Melody of Love

6. Just Good Friends

"Good morning to the hiking day!" Alex shouted when all of his friends gathered together in the bright morning.

They were busily getting ready to hike to the caves and waterfalls around the park.

"Amaya, walking may be difficult today, because the route is rocky and steep. Are you coming with us?" Ryan asked.

"I'll help you, Amaya, don't worry." Lanya offered, but Amaya didn't show any interest.

"I'll stay today. I'm tired; I didn't get a good sleep last night." After she returned from the Rose lake with Lanya last night, the turmoil of her mind didn't let her sleep a wink.

"What's wrong with you? If you can't keep up with the others, you shouldn't join the trip" Krystal joined in sound irritated.  

"Kevin, you need to help me on the way." She added further trying to make a sweeter voice.

"Who said I'm going? I'm planning to get my yesterday's lost sleep now." Kevin replied yawning without paying any interest to the planned activity.

"Amaya's going with me, so don't bother about her. I want to talk to you Amaya, shall we go?" Theo took Amaya's hand and led her to the opposite direction as others going before anyone could say anything else.  

The sight of the two, walking away hand in hand added more ruckus to the commotion Kevin was already having in his heart. His sleepiness vanished. A sharp prick felt deep in his heart. After all the others left he too roamed along a rocky path without deciding where to go.

"Amaya, are you alright? You seem deep in thoughts." Theo asked while walking alongside a shady creek.

"Yes, I'm fine. I couldn't sleep well the other night, maybe because this is an unfamiliar place." Amaya said, still looking preoccupied.

"That can happen. Shall we sit here?" Theo helped Amaya to sit on a flat rock by the creek and sat next to her. He tried to start speaking with a serious face but hesitated when he saw she was too distracted to pay attention.

"Amaya..." At last, he found his voice. "For a couple of weeks, I was thinking hard and decided to talk to you."

"Theo, is anything wrong?" His strange behavior was able to grab Amaya's attention right away.

"No, everything's fine except my heart."

"What do you mean?"

"Amaya, It's nearly one year after we met and we've been good friends since then. By now we both know about us very well. That's why I made up my mind to talk to you."

"About what? You are acting strangely today. It's scaring me."

"Don't be. I think you are comfortable with me, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. It's because you are my friend and I don't hesitate to ask anything from a friend."

"Thank you for telling me that. But I'm not going to talk about being friends. This is different."

"Alright, I'm listening, tell me."

"Amaya..., can you let me be with you and guide you for the rest of your life? Can you let me be your eyes for the rest of your life?"

"Th...Theo, what are you talking about?"

"Amaya, I'm telling this after I thought it out well. I wanted to tell you that I love you.."

"Please don't be like this. You are an excellent friend to me. I cherish you as a perfect friend always. I don't want to lose that friendship. I hate to be a burden to anyone, even to you. Please.. please.. let's stop talking about this."

"But Amaya...try to understand me, please..."

"Theo, Let's talk again later. Please don't think of me like that. We'll be just good friends." Without saying anything else, Amaya stood up with her cane and walked away.

"Amaya, stop. Let me take you to the tent."

"No, I can manage."

"Then stay here, I'll get Lanya. Please don't go anywhere." Theo ran away in a hurry to let Lanya know where Amaya was.

Amaya didn't stop but walked hurriedly on the rocky road along the creek. Her white cane waved fast to either side of the way. Soon she reached a steep part of the road without having any idea where she was heading. She continued further briskly. Step by step, she was reaching to the steep rocky edge without knowing. She took only one step further, in a fraction of a second she was pulled in the opposite direction by a strong force. Her cane dropped, and she was panting, startled by the sudden event.

After a few minutes, she felt a warm embrace next to her face and a sturdy pair of arms on her shoulders. With a feeling of extream shock, she jumped a step away.

"It's me. Calm down now. Why are you running away? Is everything alright?" She heard a very familiar deep voice asked.

Amaya stood frozen and speechless after realizing who she was with. He gave the white cane to her, held the hand, and guided her to sit next to him under a nearby tree.

"What happened to you? You don't usually act as you did just a while ago." Kevin asked once Amaya relaxed a little.

"It... It's I heard something I shouldn't have heard."

"Was it Theo? What did he say?"

"It's alright. You can tell me." When Amaya kept silent Kevin encouraged her.

"Theo is an excellent friend; yes, he is only a perfect friend." Amaya murmured to her self as she was trying to reconfirm the fact.

"Of course, we all know both of you are extremely close. He is always a good companion to you, but what are you worrying about?"

"He said.... that.... he l.. loves me.." Kevin could barely hear Amaya's whispering, yet those words were able to race his heartbeat to the maximum. He tried hard to reply with his suddenly dried out mouth.

"Is anything wrong with it?"

"I'm not thinking about him or anyone as a lover; I prefer to be like this. I don't want to lose my friends."

"Loving someone is not a wrong thing to do."

"Shall we stop talking about it, please. I'm not going to change my mind anyway." When Amaya was saying both heard Lanya from afar, who was looking for Amaya.

"Everyone we need singers tonight." Alex said while arranging seats around the fire in the middle of the camping area.

"Amaya, come with me." Lanya called but she was sitting by the tent lost in thought. She bothered to reply only when Lanya shook her.

"I want to be alone Lanya, please."

"I'm not in a mood to sing today." Theo, who was alone in the darkest corner, replied when Lanya went to him.

"Kevin will sing all night long, don't worry about the other singers." Alex said, trying to cheer up Lanya.

"No, no, Kevin is going to watch the stars with me." Krystal said, trying to hang on to Kevin's hand.

"I'm not interested in stars nor singing." Kevin pushed Krystal's hand away and sat elsewhere from the fire, making sure he could see Amaya.

Krystal was furious by the humiliation she had to face and looked at Amaya with flaming eyes.

'This blind girl is the reason for everything. I hate her..' She thought.