Arlo stood still. A leaf fluttered in the air and fell on his shoulder. "This was written by Amelia," Paola said, "Last year she was with me here," tears summoned upon his eyes and he locked his eyes on the tree's scrawny carved branch. Going out of his house was always a drudgery for him but his mind was different since he saw Amelia on the beach. Though he failed to see the correlation between her and the ocean, he remembered her cheery face. "You're here once again," Amelia said. Arlo smiled engagingly. "The wind here is amazing, isn't it?" He asked.
"Today's a sad day," the sky was miserably spitting the hot sun's light but there still was the wind, 'The Wind of Ocean.'
"Did something bad happen to you?" He asked. The sweet aroma of coconut trees was initiated in the wind and he sat down beside her, gasping, taking the clear wind inside. "Well," she said, "My father's marriage date with that witch is fixed and it's next week." He watched her tears cascading onto the gritty sand and then his tears onto the dark greenery ground. "I'm so sorry," Paola said, "I shouldn't have taken you here but I did, I made you sad," Tears streaked her pale cheeks and then he rose in the darkness, trying to compose himself. He knew, he knew that he would be lost in the darkness. He knew that the pale walls of sadness would be there in the exact moment like this. But he could see nothing at that time besides the saddened moment with Amelia. "I just want to run away, I don't want to live with her," Amelia said
"I think now you should tell your father now about her," her appearance was so opaque that time and yet appearing here as if they were filled with the light of hope. "I tried but he said that I don't want to see anyone in my mother's place." Arlo wiped his tears and said, "It's too dark now, we should head home," he turned around and walked towards the direction where they came from. Paola ran to him and walked beside him. "I'm so sorry," she said.
"It's fine Paola," he said, "Don't worry about me." The stirring of trees seeped into their ears and the wind slowly became heavy once again, "Looks like it's going to rain," Paola said. They both walked out the mountain and the darkened road pressed up against their feet. "I will walk with you to your house," Arlo said, "It's fine, I can go myself," she said, "You go and rest." The wind moved again and her perfectly styled hair fluttered in the air. "Have you seen your dress?" He asked, "I can't let you here alone on these dark roads." He began to waddle towards and then Paola followed him. He closed his eyes and could remember the past. The movie was almost over and there was a kissing scene in the end. Soon the movie was over and his palm was held by an 8-year-old Paola. "Arlo," she said, "Do you still want a kiss?" The wind moved again and slowly the rain began to fall. "The rain has started," Arlo said. The darkened road stayed the same, "Should we stop or?" Paola asked. "It's not that heavy, we can go." They continued their walks but then the rain cascaded. "We should stop there," Arlo said as he spotted a bus shelter. They hid their head from the rain and stood silently in the dark under the shelter. The silence permeated them and he tried to compose himself, trying to distract his mind from that scrawny sentence onto the tree branch. "Are you cold?" He asked. "No, I am alright." The wind kept rattling the dark clouds and they kept standing there, waiting for the quell of the rain but it kept rushing down, faster than before. "Tell me if you're cold then I can give you my jacket," Paola said, laughing, and he watched her, his eyes widening in surprise and a flicker of pleasure, "You do find happiness and laugh in small things, ain't that right?" Arlo asked with a soft smile. And then she smiled too. The ravishing wind touched them again and then he said, "So should we head home?"
"What? In this rain, we would be all wet if we go,"
"Come on let's go, we should enjoy this rain and who knows when we are gonna spend some time like this together again, so let's go now!" He held her hand like before and went out of the bus shelter, the rain cascaded onto their dresses and wetted them, he ran and ran and ran with her, holding her. "You're running so fast," she said, gasping, "It's so hard to run in these high heels." But Arlo stayed silent and kept running. He had wanted to reassure his sad memories and his feelings for Paola, was it love? The wetted water kept rattling on their faces and their clothes. "It's fun isn't it?" He asked. The rain had hidden his tears and he kept running in the rhythm of his awful heart, but at last, he reached Paola's house. Their backs were hunched and gasping for breath, their heart running. "It was so fun," he said
"Yeah, I guess," the rain was still there, running with the wind. "We are all wet with the rain," Arlo said. "Anyway, I will see you soon, go and rest now,"
"Come inside, your house is miles away from here and you shouldn't go in this rain, the roads are pretty dark too," Paola said
"It's fine, I can manage that." The house was shining so brightly and he knew the roads would be so dark ahead.
"No I would not allow that, just come inside and when the rain stops then you can go if you want."
"Well, I can't reject you if you insist this much." Paola smiled at him and then they both went inside the house. "Do you still want a kiss?" An 8-year-old Paola asked. "Well if you don't have any problem, I mean it would be my first kiss too and I wanna know how a kiss feels," a pink tulip was located on the table in front of them and the sweet aroma of catalpa trees was there. "So we only need to touch our lips, right?" Paola asked
"Yes, it seems like it."
"Okay then, we can kiss now I guess." Arlo went near her and then she shifted closer to him, warily. Soon her lips, berry-stained, were on his. "Uh it didn't feel any special," she said
"Yes, same for me too," he said, "I guess it feels different when you kiss someone you have feelings for."
"Who says I don't have feelings for you?" She said, "I love you, dummy."