– Yes, who told you that you could become like me?

– But mom...

– Shut up! You'll never get what you want, Lin. We both know that.

– Yasmina, you're overreacting. He's only ten, don't you love it so much that he repeats after you and has dreams?

Lin! Honey, what's wrong? He didn't hear or react. His face was all in tears. I was panicked and didn't know what to do. Lin whispered that it wasn't his fault and kept apologizing. It hurt to see him that way. But the worst part was that I brought him to that state because of what happened that evening. He probably was worried and stress took its toll.

– Lin! – I shook him by the shoulders, and he woke up. His red, swollen eyes were full of confusion, pain, and fear. He breathed very unevenly, and for another 10 minutes, we sat in silence. Our faces were lit only by the light from a street lamp, which shone through the window on the third floor.

– I was dreaming about my childhood... while we were fighting with my mother, he started whispering to me, as if someone else could hear us.

To be honest, despite the fact that we had been friends since childhood and were neighbors, I didn't know about his family problems. We never brought up this topic, so he knew everything about me but I didn't. He stopped all conversations about his family, so I couldn't find out anything. However, I was familiar with his parents - young, cheerful people with a good sense of humor. They teased each other often and spent a lot of time together. Aunt Yasmin was close to my mother, they met when they were pregnant and often visited each other. Sometimes my mom would leave Raven with them.

I just wanted to be like them, that was all. The tears on his face were destroying me inside. I don't know why but I was terrified. Mom said I was nothing and she wouldn't support me.

With each new phrase, his voice became quieter and the pauses in the sentences only increased in time. I took his hand and listened in silence. – Of course, over time, our relationship improved. She began to react more calmly to me. I can't say they were perfect, but at least she didn't make me cry like she did when I was a child. What Lin told me didn't fit with my idea of her family. Every time I visited them, Aunt Yasmin didn't act the way he described. She always treated me very warmly and never shouted at her son. She never swore and allowed everything. It just seemed like that to me, apparently.

– I only recently found out why she hated me so much as a child and why she ignored Dad. For some reason, all my childhood, from the age of 7, he was always guilty in front of her. He constantly apologized, but she never reacted to it. Lin paused. This silence drove me crazy, because I didn't know what to say. She could have imagined anything, but what happened next–her father cheated on her–wasn't what I expected. There was a lump in my throat, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe. Tears filled my eyes, and I hugged my best friend tightly. I didn't care if he wanted me to or not. I imagined myself in his position and my world turned upside down, like it did for him when he found out the truth. Damian had never looked like a cheat, and I couldn't imagine such a thing happening to anyone close to me.

- I have a brother who is almost the same age as me, his name is Felix. I only found out about him when I told my mom that I wanted to leave with you six months ago. She went berserk, told me the truth about her dad, and apologized for how she treated me as a kid. I explained my situation and told her I couldn't leave without her.

Another shocking surprise today. I didn't know what else to expect. We sat on the bed, hugging each other for a long time. The secret was revealed, and Lin felt a sense of relief. He could finally breathe freely. No more hiding the terrible secret. We promised not to have any more secrets, especially those that are serious and painful. Just when I thought there was nothing more to surprise me, Lin said, "I have one more thing to tell you."

– Felix has been living in this city all this time. That's why my mother told me everything. My father often traveled here on business trips and met Lisa here. My brother is a few months older than me. His father's illegitimate child lives in the same place as we do... that thought echoed in my mind.

My blood pressure dropped and I started to feel sick. I couldn't say anything, so I went out on the balcony and sat down in a chair and closed my eyes. The salty breeze from the sea helped me to calm down a little. About 20 minutes later, I felt better. The door creaked and a guy entered. The red-eyed man had dark brown hair that fell over his face and covered it. His lips were cracked and bitten from stress. "Let's go for a walk?" he asked softly, and I nodded.

Without changing our clothes, we just took the keys and left the apartment, suffocating in its walls. We had no plan, just a terrible desire to get somewhere as soon as possible. I drove south and, in half an hour, we had already reached the coast, deciding that this would be our final destination for the day. The pebbles crunched softly under our feet, the waves gently beat on the shore, calmly, like inside both of us. Hysteria receded, and we felt like children again, like in the good old days, when, as children, they took their shoes off at the river and walked into the water, splashing and laughing. We were both soaking wet, but neither I nor Lin felt cold at that moment. As soon as we calmed down, we decided to go back to the car, where we started sneezing in unison. My clothes were drenched, and it was only 17 degrees out.

"I felt like I was going to have a fever after this evening for a long time," I thought, but everything turned out exactly the opposite. Intense stress and walking by the sea knocked Lin down the next day, so he decided to skip classes. I gave him my notes and went to school. To my surprise, there were a lot more parking spots at the college than last time. Leaving my red car calmly, I took my things and got out. At the entrance, Yukio was heading towards me with a smile. He waved from afar, and I walked forward. Actually, I was really pleased that, despite Lin's absence, I wouldn't be bored. The guy was about two meters away when my phone rang. It was probably rude of me to ignore Yukio, who had clearly been waiting for me, and exchange him for a phone call. When we finally caught up, I passed him and quietly said into the microphone of my phone: "Good morning."

His upset face spoke for himself and, deep down, I was sorry that I had treated him like that. But on the other hand, I liked Aaron and was infinitely glad to hear from him. The day passed quickly. Aaron called me every break and texted during the couple of hours. Like a silly little girl, I told him everything about myself and learned a lot about him in return. He completely avoided the topic of his family. All he said was that there were problems with his parents.

He promised to come to my college at the time of graduation, so that we could spend some time together. We rode around the city, joked a lot, and continued to get to know each other. He was from the east by nationality, which is why his eye cut was not typical for our area. His red hair came from his mother, and the air sign of his zodiac revealed his personality well. He was really easy to talk to and lift, which perhaps also hooked me. Time with the guy flew by unnoticed, so I arrived home at night. I stopped at a 24-hour pharmacy on the way home and upon arrival, I saw a terrifying picture - a half-dead Lin on the bed, with fragments of broken dishes on the floor. "Oh gods, what happened?!" I rushed to clean up as soon as I could. Fortunately, there were some slippers in the house that I hated, but they were necessary here.

"I just wanted to cook dinner for you" - he said and fell asleep.