No...that's, not the truth...there is no way..I just know you are nothing more than a liar, he c-can't be dead...Noooo...

A few days ago..

Life is going pretty smoothly, I was just 6 years old when my parents got divorced. since then I have been living with my father and grandpa though that doesn't bother me! neither I remember nor care about that presently.

everyone asked my father to get married again many times but he refused to do so for my sake! anyway, we are a happy little family, me, my dad and my grandpa. I am **Eva**, the only girl in this house and soon I will be getting 17!

We live in this little village which is full of nice and kind people and I also have several friends but **Mayu** and **Ren** are my besties

It's been so long since I heard from my mother. all I know is that my mother's in England with my elder brother '**Taki**' after divorce he chose mother to live with and went away from home, since then we didn't contact each other but still, my mother never forgets to send me gifts on my birthday every year. that's all that I have gotten from them! I am hoping to get one this year as well

Oh shit! it's morning already and I am super duper late. geez, why does it seem like an unbreakable cycle of getting late for my school? I need to hurry. I never get enough sleep and Dad blames my mobile for it! couldn't be helped anyway. it has become one of my habits...

RING...RING..(MOBILE IS RINGING)

CRAP! it must be Ren! Ahh, I don't wanna get scolded by him again! I somehow rushed to the front door, after wearing my shoes I was about to head out but my Dad called me.

(in a hurry)..yes, Dad?

He ran towards me holding my bag in his hands. yeah, I forgot to take it so I grabbed my bag and waved saying bye to my dad, ' See you in the evening, Dad.' but again he stopped me asking did you take your lunchbox?...

Dang..I forgot it as well, I looked towards my dad with puppy eyes and of course he melted and smiled but before he went to take it out, my dear Grandpa showed up with my lunchbox, I hugged him saying thank you, so in the end, I was finally ready for school like ALWAYS..hehe

Probably it's a part of my daily life, I instantly ran out where Ren was waiting for me on his cycle. I was sure that he will be angry at me but to my surprise, he was smiling instead though it was more like Devil's smile! anyway it was already late so I hastily sat behind him and he started paddling.

Of course, I asked the reason for his immortal happiness but again he got punched at his back head by me when he responded as ' My dear princess **Eva** since it's you who got late on such an important occasion so it's not my fault, today I am safe from **Mayu's** anger!' and he laughed!

alright, I am late...Too late so I might get beaten up by **Mayu** instead of him, I am undoubtedly scared now. Today's the last day of our school, from today onwards we will be choosing different paths!

we finally reached the school, at the entrance of the school gate, I could see **Mayu** folding her hands with that deadly gaze in her eyes. I am doomed!

I started praying to come up with some excuses to give, but before I could say anything she jabbed **Ren** for being late. **Ren** pointed towards me explaining how it was my fault and stuff but she didn't listen to him

from the beginning, but in **Mayu's** eyes, I am like some innocent, pure and shy Rabbit. She pampers me as if I am her younger sister. it's a relief that **Ren** irritates her so without intention of helping me, he plays the role of pawn for my escape from such situations

(SCHOOL BELL RANG)

We ran towards the auditorium, when I entered I saw all kinds of emotions on everyone's faces. some girls were crying for getting separated from each other, Some students were exchanging numbers and diaries and some idiots were happy that they will become part of the university lol..some acted mature while others were being naive!

I looked aside, **Ren** was already surrounded by many girls..(oh did I mention that this stupid is somehow popular in girls?..well he can easily make them laugh and has some good looks so yeah they all love him lol)

some guys came to me and asked for my number but then they ran away, I didn't understand why until I saw Mayu standing behind me..sigh\*. No wonder it's her scary gaze again. **Mayu** has a cold personality, especially towards guys! she surely has secret admirers but they won't dare to show up and that's completely understandable!

But since I am always with her so I guess they are scared to come at me as well..ahh my blissful fantasies never came true! though I don't believe in love in real life, well not because of my parents, I never felt that for anyone...yet I do love to read romance novels when some rude guy fell for a cute girl..but I know in real life I might like to kick the \*\*\* of any rude guy so it's good to have **Mayu** around for doing that tiring job! she is an indeed cool girl, even girls love her!

Everyone seemed excited to take the next step towards their future but I...

As everyone seemed to be agitated for taking the next step towards the future, on another hand I am still not sure about what I might like to do afterwards.Sigh*

is there anything I am capable of? well never mind, there's plenty of time to think about it, no need to rush things right?

we discussed a lot about the previous years, the more I heard it, the more I felt like all those remembrances were worth it. for the first time, I realised that no matter how embarrassing was the situation you encountered in the past, in the future it will be your treasure that will put a smile on your face once someone brings up that memory of yours! anyway, this is how our last day of school come to an end!

Nowadays I keep thinking if there is anything I can do for my family or should I help out my father with his cafe in the middle of the town? I was giving it a serious thought but again this crappy ringtone of my mobile scared the hell out of me. geez, why do I always forget to change it? nevermind!

I looked at the screen and it was Ren! I picked it up but before I could speak he began to shout. well practically it was his idiotic blabbering but all I could hear was Happy Birthday! I immediately checked the time and yes it's 12:00 Am

I turned 17 today! I wanted to thank him but he wasn't listening I guess because he was still murmuring something. well, it's ok though, Ren is always the first one to wish me....well the first one after my brother left!

