It had been months since Delano tidied his room, and it had been almost a year since he last saw Belle. He shifted his position so that he was half standing with one foot on the floor at the side of his bed instead of snuggling in his blanket.

He reached out his hand and grabbed a little box on the nightstand, then he leaned back against the wall. Memories came rushing back into his head when he opened the wooden box, and he could feel everything he had felt many months ago: confusion, despair, happiness, love.

There were three things inside it. The pair of lock and key he had bought for him and Belle, which she had returned to him when she left that morning, were sitting on the layer of cotton he had laid in the box. And the other thing, the last, is the polaroid of him which he had took off from the inner wall of his locker.

There was a simple message behind the polaroid, written in a black marker.

Love, Belle. ♡

It was still so clear in his mind that he almost mistook it for something that happened in the past few days. But when he started to smile to himself, he remembered that she wasn't here anymore.

Those days after she left, his life was flat like the heartbeat of a dead person on an electrocardiogram. There was no drama, no huge twist in the social scene, and he was back to the shadows where he liked it.

Austin was back very soon. At first, he was boasting around about how he would beat the hell out of Delano, and swearing that he would make Delano pay for everything. But soon it faded to a stop.

Maybe he realized that I'm not really capable of messing up with his life. It's always been the other way round. Delano thought.

And that was it. All that's left for him is going to school, helping his mother at the bakery when he was free in the afternoons, doing his assignments, and moving on with his life. It wasn't really that hard.

'Delano, come down for breakfast,' his mother called from downstairs. He replied with a quick 'I'm coming' and closed the door behind him as he walked out of his room after eyeing on the calender taped on the back of the door.

It shook a little when the door slammed a bit too hard. On each of the days of the past 12 months, there were little crosses on the dates and numbers written next to them.

Day 365. As it was written beside today's date.

It's been a year, Belle. Hope you're doing fine. I'm still waiting for your return.

He smiled as he jogged down the stairs.

When it all ends, let's begin again. And this time, nothing will come between us.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~ Finale •~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~