ALWAYS

                   A certain brunette haired girl nervously sat on her chair. Her hand fidgeting as she stared outside the train’s window, obviously looking for someone in the mass of people outside. The train’s horn blew, signaling that passengers can already get off the train safely. She gathered her things and slowly made her way out. Her eyes darted in every corner of the station searching for a certain raven haired lad in the sea of people.

“Mikan!” Her head jolted to the right where the voice came from and saw a girl with pink hair, waving her hand.

“Anna!” Mikan squealed as she ran to her and hugged her tight. Jumping as they hugged each other like they used to do, when they were still young. “I miss you so much! Where are the others?” Mikan’s eyebrows furrowed as she peeked behind Anna’s back.

“Well, they’re at home preparing something for you.” She let go of Mikan and grabbed her hand as she lead the way outside. “So, how’s life in the city Mikan?”

                      Mikan scrunched her nose. “It’s fine, I’ve got new friends and there are buildings everywhere like we saw on TV’s but….” She trailed. “It’s like a dead place, you can rarely see greens and it’s much polluted there.”

                      Anna’s mouth formed an ‘o’. “There’s really no place like home neh?” she grinned at Mikan and Mikan squeezed Anna’s hand in reply.

“How about you? How’s your life with the rest of the gang? Did something big happen here?” Mikan enthusiastically asked.

                     Anna on the other hand stiffened. She bit her lower lip and looked away, like she’s keeping herself from saying anything bad. “We-well e-everything’s fine.” Mikan raised an eyebrow. The way Anna stuttered and her voice wavering, Mikan knew she’s lying.

                    A bus stopped in front of them and its doors opened. Without a word Anna dragged Mikan inside. Throughout the ride Anna didn’t glance nor talked to Mikan, she’s always staring out of the window avoiding having an eye contact with her. Mikan heaved a heavy sigh; she wondered why Anna’s so tense and her face so worried. Perhaps she almost spilled the gang’s surprise for her. She smiled at the thought. It’s really good to be back in your real home.

                  She really missed everyone and everything here in the province including that certain raven haired pervert, though she won’t admit it out loud. It has been years since she last visited. The last one was back when she lost her eyesight. Yes, she lost her eyesight due to a stupid car accident she was involved. A drunken driver collided with the taxi she was riding on her way back to her apartment. She was lucky that she survived, but the moment she opened her eyes. She can’t see anything but pure blackness. The doctor said that she’ll be able to regain her eyesight through operation.

                   They were thankful for that news but the downside was. Where will they get the money for the operation and for the eye donor? She was born in a low class family. They hardly even had something to eat for a day; she was able to go to school until college because of the scholarship given to her. She was losing hope. She doesn’t want her parents to work so hard in the farm for they’re not getting any younger anymore.

                    She smiled her usual bright smile to ease their worries and told them it’s fine and she just wants to go home. They objected on the idea at first but eventually agreed though it’s very difficult in their part. In their old home, when her parents are out she’ll silently cry. The dreams she had were slowly getting out of her grasp, she was very close so close that she can almost reach it but everything went out of hand because of an accident. It continued to be like that for a week, smiling when she’s in front of others even though on the inside she’s hurting. Until he came, the least person she expected to visit.