I remember the days when my brother was still around, we used to play together all the time, until he left with the mom. after that, he never came around or called, not even once! perhaps he forgot about us, after all, I didn't go with him. well, I don't remember much from back then but now that I think about it, I probably didn't want to leave this house and didn't think that he will! though these are nothing but some assumptions.

The next morning when I woke up it was already past 11 AM. I couldn't sleep all night because of calls from friends and my blurry memories but how come grandpa allowed me to sleep for this long? On my every birthday, he urges me to visit the temple with him to get blessings of God! So it's kinda unexpected that even he didn't try to wake me up?

could it be that they forgot about my birthday? No that's out of the question.

I went down to find them but to my shock, there was no one in the house. suddenly, I heard knocking on the door. oh! is it my dad? I ran to open the door but it wasn't my dad but Ren! He barged in with anger and asked me about my mobile, I rushed upstairs to get my mobile and it was off! Geez, no wonder I get scolded by my dad every time for spending so much time on it but again isn't today exceptional? it's my birthday alright. no one is allowed to get angry with me!

Ren was angry because I didn't answer his calls and my explanation wasn't satisfactory for him since as per him, he heard a different story from my dad! He told me about the morning incident when he came to meet me, he met my Dad and grandpa outside of the house, they seem in a hurry, but as Ren mentioned meeting me, they interrupted him saying, that I wasn't home and had gone to temple.

well, now that's strange! since none of this stuff happened but again they might be in a rush so they just made up some story to make **Ren** leave! well, Dad did ask me yesterday not to go anywhere on my birthday or not to meet anyone if he is not around. is there something wrong with the cafe or am I thinking too much? probably they are planning some surprise for me. yeah, that should be it!

**Ren** kept glaring at me with those questioning looks so I just changed the topic instantly saying, aren't we getting late? **Mayu** must be waiting for us! though **Ren** didn't seem convinced, I still managed to avoid his further doubts because I am confused myself! sigh\* Dad asked me to stay at home but which stupid will ruin their birthday by spending the whole day watching the walls at home so I put my curiosities aside and got ready in an instant, then we took off to our next station **Mayu's** residence lol

**Mayu** was mad again, of course not on me! poor **Ren** had to go through another lecture!

Meanwhile, I noticed that there was a new girl beside Mayu, It was her cousin. I greeted her but she wasn't paying attention to us at all but was blushing and smiling to herself like some creep so I whispered to Mayu that there was something wrong with **Riva

Mayu** explained, that she is acting this way since the morning when they went to the market for shopping but **Riva** accidentally bumped into some guy and from then on she is behaving like an idiot!

but before Mayu could say further, Riva intruded saying ' He wasn't just anyone but my prince. he was way too handsome and charming and kind-hearted and even talked to me'

he asked you to keep your eyes on the road while walking, can that be counted as a talk? Mayu said with disappointment!

huh! a person with a stoned heart will never understand, what it means to fall in love at first sight, **Riva** grumbled!

**Riva** didn't seem interested in our plans so we decided to ignore her foolish talks! we had lunch after strolling for a while and then I got my birthday present from **Mayu**, it was a beautiful watch! **Riva** gave me a hairpin which had a pink butterfly on it and it was the turn of **Ren**, he brought a locket for me with folded pendant, it had 2 pictures in it! one picture is of my dad and another picture was of ****Ren**** himself!

**Ren** said that he gave me pictures of 2 important people in my life! geez, he talked like some child so I smiled at that!

**Ren** and I are childhood friends so he is indeed a special friend of mine! we both used to play with my brother and he admired my brother a lot! so he is the only friend with whom I share lots of memories of my brother! he is like a part of my family! we met **Mayu** in middle school, she is originally from Nagano! she has a really bad temper while **Ren** is a joyful person so they usually bicker a lot but in the end, we still are best buddies!

but **Mayu** scolded him explaining that it's not what friends are supposed to do! **Ren** made a puppy face so I asked **Mayu** to calm down saying it's a meaningful gift since it has special people in it but **Mayu** didn't seem happy about it. I immediately hugged her saying, you are more special than **Ren** though and we all started to laugh!

In the evening, I went home, Dad didn't receive my call the whole day. he just dropped a text that He will be busy today but when I told him that I am outside with my friends, at first he got angry but then asked me to stay with them till night. looks like he was planning my birthday surprise after all!

when I arrived at the home, I saw that the front door was already opened, I entered the house and got stunned! there were so many people in the house wearing black suits! it made me a little scared so I double checked if I am in the right house?

I looked here and there to get a grasp of the situation, and finally, Dad showed up! I was a bit confused yet it was a relief to see my family within the bunch of the strangers!

Dad wasn't happy to see me at all instead he looked way too anxious! I was wondering if something is wrong with the Grandpa but he was sitting on the chair at the corner with a same worried face! Dad asked me to go upstairs but reading the atmosphere, there was no way that I would go silently before I could ask them about the situation. I heard someone clapping from behind so I looked in the direction, a guy was wearing western clothing, he looked handsome and had Brown eyes and black hair, he even had to pierce in one ear! he was coming down the stairs while clapping and singing Happy Birthday song!

I felt as if the dark aura has surrounded my home! like some evil demon has appeared in front of me! but who the hell is he? and why does it feel like we are in huge trouble? He was standing in front of me and kept staring at me!

I couldn't even utter a word until he broke the silence saying '**Long time no see Eva**'