"YSAA!"

I just walk out of my room when I heard someone called my name. I look around and saw Aaline waving her hands at me. Behind her is Soiartze, who has a sad smile on her face.

I frown. Why does Soiartze smile sadly at me? Did something happen?

"YSAA!" Aaline holds my hands and takes a few deep breaths before she looks at me with excitement in her eyes. "I got a piece of good news for you. I'm sure you will like it."

"Good news? What's good news?"

Before Aaline could tell me the news, Soiartze taps her shoulder. "It's better if you take some breath. Look at you. You look like a fish out of water." She then looks at me. "It's better to talk about this inside. Shall we?" She then looks at my closed door.

I look at gasping Aaline before I nod my head. The two of them immediately followed me inside. Aaline and Soiartze found a seat to sit on while I sit on my bed.

Aaline looks at Soiartze first, and when the latter nods her head. Aaline immediately sits beside me and holds my hand in excitement. "Ysa! I've just talked to Earl this morning, and he told me that the Virtouse asked for your presence tomorrow. Ysa, this is it! All your questions will be answered, and you'll return to the fictional.. world," Aaline's excitement fades away. Her last words become a whisper.

I look at Aaline's face, who is now in conflict. She looks like she wants to smile, but she couldn't. I sigh and hold her hands. I'm actually happy that I could go back to the fictional world now, but I have to admit, I will miss them for sure.

Soiartze shakes her head. "Aaline, if you continue to show your face like that, Ysa will mistake it as if you don't like her to return to the fictional world."

Aaline immediately straightens her back and looks at me in panic. She then waved her hands at me. "No! No! I-I. Ysa! No, I don't! I-"

I laugh at Aaline stutters. I squeeze her hand that I am holding and smile at her. "You don't need to worry. I know what you are feeling. I, myself, am feeling reluctant to be away from the two of you. But Aaline, I need to face my task."

Aaline nods her head at me. I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. "I know Ysa. I'm sorry if it seems like I don't want you to return. I'm just sad that you'll be away now. I'm just sad, thinking that we might never meet again. But please don't misinterpret it that I don't want you to succeed. I do. I really do. Didn't we had a promise before that you need to succeed in your task. For us? I'm still hoping you could do that."

I hug Aaline, who is now sobbing. Soiartze walks towards us and joins the hug. "I will miss the two of you. Thank you for making my stay in Kosmo memorable. I promise I will fulfill my task for the two of you. So, don't be sad now, okay?"

Aaline looks up at me with teary eyes. "Promise me, Ysa. You'll remember us, forever?"

I smile at Aaline and nods my head at her repeatedly. Despite Aaline's age, she still looks like a child who constantly needs protection. "I will. I promise you."

Soiartze breaks off from our hug and smiles at Aaline. "Aaline, you're the oldest among the three of us, but you act like you are the youngest." Soiartze gently messed Aaline's head.

Aaline pouts at Soiartze. "I am the youngest! Hmph," she then crosses her arms at Soiartze.

Soiartze and I both laugh at Aaline shenanigans. Yes, she's really the youngest among us.

____________________________________________

After the heartwarming talk, we have this morning. The three of us decided to tour around the Tahanan this afternoon. But the original plan of three becomes four when Earl comes out of nowhere and joins us.

"What is he doing here? I thought we will have fun? How can we have fun if this useless guy is in here?" Aaline grumbled at Earl, who seems like he didn't hear anything from Aaline.

Aaline got angrier because of how Earl ignores her. She walks towards Earl and taps his shoulder. "Hey! Didn't you hear what I've said? I said, what are you doing in here? It was supposed to be a Girl's day out. Are you a girl?"

Earl stopped walking, and so do us. We're standing behind them. That's why we could clearly see what's going on between the two.

Earl looks at Aaline intently before he takes a step closer. Shortening the gap between them. Aaline nervously raised her hand to stop Earl from inching forward. "Heyy! What are you doing?"

"It's a Girl's day out?" Earl smirked and combed his hair. "Then I have a question for you, Aaline."

Aaline gulped nervously. "Wh-what, what's yo-your question?" She tried to take a step back, but Earl caught her waist, which enable her to move.

Soiartze and I just stand there shocked at what is happening. I cover my lips to try to force my squeal down my throat. While Soiartze holds to the hem of my t-shirt like her life depends on it.

Earl smirks at Aaline and leans his face close to Aaline. Their foreheads are already touching. I could see that both of their ears and faces are already red because of flusteredness. "Are you my girl?" Earl whispered.

Soiartze slaps my arms after Earl asked the question. I look at my arm that Soiartze slaps. She looks at me with sorry eyes. "I'm sorry," she mouthed at me.

I shake my head at her. I'm quite used to it. Lena tends to slap my arms too, every time we will watch a romantic movie.

I put my eyes back at the lovely couple, who looks like they got frozen in time. With wide eyes, Aaline looks at Earl. While Earl is nervously looking at Aaline's eyes.

