"We can still be together.”

"You've loved her for 20 years already. Do you think you can just throw all those memories away and be with me? Do you think I'm a fool?"

"Cinna..."

"What makes you think we'll be together forever if you can just easily leave a 20-year relationship you've been holding on to all this time?"

Camry was taken aback by those words.

Camry, Elle, and Cinna had been best friends since they were little. They grew up in the same household, and their parents knew each other well. Elle and Camry's parents were of Chinese heritage, so they had been best friends since childhood, speaking Chinese together.

Cinna, on the other hand, moved to the neighborhood a few years later. Her parents were immigrants from India, and they had to move across the land. She was placed in the same class and grade as Elle and Camry. They became instant best friends, as they were the only ones who looked different from their peers. Most of the people at school had blue eyes and white skin, which made the three of them stand out.

But it didn't matter to them; they enjoyed being together. They went through secondary school and high school as a trio.

During high school, Camry realized he had been in love with Elle for a long time. It was a bit unfortunate because Cinna also had feelings for Camry. It was a strange love triangle. Cinna kind of expected it because, even though it was always the three of them, Camry seemed to give a lot of attention to Elle. When it was just the two of them, he always talked about Elle, which made Cinna a bit jealous at the time.

So she wasn't exactly surprised when Camry asked her to come to his house for a chat and finally poured his heart out. That day was a thunderstorm, and Camry was bawling, crying into Cinna's favorite pillow.

"I tried to make her like me," he said.

"Now, now, you haven't even told her yet. You don't know if she likes you or not."

"What if she doesn't?"

"Well, you'll find another nice girl who is interested in you too," she babbled.

Camry lifted his face from the already wet pillow.

"She's my first love, though," he huffed. "It's going to be hard to forget her."

Cinna sat down beside him. "Well, you don't have to forget her. You just have to ask her first."

Camry started to show more feelings for Elle, and Elle reciprocated. They went to prom together, attended school festivals, and began hanging out more together on their own. At first, they wanted to include Cinna in everything. They went on cinema dates, had picnics, and visited the library together. But Cinna felt increasingly left out and began canceling their plans.

"Hey Cinna, Camry and I are going to play football in the park this evening after school. You should come with us," Elle said, holding her pink backpack on her left shoulder. She had worn that backpack since middle school, adorned with enamel pins on the front.

Cinna, still struggling to manage her locker, replied, "No, I don't have time today. I need to finish Ms. Scholar's homework. She's going to kill me tomorrow. You guys go without me."

"But it's not fun to hang out without you."

Those words stung. All this time, Cinna had tried to be patient with Elle. Elle was always the cheerful one in their trio, never seeming to have problems or heartaches. Camry was the sporty and nerdy type, and Cinna was the calm one. Even though they were always a trio, Elle was the only one who was never treated badly. People often said she was quite pretty for a Chinese girl, with soft skin and clear eyes.

"I know you guys want to hang out without me, so just give it a rest. You don't need to feel bad for me. I get it; you guys want to date alone, so just leave me alone."

Elle was taken aback, her smiling face dropping to confusion. "No, we never meant it that way, Cinna. How do you even think that?" Cinna could hear the worried tension in her voice.

Cinna tried to hold back tears. She couldn’t cry now, she wouldn’t.

"Even though it's the three of us, it was always you and Camry. You were always at it with each other. What do you think that felt like for me?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think..."

"You just don't think, do you? So just don’t think about my feelings and leave me alone." She slammed her locker shut and ran down the hallway.

"Cinna! Cinna! Wait..." Elle called after her