Chapter Six
I have four days left of Wednesday.
“How will you know if you’ve fallen in love with someone?” I asked Papou that night when Wednesday kissed me.
“It’s when your heart starts to flatter in a strange way and your body acts as if it’s being possessed by your own feelings. It only happens when you’re with someone you truly adore.” He answers. “It’s one feeling you can’t control because when you’re with her, you start to weaken your will and you start to have a different perception in life and the world just stops and stares.”
I fall into my bed and I look up the ceiling. “I’m in love with Wednesday.”
“Then you should tell her.” he says.
“She might not take it well.” I tell him as anxiety washed over me like a pail of cold water.
“Xavier, son, fear is irrational but love is rational. You can only have one true love in your life and if you let it go, you would regret it for the rest of your life.” he says. “If you keep on hiding behind that mask of fear in yours, it will trigger into something that will keep you away from everything that you want.”
Sometimes the sound of words as they are said are different from what they are heard. It’s because sometimes, the speaker hears what’s inside the listener that he does not speak.
There are a lot of things that I’ve learned from my grandfather and right now I’d like to choose courage over fear. Courage to say what must be said and courage to do what must be done.
The next day, I went to our spot a little bit earlier. I took a trip to the lake and just like Wednesday, I made a paper boat—I sealed it with my wish and I let it sail to the lake. The answer came through the ripples in the water.
“So you finally decided to try?”
I turn to see her standing behind me.
“You think the lake reads our letters?”
“Why do you think the water ripples?”
I smiled at her. “So are we going to answer each question with another question?”
She giggles as she settles down beside me. She dips her hand down in the lake, sending my paper boat forward and far away. I saw the remaining days we have on her wrist.
“I don’t want this to end.” I start to say.
“You can always make another paper boat.” She says.
“No, I meant… I don’t want our days to end.”
She smiles. “I hate the way you say days and end.”
Her hand stops the waves and the ripples disappeared.
“I don’t want us to end.”
“Time can only answer that.” She answers but she doesn’t turn to me.
“Time. I’d like to make a bargain with it and turn a single day with you forever.”
She smiles but this time it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Forever is such a sweet word, especially when it came from you. But forever is such a long, long time and time has a way of changing things.”
“But I love you.” I finally said. “I know it is sudden, childish even, but I know what I feel for you isn’t gonna change in time.”
She said nothing and I felt the heaviness of the rejection coming in the air.
