“You did the same for me. And it's just the first of many. Thank?—”
“No. You don’t understand.” He shook his head and pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. Although he was smiling at me, there was a sadness behind that deep swallow, and in his eyes. "I wish I could make you feel my love for you. I wish you could feel it."
“Oh, Killian. I worry so much about you.” My heart ached as his eyes filled to the brim with tears that were then released to fall to the grass. “What’s wrong?”
“You’ve just made me completely happy. That’s all.”
“Killian come on, you’re worrying me.”
“Don’t. I’m fine now. This fixes everything.”
“A little boy once told me real friends tell each other what’s really going on, Killian. So now that we’ve done this. Tell me.”
“There’s nothin?—”
“Don’t do that,” I said through my teeth but then took a big gulp of air into my lungs and let it out. “Everyone lies to me but... please... you’re the one person who can’t lie to me. I know something is wrong. I know someone’s hurting you. Is it your uncle?” I paused and held his upper arms, dipping my head so that he would meet my gaze. “If you don’t want to say it fine but don’t lie to me.”
“I’ll tell you?—”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“You promise?” I asked and he nodded. “Say it,” I demanded.
“I promise, angel.” We hugged for as long as Killian needed to hug which was a long time. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happen to me, Magdalena. If not for you, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”
“It’s the same for me, Killian. I can’t lose you.”
“You’ll never lose me. I’ll always be your dragon.”
After, we danced around the pole in our dresses and suits, drank lemonade and ate cake that our teacher had baked for us.
For the next few weeks, we kept studying other cultures and countries, and on Fridays, we’d eat some food to celebrate those people. Killian and I made a list of the countries we were most interested in visiting.
India
Bhutan
Vietnam
Morocco
