Mila Emila

6; Part 2: His Friends Encourage Him, But Some Doubt His Cause

The café was modest, with its worn wooden tables and faded photographs lining the walls, giving it the cozy charm Reiks remembered from years ago. He sat in a corner booth, away from the bustle of the city outside, surrounded by the comforting aroma of coffee and faint chatter. Across from him, three familiar faces looked back—Jonas, Mara, and Leo—friends who had stayed, even as the years and his obsession with finding Mila strained nearly every other bond he’d once held dear.

Jonas, the quietest of the group, wore an encouraging smile as he watched Reiks. Mara, her face a blend of warmth and caution, reached across the table to give Reiks’s hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s been too long since we’ve seen you,” she said softly, her voice carrying a touch of sadness that didn’t escape him.

Leo leaned back, his broad frame filling the booth. “You’ve been hiding from us, Reiks. We were beginning to think you’d fallen off the face of the earth.” He laughed, though the sound was hollow.

Reiks attempted a smile, though he knew it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Not hiding,” he murmured. “Just… busy.”

“Busy,” Jonas echoed, his voice gentle yet probing. “Busy looking for Mila, isn’t that right?”

At her name, Reiks felt his heart tighten, an instinctive reaction that hadn’t dulled over time. He nodded, his fingers curling around the warm coffee cup in front of him, grounding him. “I still think she’s out there,” he said, a familiar firmness in his voice. “I have to believe that. I have to keep looking.”

The words settled heavily between them, each of his friends processing his conviction in their own way. Mara’s hand remained on his, her eyes soft with sympathy as she chose her words carefully. “We know how much you loved her,” she said. “We all did. And no one would ever question your commitment to her… But Reiks…” She hesitated, glancing at Jonas, as if silently urging him to help.

Jonas nodded, leaning forward, his tone as gentle as it was serious. “We worry about you. We see what this is doing to you—the toll it’s taking. Not just on your body, but your mind. It’s like you’re carrying this weight, a ghost that never lets you rest.”

Reiks looked down, feeling the unspoken tension pressing against him. They meant well, he knew that. For as long as he could remember, his friends had been a constant, their support unwavering even as he’d begun to drift from them. Yet he could feel the subtle shift in their expressions, in the careful way they phrased their sentences, the slight edge of caution in their words.

“It’s not a ghost,” Reiks said, his voice quieter, but resolute. “She’s real, Jonas. I know she’s still out there somewhere.”

A brief silence followed, one that stretched and filled the space between them, until Leo finally broke it with a sigh. “You know,” he said, “I don’t pretend to understand what you’re going through. None of us do. But we’re here. We’ve always been here.”

Reiks felt the weight of Leo’s words, a reminder of the years they had stayed by his side even as he ventured deeper into a path that seemed to lead nowhere. The loyalty they showed touched him, and yet… there was something in their eyes. They wanted to believe in him, in his conviction, but he could see the doubts starting to surface, the fear that he was slipping further away from them with every passing year.

Mara leaned closer, her expression softening. “Do you remember the time you and Mila threw that party at your old apartment? She insisted on putting up those ridiculous paper lanterns, and you two spent half the night laughing over how they wouldn’t stay lit.”

A small smile tugged at his lips, the memory flashing vividly in his mind. “She was determined to make it perfect,” he recalled, a note of fondness in his voice. “Even if it meant dragging me into every tiny detail.”