"Oh, you're glowing!"

I laughed, kissing my mother on the cheek. "You need to stop treating me like a princess", I said,  but secretly I loved it because I knew she loved it.

She held me on arm's length to take a good look at me. She looked incredible in a pale green suit and trousers, her hair in a low ponytail. She was a breath of fresh air in the autumn colours of the park.

"Let's go", she said, and we started walking towards a cafe she recommended.

But all the while, she kept stealing glances at me. Was it my clothes? Surely not. I was dressed in a light purple shirt with thin white stripes and black suit pants. I never tucked my shirts in, preferring them to be loose around my belt. I had tried to style my hair more carefully, but in the end just given up and ruffled it into its usual mess. There was really nothing unusual about it, or anything else about me that day.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" I asked.

"You've met someone."

My jaw dropped. "What?"

"It's all over you. The aura of someone who's met someone important to them."

I shook my head. "I haven't met anyone, mum."

But inside, I was panicking. No need to freak out, I told myself. She is just mistaken. It's not physically possible that you've met someone to bond with. The only one you've been with is the girl you fucked and you felt nothing for her.

We walked in silence then, my mother looking content and warm, me stiff as a ruler, until we reached the cafe. It was a Middle Eastern one, and I let my mother do the ordering. We got several dishes of hummus, olives, sundried tomatoes, peppermint yoghurt and lentils with hard sourdough bread to dip. We got tea in beautiful glasses pored from incredible ceramic teapots in blue and white. We finished it off with baklava. I'd never had baklava before, and I vowed to never eat anything else for as long as I lived from there on out. Pleasantly full, we talked a bit about this and that. My mother didn't mention me having met someone again, and I didn't bring it up. But I couldn't stop thinking about it.

"I've thought about something", mother said, sipping some more tea. There was even dried, edible flowers in it. I would love to take someone on a date here some day. Wait, what? I patiently waited for my mother to continue. "I want to invite that omega boy who's in med school over to out place this winter holidays."

Whatever I had expected, it wasn't this. It was all so sudden, and too soon after what... After what had happened between us. "You what?!"

My mother looked at me sternly. "I know you and him have a history. You've hospitalised him and his best friend." The word best friend sent a pang through my heart. I refused to let it be jealousy. "Your father will be gone for a week on a business trip, and I thought I'd invite them over then. You may be somewhere else if you please."

I sipped my tea. "No. I want to be there when they come."

My mother raised an eyebrow at me.

I just sipped my tea, not daring to meet her eye.

Because I know they would glitter.

The day after was a beautiful day, and I decided to take a walk to the pond. It was just before lunch on a Saturday, and the night's rain was still glittering on the grass, making my sneakers wet as I walked through it. There was a path, but I preferred walking on the grass. Had always done. A part of me wanted to take my shoes off and feel the dew beneath my bare soles, but I tried to maintain at least some dignity. A soft breeze ruffled my hair and the pearly grey shirt I was wearing over torn, black jeans. They were a bit loose on me now, the jeans, as I, for some reason, didn't feel the need to kill my muscles in the gym seven times a week. Instead, I went three times and also went running twice. I felt much better.

I saw the pond glittering up front, the autumn colours creating an incredible painting ahead of me, and I was in it. There was a wooden bench, and someone sat in it reading. I regretted not bringing a book; the persons sat with their back to the side handles and their feet on the bench, but it still had room for me to sit as well.

It wasn't until I was almost at the pond that I recognised the figure in it. I couldn't help but a big grin creeping up on my face, and I was just going to call his name when...

"Izuna?"

A soft voice to the far left of me. Izuna immediately looked up. I stood slightly off from his field of vision, so he didn't see me. And even if I had been visible for him, I don't think he would've taken note of me anyway because his entire bearing was focussed on the person in front of him.

"Henry?"

"Hi."

Henry was a bit thinner than I remembered, his hair tousled and not in its usual side part. But he was smiling a crooked smile, his hands in his pockets, looking shy. He was so adorable it made me want to throw up of dislike. Izuna slowly stood up and dropped his book as his hand flew to his mouth.

Then, he took off.

Henry laughed as Izuna threw himself into his arms, crying loudly and hugging him close, so close.

"Stop!" Henry said. "You're gonna make me cry as well!"

But he was already crying.

They clung to each other, two best friends reunited after I had set them apart. The whole scene was so beautiful that all of my insides screamed, and my blood froze to ice and shattered into a million pieces.

"I'm sorry", Izuna said.

"For what?" Henry asked.

"For speaking up against him. I should've kept my mouth shut. I shouldn't have said anything. Me and my stupid pride." Izuna lowered his voice to a whisper. "I thought I'd lost you."

"It's not your fault", he mumbled back, his voice muffled as he's buried his face in Izuna's hair, which worked splendidly as he was only slightly taller than his black-haired best friend.

Run! a voice inside of me screamed. Run away, NOW!!

But I couldn't tear my eyes off them. It was a picture of everything I ever wanted, of everything I had ever wanted without ever knowing anything like it ever existed. I saw everything as through a heavy mist, the contours of everything disappearing.

"Tobirama?"

Izuna's voice.

Shit.

My foot took a step back without me realising. Then, my other foot. Before I knew it, I had turned round and I was running away from the whole scene.

"Tobirama, wait!"

There was no stopping. Only ever going forwards.

Which, in this case, was the same as going back.