• Arsenio •

Okay, maybe we weren't always best friends.

Like when she was born, I was jealous of her and in my defence, I was only five. Our mothers were best friends and my mother had every right to gush over her best friend's daughter but I hated it cause she stole the spotlight from me, all the attention. And to top it off, she even stole my birthday.

I refused to be near her, I refused to pull and caress her cheeks as everyone else did, I rather sulked about it in the corner until my mother would pick me up, laughing at my jealousy and would smother me with kisses.

I came from a rich background and it wasn't any surprise that my room used to be filled with numerous toys but I was possessive of them and I especially protected them from Ezlyn.

At the age of eight, I still hated her.

One evening, while I was playing with my battery-operated bullet train, the tracks of which were laid around my room, the door to my room was slowly pushed open and a three-year-old Ezlyn's face peeked in.

I scowled at seeing her and focused back on playing with the train as she stepped inside, her eyes fixed on the train running around the tracks, twinkling with fascination.

"Go away, Ezlyn. Don't disturb me." I shot her a glare.

She was stubborn as fuck and didn't listen to me and walked further inside and sat down on the floor next to me. "I want to play."

"No." I hit the button on the remote making the train halt.

She cocked her head and gave me her puppy eyes. "Please, Nio." She wasn't able to pronounce my name even after I corrected her many times and she kept calling me Nio.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "There's nothing to play with it. You can sit and watch if you want."

"Okay!"

So she sat with me for the next ten minutes just watching the train as I sometimes pressed the button to make it stop and then start again.

When I halted the train once again, she glanced at me and then at the remote, her mouth parting slightly.

I was growing up and my jealousy towards her was slowly fading away too so I handed the remote to her saying, "Press this button."

Her eyes lit up and she grabbed the remote and tried pressing the button but her little fingers couldn't press it hard enough to make the train start moving.

I grabbed her hand and helped her press the button and took it away from her. As soon as the train started moving again, a wide smile spread across her face and she clapped her hands loudly. "Yay!"

And then she looked at me with so much warmth and happiness radiating from her, her little face literally glowing with innocence.

I was caught off guard as at that moment something inside me melted and all my jealousy was washed away and my heart warmed.

I am going to keep her. I decided at that time. From then onwards, Ezlyn Laurel was my best friend.

Prologue completion on: 12/11/22
Published on: 25/1/23