"Do you like the rain?"
I could remember those words, as if I only heard them yesterday. She really loved the rain. When she was depressed, she felt like the rain was crying for her. When she was angry, the rain washed away her hidden intentions. When she was happy, the rain hummed for her - a beautiful melody.
I hated the rain. It reminded me of memories I wanted to forget. I was never allowed to. Every time the loud pattering rain resounded around me, those words return, as if to haunt me…
Years have passed... Not even for a whole season have I not thought about those words. Not even for a month have I been spared from remembering her voice. Not even for a week have I not thought of her.
"Do you like the rain?" she asks me.
I hate it...
My life changed that day. I don’t really remember when it was. I opened the door to the rooftop and entered a world of flush red.
She was standing there with her back facing me, looking at the scenery in front of her. The image of her as she turned to me, her long chestnut-brown hair that danced with the wind, and the little smile on her lips as she greeted me, will be engraved in my memory for a long time.
She was a classmate of mine. But the impression I had of her then was as if it was the first time I saw her. Maybe it was because she always had her hair tied as a ponytail when in class, and seeing her, with her hair down like that, made her look so different. Maybe it was because she hardly interacted with anyone, having her own world. It didn’t matter…
I didn’t recognize her immediately. I guess it was my footsteps that made her face me. It took me a while to recognize her when she faced me to acknowledge my presence.
I’m not sure what it was that made my heart rush that time. But after that moment, whenever the clock strikes four, I kept my things and watched her leave the room, then I go up there to see her. Even if we didn’t talk to each other… Even if we just stood far away from each other and just watched the horizon… As long as it was with her, I was happy.
Even when we’re just in the classroom, whenever I looked at her since then, my heart fluttered. I think I like her. I think I’m in love with her... I think I love Rinei, Miya.
