They were each other's first love. They learned the true meaning of love and the reason from each other. It did not start with just interest in his vision of her and the way he treated her, how she cared about every detail of his. They did this in the name of friendship, as they were childhood friends. One day, as the war intensified, he also needed to go and be there. She was already ready for it but she didn't know it would be so fast.
Going to war was his duty, but for her, he was one step away from death or injury.
She tried as much as she could to hold on to positivity, but with all the stories she heard, she couldn't.
His mother was already going through all kinds of different emotions, while his sister, on the other hand, was trying to hold on as much as possible just for the sake of their mother.
And the father... was silent... silent in a strange way, not as if his son was about to risk his life, and who knows if he would return alive or not, but he contented himself with patting him on the shoulder.
His mother was crying and his sister was trying as much as possible to calm her down before her eyes filled with tears.
My mother was looking at them with brokenness, as she already knew what it was like to send the one you love and value the most to die themself.
And I had to remain silent, what could I do? Would my behavior have improved the situation? No, it would have made it worse, so keeping silent was better for my feelings. Even if I let my emotions flow, if I start crying, I won't be able to stop.
"Stop, let him go," his father shouted, telling Lady Merlin to stop.
"Is this easy for you?" She shouted at his father but quickly calmed herself down.
"This is my only son, so please let me do whatever I want."
Only after that, the father stopped and did not dare to say another word. So what could he do? He was actually fighting his tears not to fall. He was trying to hold on as much as possible. This is not an easy matter for him either. Sending his son, he may be a man, but for him and his mother, it is still their child and there is nothing that would change that. It was cohesive. This house needed at least one person to bear the matter, and he had to do it. There was no one else who would do it.
"Don't worry, I will come back safely, now stop crying."
He sat at his mother's level and rubbed her hand, then directed his words towards his sister: "Wasn't you the one who said she wasn't caring about the whole thing?"
"Are you teasing me now?"
He said, wiping the tears from his sister's eyes after patting her head lightly, "I'm sorry, now stop and let her in."
Haru straightened his stance, talking to Adeliny's mother.
"I'll take care of myself" He knew from her looks that she needed to hear those words even if she didn't say them herself.
She just shook her head and then went in, trying to calm Lady Merlin down.
It was just me and him after everyone's in. "I.." there was hesitation in his voice.
He doesn't really need to say goodbye to me. We had this conversation yesterday when we were on the roof of his house after everyone came down with the excuse that they were distracting Lady Merlin from delving into her intense feelings about the departure of her precious son, and they left me and him alone.
He spoke, interrupting the moment of silence. "I know we went through this but... there's something I didn't say... Can I ask you for a favor?"
She knew, perhaps he wanted to ask her to take care of his mother, and even if he did not say it, she would have done so, but what he said was something else, something she had not expected, not at this moment, nor in any near future.
"Take care of yourself . I know that you are strong, and because I know that, I know that you will not want to express your feelings, but I ask you to take care of yourself because I will not be here to take care of you. Can I trust you with this?"
The moment he stopped, she was ready to let out everything inside her. A single tear fell, bringing a river in its wake.
"Do you really need to do that while you're gone? You know I can't ...I can't do that"
As he saw her tears falling, he dropped what was in his hands and approached her, hugging her to his chest.
"I really hate you!"
Their embrace lasted for five minutes, and he did not want to let go of her. He did not want to leave her but because his duty was calling him, so he left her, picked up his bags, smiled at her, gave her a military salute, and went on his way.
Seeing him leave made her fall down, and she surrendered to her feelings, her feelings that she had been afraid of slipping away from the beginning of the day, perhaps since forever, and she wished for him to be safe and that he would return safely. She did not care how much time it would take, as long as it was on her mind. To see him again, to see him standing in front of her in peace. To see him again, just to see him.