The Moon Is Beautiful

Chapter 23

My own self stares back at me.

It's me. How is this possible? How could Kaden have sketched me? We didn't meet before this. Did he perhaps draw me on the very night we met? But that's impossible, because not only is he blind so he doesn't know what I look like, his drawing is one of me from when I was young, merely a little girl.

I also notice that this drawing is sketched on regular paper instead of on braille paper, indicating that this was drawn a while ago. Does this mean that Kaden wasn't always blind? Is that how he could sketch his own mother and...me?

But how is this possible? Perhaps it's another girl who just looks similar to me. That's possible, and sounds much more plausible than him having drawn me.

I'm itching to ask him who this is, but since it's sketched on regular paper, I don't think that he'll be able to successfully identify which drawing it is. Maybe if I explain it to him...

Standing up, I hold the sketch in my hand and ask, "Can I ask you something about one of your sketches?"

He nods, gesturing for me to continue.

"Well, it's a sketch of a young girl, no older than ten years old. She has long brown hair and green eyes. She's wearing a pink and yellow polka dot dress and she's smiling. She looks...happy." I explain.

His eyes flash with a strange emotion, one that I don't recognize. It looks somewhere in between sadness and...love.

He walks over to the couch and sits down on it. I follow him, sitting down next to him, the sketch still in my hand.

"That girl, she's my first love," he whispers, his eyes pained. "I wasn't always blind, you see. When I was younger, I could see perfectly fine, and during that time, I met her. I was only six at that time and had no idea what love was, but the moment I met her, I felt a strange feeling in my stomach. People would describe it as butterflies today."

He takes a moment to take a breath before continuing, "When I was younger, I was physically weak and because of that, I was easy prey for bullies. They bullied me for a long time, and no one helped me when they witnessed me getting beat up, until one day. This brave ten year old girl showed up and stood up to the bullies. They laughed in her face, but before I could even realise that anything was happening, one of them was on the ground, lying underneath her as she stepped on him. It was like love at first sight for me. I saw her as this cool older woman even though she was merely ten years old and I admired her from that moment on."

It sounds like a story out of a fairytale, but instead of prince charming saving the princess, prince charming was saved by the princess.

"After that, whenever I saw her around, I followed her around and eventually, we became friends. But then I found out that she actually lived in a small town and was only visiting the city for her birthday and that she would leave soon. Of course, I was heartbroken and cried about it to my mom. She thought it was cute how at merely the age of six, I thought that I was in love."

I understand why his mother thought that what he felt wasn't truly real. I mean, he was only six years old at the time. Does anyone at that age know what true love is?

"Many people told me that what I felt wasn't real, but I knew what I was feeling. No matter what others said, I knew that what I felt was real. She was my first love." he says, a small smile appearing on his face.

"What happened after that?" I ask, leaning forward. I'm as excited to hear his first love story as if it were a novel that I am reading. I can't help it. It's like puppy love, and I can't help but find it adorable.

"I was upset about her leaving, and so being the childish six year old I was, I didn't go to see her off when she left," he says, sighing. "I regret that though because I haven't met her once again after that, and so I wish I said goodbye to her properly."