Khwezi walked back to his room.

His day usually started with a shower, followed by breakfast, then he would go to school, but today was different. How? It was because he had a guest, and he was not going to school despite it being a school day.

No school two days in a row? He's going to love it, hehe. He chuckled to himself.

So after showering and making breakfast for them both, Khwezi knew that he had to wake his guest up, lest the guest end up sleeping until the sun entered where it doesn't shine.

It would not be an easy task for any normal human being to accomplish, but Khwezi knew how to deal with the guest that, at times Khwezi thought, was a military-trained heavy sleeper. A simple shake or two would not do, but luckily enough, his years of experience dealing with the particular morning routine made sure that he was prepared at all times.

Thinking about it though, it was not that hard a task to complete.

Khwezi reached the door to his room. He peered inside, seeing the lump on the bed, before he pushed the whole door open, inviting the scent of breakfast into the room with his entry. Of course, he knew it would not work since the adversary was still cocooned in the blankets, so he pulled the blanket down which allowed the morning rays of sunlight to wash over the sleeping guest first.

The loss of warmth combined with the light that stung his closed eyes caused the guest to bring an arm over his eyes.

"Ugh." The guest groaned.

"Food's ready." Khwezi said. 3... 2... 1...

Linda bolted into a sitting position as if he had heard the unsaid cue, the aromatic smell of breakfast having reached his nose. His stomach growled in anticipation, and he went to grab the plate of food Khwezi held, but Khwezi pulled the plate away.

"This one's mine." Khwezi said, spotting a knowing smile on his face. "Yours is in the oven. I won't make food for you, and also bring it to you. I'm not your servant."

"Tch." Linda climbed out of bed with a look of annoyance plastered on his face. "I hate you." he spat out.

Though Linda always expected it to happen this way, this having gone on for quite a few years now, he was annoyed by the outcome every time, exactly like when it first happened to him.

"I love you too buddy." Khwezi chuckled as Linda walked out of the room with a scowl on his face.

With an exaggerated thud, the door came to a rushed close.

Now that he was alone, Khwezi placed the food on the stand then pulled his long-sleeved shirt up to reveal his left wrist that had a "4" on it.

This simple, single-digit, small number was the main cause for all of his turmoil.

Even then, Khwezi still could not believe it. It was too surreal for his troubled mind to even begin to try and make sense of.

Sure, at the back of his mind he always knew that the fated day would come, something he believed applied to every single human being, but he just could not believe that it was happening so early, yet another thing he believed applied to every single human being. He knew that he was not the first person to have something like this happen to them, and was most definitely not going to be the last unless life decided to stop being... well... life. But still!

To put things in simple terms though; he did not want to die, and the knowledge of when he would actually die threw him in a storm of anxiety and depression that he just could not find the eye of no matter how hard he tried to navigate himself through the harsh weather that was both in his mind and heart.

His legs felt numb all of a sudden, forcing him to sit down in front of the television as he was still staring at his wrist.

I have to tell him. Khwezi thought.

It was easier to be said, and even harder to be done. He did not even know where he would start. He had told Amanda, but he could not come up with the courage to tell Linda. And though he had told Amanda, it was hard for him to tell her too.

But did he even tell Amanda?

#

The first time Khwezi saw the number was three days ago, on Friday, when his weekend had just began.

The minimum number of days the code usually offered was ten days, and having just eight days, Khwezi would have been the new minimum, but with how he almost never bothered to check the code in the first place, he could not be sure when it actually appeared.

Be that as it may though, the fact still remained that his days were numbered, and quite literally at that. It was a numbing shock that shattered him into a million pieces - that he was yet to pick up. After his initial stupor, he had proceeded to go to his room and throw himself onto his bed and sleep.

He woke up a few hours after he had slept, just around twelve PM, and checked the number again. He had been convinced that it was just some bad dream, but the number was still there.

He had forced himself out of bed and went to his uncle. His uncle was surprised as to why Khwezi was not at school, but when Khwezi showed him the number, the older man understood. Then Khwezi asked that his uncle make sure that Amanda and Linda were barred from entering, something that his uncle, reluctantly, agreed to.

Amanda and Linda had come later that day, after school, and like Khwezi requested, his uncle made sure that they did not make it inside.

They had left the first time, but Amanda returned around noon, demanding to see Khwezi. Linda was easier to convince, but not Amanda. Khwezi's uncle could only take so much of a tongue lashing from the teenage girl, and that was how Amanda forced her way into Khwezi's domain.

