Emily and Samuel ✔️

THIRTEEN

You know you've got that thing

The melodic voice of Marian Hill playing on the radio of the cookie store momentarily distracts me from the adorable little girl munching on her monster chocolate chip cookie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream – courtesy of Noah.

As promised, I headed over to the Smith's early in the morning to get Sandra for our cookie date. When I arrived at the Smith's, Sandra wasted no time tugging me out the door with a hasty farewell directed at Mrs Smith who made me promised to bring her home early. Clad in an orange sweater, black vest, blue pants, and green beanie, it was hard not to swoon at how adorable she looked in her Goofy outfit.

That makes the girls all swing

However, Samuel decided to tag along – in his signature flannel top, jeans, and a matching beanie on his head – just because he felt that he deserved to spend the day with me just as much as Sandra did.

Thankfully for a man named Max Factor for inventing concealers, I was able to at least pretend the dark circles under my eyes never existed in the first place.

You know exactly what you do

Yawning for the umpteenth time since we sat down in the booth, I could feel the traces of a faint smile on my face at the thought of the wolf from last night even in my sleep deprived state. I've easily lost track of time with the wolf as though he was my best friend and we were just chatting under the stars – though, we weren't because it was all one-sided since he didn't talk back – with his furry body wrapped around me like a blanket and his paw covering my hand. It was as though the wolf knew I was leaving because it was like he refused to let me out of his sight, as though afraid that the minute he does, I'd slip away.

I eventually fell asleep on the hammock that I've moved back on because the ground was getting too uncomfortable and the wolf must have left when he noticed that I've fell asleep. Somewhere through the night, either my dad or Grayson must've found me on the hammock and so kindly carried me in because the next day, I woke up on the bed instead of the hammock.

You like the hit and run

"– let's go to the park." I looked up at Samuel who was already on his feet with his hands outstretched waiting for Sandra to dust the crumbs off her outfit. Standing up from the seats, I waddled out of the booth.

We bid Noah farewell as we walked out of the store with Sandra standing in between us and for a moment, I contemplated if I should let Noah know that I was leaving but in the end decided not to. Other than the fact that we weren't that close and it'll be awkward to just spring this topic on him or the fact that I didn't deal well with goodbyes, I was also trying to be optimistic.

Who's to say this is where everything will end? Maybe I'll be able to visit someday once I find a job in Singapore with a stable income. Maybe one day my parents would decide to move back to Australia so that we can be with grandmother and I can make the trip down to Ubbin Falls every week. Maybe grandmother would rather move back to Ubbin Falls in the future since this is after all, grandfather's hometown and we'll visit her here every year. There were so many maybes and the possibilities were never-ending, and although I didn't believe in the saying that we make our own decisions, I always believed that if things were meant to be, they always find a way to come back to you regardless of the situations or circumstances.

😌

"Emily! Look! I've drawn us!" I looked down at Sandra as her loud giggles filled the air.

Sandra held up a paper with three stick figures standing in the middle with a house on their left and a bright yellow sun on the top right. Pointing at the pink stick figure on the left who had black hair and a smiley face without any eyebrows, she looked at me with her signature toothy grin and said: "that's you! Look, she has black hair like you!"