Love, Laila (ON HOLD)

01| Memories

"Zayn! Zayn! Dove sei andato?(Where did you go?)" I call out to him in my loudest voice, stumbling from the leafy pathway in front of me. I shuffle like a cool ninja in the forest, and steadily searched in every corner of this maze. My heart was beating in a fast, unusual pace as I sprinted around this place. It's been hours since we played hide and seek, and my anxiety was through the roof.

I finally decide to stop to catch my breathe, and collapsed on my knees. I've been running for a while now, hoping Zayn would appear. My lips form in a pout, and I start to cross my arms over my chest as I see Zayn running towards me with a stick in his hand.

"Lily, sono cosí cosí dispiaciouto!(I am so so sorry!)" He seems out of breathe, collapses beside me, puts his hand over my shoulder, and starts talking in the little English he knows, "I was on my way to find a hiding spot, but I found this!" He pulled out his stick from beside me and started tracing it with his muddy fingers, "This...this is the Haywana!"

I don't give up on my pout and sit still, with my hand still tightly crossed across my chest though I couldn't help but wonder what in the nuggets a Haywana was. Either way, I smiled because atleast he knew my birthday was today, August 8th,  he acted like he didn't know my birthday was today that morning.

"Oh come on!" He throws the Hay-whatever beside him, he mimicked my actions, and started talking in my girly accent, "Sono Laila Stars e ho 7 anni. Sono sempre scontroso e non mi piace Haywana come regalo di compleanno!(I am Laila Stars and I'm 7 years old. I am always grumpy and I don't like the Haywana as my birthday gift!)"

"Am not!" I break out of pout, but my arms are still across my chest, "I didn't say I hate it...it's kinda nice,"I pause and remember the reason I was angry in the first place, " you left me for hours! I was wowwied!" I frown at him, and he does back, "at least you could have sang, and I would've come and found you immediatamente!"

He lowers his head with said frown and tightens his grip that is still on my shoulders, "At least I said I was sowwie, Lily," he mumbles quietly.

I smile back to him, and immediately frown once again. I had to tell him something today, but the thought of it made me want to cry. I tried to hide my frown, but Zayn noticed it, and I had no other choice but to speak.

I look up to him and quietly say, "I don't think I'll see you tomorrow." He expression immediately changes and look at his caramel eyes, "Mi sto trasferendo in North Carolina (I'm moving away to North Carolina.)"

"Perché?" he snorts, " you have always been living here...why the sudden change?" the breaking in his voice makes this harder for me than it already is. Knowing that I probably won't see Zayn again made me cry. His head was still focused on the ground while his hand is playing with a red leaf and stayed silent for a while.

"Papa got a job," I say, still hugging in a tight embrace, "We are doing this for Papa, remember that."

He finally broke the silence after a long minute and gently raised his head at me, remembering something, "Quel haywana non era il tuo regalo di compleanno(The Haywana wasn't your birthday present,)" he quietly chuckled, "questo é(this is),"Zayn started quickly digging in his pockets and held the unknown object between his hands, squeezing it shut, "Questa collana é."

My eyes widened at the glory of the necklace between his hands, he silently shifted behind me and tied the necklace, without moving my hair. I didn't bother, but smiled at Zayn, and wrapped him a tightest teddy bear hug ever, and stayed there for eternity.

"Laila! Come on!" my 10 year old sister, Lena, voice echoes faraway away from the forest, and I apologetically looked at Zayn, hoping he would talk.

He did; however, he said something that will forever leave a crack in my still broken soul.

"Se non tornerai, ricordami di questo, per favore, Laila."

"Se non ritorni, ricordami di questo, per favore,"

"Se non ritorni, ricordami di questo, per favore," I'm done talking to my therapist this morning, and start heading out, back to my house which is a few blocks away. I wipe a few falling tears from my eyes as my heels are clacking against the cobble stone ground.