Khwezi had never seen Amanda so shook until when their eyes met that Friday. It was as if Amanda's eyes got all the information from that fleeting stare down they shared before he looked away in shame. She did not waste even a single second, pulling him close and giving him a hug.

It was in that moment that Khwezi allowed himself to feel.

From that morning, to sleeping instead of going to school, and telling his uncle to chase away his friends, he knew that he was running away from the matter at hand, and as long as no one was forcing him to face it, he was okay with looking away and letting it torment him as nothing but a tumultuous thought at the back of his mind.

Amanda's presence and her ever intuitive gaze, however, were all it took for his walls to come crumbling down, thus inviting the negative emotions of his foreshadowed death to take root in his heart as he balled his eyes out in her warm embrace.

#

Khwezi sighed to himself, then gnawed on his bottom lip. It was difficult.

How would I even start?

Where Amanda was intuitive, Linda was completely clueless. Clueless to the point that he even struggled with his own emotions more often than not.

Khwezi could feel something warm start to bubble from his chest. Usually, warmth was a welcomed sensation for a person, but not this type of warmth. This type of warmth made his chest tighten up rather uncomfortably, making it hard for him to breathe.

The more the conundrum of how he would tell his best friend festered in his mind, the more the burning sensation intensified: the pain hammered into him with fiery intensity. It was easy for him to tell the location that was pinpointed by searing heat that intensified with every beat.

It was his heart. It hurt.

By the time the burning became too much for him to bear, his eyes had also begun to sting, becoming clouded by the rain of tears that prepared to fall.

His right hand snaked over his chest, just over his heart, where he scrunched his shirt up by grabbing a fistful of the fabric.

He felt something climb up his throat.

It was a tightly woven ball of negative emotions that wanted out.

He wanted to scream.

He wanted to scream all the pain away, but he knew that he could not.

And though knew he could not, it did not change the fact that it was too much.

He had to let it out somehow.

As a last ditch effort, he grabbed a pillow from the bed and secured it firmly over his mouth, screaming into it. The scream was hoarse and barely above a whisper, but it was heavy with emotions as the floodgates opened, tears falling on the pillow with soft thuds of pent up sorrow.

I don't want to go.

It hurt more than he could handle.

I don't want to leave them.

It wasn't the type of pain that one person could face alone.

Amanda. Linda. Please, help me.

The tears just kept coming.

It hurts.

The heat intensified.

I can't breathe. Please, make it stop.

But no one was there to answer his pleas.

Please.

He was alone.

Please.

There was no hero for him.

He could see it in how Amanda reacted when she had first seen him. Her gaze may have been intuitive but the innocence behind the eyes, eyes that had never faced loss, could not be mistaken.

She doesn't understand.

In the end, all she could do was hug him all weekend. In the absence of her hugs, it was a mute that gnawed at his heart, making him want nothing more than to scream just to end it. The silence made it clear that she did not know what to say or do besides offer her hugs.

And Linda,

He thinks the life expectancy code is a good thing. He doesn't understand too.

Khwezi was alone and hurting in a way that no one could understand. No one but someone who had a digit on their wrist. Someone who knew that their days were numbered.

It was an agonizing few minutes for him before he stopped crying.

His fiery brown eyes that always exuded warm enthusiasm, were now a dull and glassy brown that was devoid of emotion. His eyelids were puffy and the red veins in his sclera were more prominent.

The warmth he once felt for the world had grown cold. It chilled his heart and hardened into a thick wall around the organ. Everyone was gone, and he was pulled to a place where he was all alone: surrounded by people who cared, but still feeling lonely.

In his state of being unaware, he let the pillow fall at his side.

Thud.

Turning towards the sound, he saw that the pillow had landed on a box, making the box fall over and spill its contents. What he saw inside the box brought a shaky smile to his face that made the coldness in his heart regress, even if only just a little bit.

It was an old gaming console. The console was set aside about six years ago when more advanced gaming consoles were introduced. So if it was so outdated, then why did he keep it?

Reminds me of the good ol' days.

It was the console he was playing the first day they - Linda and Khwezi - met. Though he still did not know how to tell Linda the truth, the pain was now forgotten, at least for the time being, as he connected the console to the screen and started to play.

#

Though Linda was annoyed by what Khwezi did, it always made Linda smile when his best friend was being his usual jovial self.

No way I'm telling him that though.

