy feel that it was okay.

The girl had her arms wrapped around the boy gently, her head resting on his back. Her eyes were brimmed with unshed tears as she said something that caused the boy to freeze:

"I'm sorry."