With a shaky voice, Aaline asked Earl, "What do you mean by that Earl?"

Earl takes a step back away from Aaline and scratches his nape. "I-I. Not. You." Earl tried to speak coherently, but his nervousness probably gets in the way. He then messed his hair out of frustration before he looks at Aaline. "I said, if this is a Girl's day out. Why are you here? Are you a girl?"

Aaline face, which had been red because of Earl's words, suddenly changes. She glares at Earl and takes off one of her shoes before she throws it to Earl's face, but Earl catches it with his quick hand. "I HATE YOU!" She shouted at Earl before she walks away.

Soiartze and I look at each other and shakes our head. Soiartze walks towards Earl and elbows him. "You know what, you really messed up today," Soiartze said disappointedly before she takes the shoes from Earl's hand and follows Aaline.

I walked towards Earl and tapped his shoulder. "It was already okay, but then you messed it up. If you like her, Aaline, you should be straight at her. You know what Aaline has been through. I hope you wouldn't add to that. Make up your mind Earl, if you want her, then make a move before anyone does. But if you don't like her, I beg you stay away from her from now on," I tapped his shoulder again before I left him alone.

I really hope before I could return to the fictional world, I could see them happy together.

I found them, Aaline and Soiartze sitting on s bench. I walk towards them, but I immediately stop when I heard Aaline's words.

"Am I joke to him? Why does he always said things and then take it back again? What does he think? Am I stupid? Does he think I couldn't understand what he is saying?" Aaline sobbed at Soiartze.

Soiartze just caresses Aaline's back. "Give him time, Aai. Maybe he isn't sure about his feelings. You also know what Earl been through."

Aaline sobbed. "But what about me, Soiartze? What about me? I've been through a lot too. Actually, everyone does. But I didn't make it as an excuse to confuse someone. We didn't make it as an excuse to hurt someone, right? If you're hurt because of your past, it's not enough reason to hurt others."

Soiartze got silent probably because she didn't know how to respond to Aaline's words. I am about to walk to them when I saw Earl walking towards Aaline and kneel in front of her.

"Aai, I know I've been a jerk to constantly made you confused because of my words and my actions. I also know that my past is not a reason to do that to you. And I'm sorry about that. I never intended to hurt you. I just don't know how to deal with my feelings. The first time I saw you, I thought you're the cutest girl I ever saw in my whole life. Even the female lead of the story in the fictional world couldn't surpass your cuteness. As I live here, I also see how cute your actions are. I didn't realize that I am starting to like you."

Aaline looks at Earl, who is still kneeling on the ground. "You like me?" She asked with a doubtful voice.

Earl looks down and takes the hand of Aaline, and kisses it. "I'm sorry if it doesn't seem like that. But yes, I like you. I just didn't know how to deal with my emotions. I was planning to fix myself first and make sure of my feelings first because I was afraid I'll hurt. I don't want to hurt you, Aai. I just want to collect myself, so I could be the best version of me when I am with you. It just that I didn't realize that my indecisiveness could hurt you in the process. I'm sorry, Aai."

Aaline sobs and hugs Earl. Earl hugs her back. "Give me a chance, Aai. I know I am younger than you, but age doesn't matter, right? What matters is our feelings for each other. Give us a chance Aai. Let's start again. Let's start slowly. Will you?"

Aaline nods her head at Earl and hugs him. She then looks at us and gives us a wide smile before she mouthed her "Thank you," to us.

Soiartze and I continue our tour around the Tahanan. We left Aaline and Earl with each other. I think they need to sort out everything first.

Soiartze stops walking and looks at me. "Ysa, do you think Aaline and Earl would last?"

I stop walking too and sigh. "I'm not sure. The only one who could answer that is them. How much could they give just to make their relationship last? Let's just hope that they would stay together in the end."

Soiartze looks up at the sky and smiles bitterly. "I hope they will end up together. Aai deserves to be love."

"Aren't we all?"

Soiartze looks at me. "Do we really deserve to love? Ysa, we ruined relationships. We are the reason why those fictional characters died. Do we really deserve to be love?"

I walk towards Soiartze and hugs her. Soiartze hugs me in return. She laid her head on my shoulder and sob. Although her sobs are really faint, it's like she is forcing herself not to sob. I raised my hand and gently tapped her back. "Soiartze, don't be too hard on yourself. It's not really your fault. You just loved someone. It wasn't your intention to hurt anyone. Also, you have been hurting yourself for years now. I'm sure those fictional spirits won't like you to do that to yourself."

Soiartze shakes her head. "No, Ysa. I know the consequences of my actions, but I still choose that path. I-" Soiartze sobs. "I don't deserve love, Ysa. I'm selfish."

I just hug Soiartze. I don't know how to convince her it's not her fault and she shouldn't hurt herself this much. But Soiartze already made up her mind and put the blame on herself for years. It's difficult to change one's perspective on one day. I just hope one day, she would start to forgive herself because only then she would know how to feel love. Only then will she know how to be happy.