CHAPTER 6

I was so tired that I fell asleep very quickly, it was always the same thing, I slept and woke up thinking about Dilan.

I still had so many things to do, take a walk around town, then go look at my mother's house, or what was left of it.

I don't know if I'm ready to go in there.

I looked at the clock and it was 4pm.

I needed to go out for lunch.

As soon as I arrived at the reception, I didn't find Cris anymore, just Dandara.

I felt an enormous urge to ask if she knew Dilan, I needed to look for information about him.

After all, I was in the same city where I met him, someone there might know where he was.

- Good afternoon Dandara, where was the afternoon snack served?

Dandara: Good afternoon Kyra, let me take you there.

We walked in silence to the back of the inn, where there was a beautiful space, with tables and chairs, surrounded by plants and flowers. Everything at the inn was perfectly organised.

I saw a gentleman, placing trays with fruits, breads, cakes on the table for people to help themselves.

I knew him, I would know who he was wherever I found him.

My eyes started to fill with tears.

I froze, watching him.

I got even more emotional when I saw Dandara calling him dad.

I couldn't hold back my emotion.

That was Dilan's father, and that was little Dandara, Dilan's little sister.

Dandara looked at me and saw the tears that were already falling, she made a compassionate face, as if she knew exactly why I was crying.

She walked towards me, but I got up quickly from the chair, trying to escape the situation.

Dandara: Kyra, wait, come back here.

I turned away, totally ignoring her call.

That was why she had looked at me so strangely.

And the other woman at the front desk? Who would she be? She also looked at me strangely, but I didn't recognize her.

But clearly she also knew who I was.

I left the inn, trying to remember how to get to the pier.

I didn't know if it still existed, but I needed some time alone, listening only to the sound of the sea, to calm my heart.

It didn't take long for me to find him.

Everything stayed exactly the same.

How even after so many years, I could still remember the details of this place?

It's impossible not to get emotional remembering everything this place means to me.

Why did I run away?

Why didn't I stay and ask about Dilan?

Deep down I was afraid of the response I would receive.

I was afraid to learn that he was married, that he had children, that he was perfectly capable of moving on without me.

I couldn't judge it.

Who in their right mind would take a child's promise seriously?

What would I say to him when I saw him?

What if his wife was one of those jealous ones that wouldn't even let me get close to him?

What if...

I immediately remembered Cris.

Although she was very nice to me, she could only be playing her role as an employee and acting professionally.

But what if she was something from Dylan?

It would explain so many things.

I can't remember at what point I became so cowardly and so unable to face my fears.

I was calmer.

The sound of the sea had an extremely calming effect on me.

When I moved in with my grandma, that was exactly what I missed the most.

I remembered the times Dilan and I would sit by the sea and admire its beauty.

I was working up the courage to go back to the inn and face my fears.

I needed to be willing to answer any kind of question coming from Dandara.

She knew who I was, and there was no getting around it.

But if she knew who I was, then Dilan must have talked to her about me, because she was too young to remember everything that happened. Granted, she was only a year younger than me, but still, she didn't spend enough time with me.

I closed my eyes, trying to find my inner strength.

I took the ring that belonged to Dilan that was around my neck and held it, with the same strength as the day he placed it in the palm of my hand.

I spent some time like that, with my eyes closed, imagining everything we experienced in our childhood.

Until I felt someone approaching.

It was a different presence, as if the person next to me were someone I knew.

I kept my eyes closed, feeling the wind hit my face, and my heart started to beat faster.

I don't know how to explain the feeling, but I knew exactly who the person behind me was.

I don't know how I knew, but it was like my heart was connected to his heart.

He didn't say anything, he didn't touch me, he just stood there, waiting for the moment when I was prepared to look at him, and when I finally looked back, I saw him, right in front of me, tall, long hair, with a beard, is very beautiful.

The person in front of me was no longer that boy, he was already a man.

I looked into his eyes, and I felt butterflies in my stomach, like a teenager who's just fallen in love.

I couldn't say anything, I just pronounced his name.

- Dylan...

At the same time he uttered mine.

And there, I had confirmation that we were both expecting the same thing.

The day we could finally be together again.

I didn't know what would happen from then on, what life had in store for us.

I didn't know what to expect from him.

If I was ready to hear everything he had to say to me.

I was so full of questions, but I was also so full of longing, that when I heard him call my name, I hugged him.

I didn't think that hug would be wrong, if he was committed, if he didn't miss me as much as I missed him.

I just hugged him.

And as if nothing else in the world existed, he hugged me back.

Wrapping his strong, muscular arms around my waist as he pressed his face into my hair, as if he urgently needed to smell it.

And we stayed like that, holding each other, one feeling the other's touch, without saying a word, just feeling the magic that this moment represented.

-Ah Dilan, how I dreamed of that hug. I thought.