Linda was brushing his teeth, still had not gotten his food, careful with each stroke and how many times he spent on each tooth, until a realization dawned on him. It was a shock that made him drop his toothbrush as his hands started to shake. It was a single thought so terrible that he wished had never come to be.

Khwezi has four days left.

He felt something bubble from his stomach and he burped, feeling it rise to his throat like lava from a volcano that was preparing to erupt. The sour taste of his saliva was the only warning he needed, bolting to the toilet where he knelt and emptied - what little his stomach had left - into it. His throat burnt as he excreted the chime back where it's original contents had come from.

His left arm was secured on the toilet seat for balance and he wiped the line of drool that was left after he hurled with his arm. When his arm divorced his mouth, it was united with his chest, pulling at his shirt just over his heart.

He did not even try to stop the dams that broke from his tear ducts. He sniffed lowly and clenched his teeth to stop himself from screaming.

It hurt.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

The thought of Khwezi being gone was wrong to Linda, like burnt stew that somehow managed to stay raw. It was a cacophony of bitter taste that he was forced to swallow. But even if it was forced down his throat, would he be able to bear it? He did not know the answer, and he did not want to know.

Growing up in a household where everyone had both their parents alive, while he had none, Linda always felt like he was the black sheep in the family. The nepotism that his cousins benefited from while he got none, it was clear to him that such luxuries were afforded only to those with parents. So deep down, even though he smiled a lot with his family and he was sure he loved them, Linda was unhappy.

The death of his mother, and the absence of his father, showed him a lot of things about himself, about his family, and about life in general; and none of those were good.

Not good until Khwezi and Amanda came into the picture. With their arrival, Linda's vantage point in life got a bit of light into it, and that light grew brighter little by little over the years, as their friendship grew stronger, until it was full daybreak. The anxiety and depression caused by loneliness, and the feelings of abandonment were not gone, but he could bear it all if it meant seeing them after every victory of his internal struggles.

It took a while of crying and sniffling before he was able to gather his emotions somewhat well enough to barely escape being considered under control. He then took a shower and let the water soothe his body.

He walked out of the bathroom wearing the same clothes as the previous day and grabbed his food from the kitchen, then started back for Khwezi's room from the kitchen..

He ventured into the corridor that led to Khwezi's room.

The corridor stretched out, becoming longer and darker. The door to the room was no less than ten steps away, yet it felt like a mile away from him. Each step he took was heavy and troubled, with echoes that reverberated from the ceramic and to the walls with his anxiety as his heart pounded relentlessly.

After a track that lasted a short eternity, he finally reached the door, standing in front of it. It was bigger and more menacing all of a sudden, like the church door when he was late as a kid and had to bear with the eerily silence accompanied by the unnerving stares of the congregation as he walked to his seat, but only scarier.

His thin fingers, hesitantly, reached out for the handle. The tip of his fingers touched the handle. It was cold, just like the corridor he stood in. He swallowed, steeling himself, and in one impulsive act of resolve, he twisted the handle and pushed the door open before he could convince himself otherwise.

A gentle breeze came out to greet Linda. The warmth made him shiver as the cold was drawn out of his body. He smiled when the breeze brushed against his nose teasingly, the lad's ears dancing in an affectionate acknowledgement of the warm welcome.

"Oh, you're finally done." Khwezi said, pausing the game. He then took the other joystick and held it up. "I can't seem to fight them off alone. Help me?"

Linda's eyes widened, a glint washing over them. Tears brimmed at the corners of his eyes. Khwezi just smiled.

Somehow, by some miracle, they were back to their nine year old selves. Back to the day they met.

Linda reached out, tentatively, taking the joystick, "Sure thing," and sat next to Khwezi.

"Gosh, stop crying already." Khwezi rolled his eyes.

"I'm not crying!" denied Linda.

"Why are you even crying in the first place?"

"I'm not crying!"

"Fine fine, then tell your eyes to stop leaking water."

"O-hic-kay." Linda wiped his tears away.

In that moment, the sorrow that plagued both their minds and hearts was momentarily forgotten. They were back to being nine year old boys whose only worry was completing the video game on the screen.

#

Amanda stood outside the gate to the arcade, waiting. There were only ten minutes left until she had to start the tournament. As to why she was outside when she should have been preparing to start the tournament...? She was waiting for Linda and Khwezi to arrive. It was an obvious display of nepotism but she did not care.

Where are they? She wondered, annoyed.

She had tried calling both of them but their phones sent her to voicemail, something she was hell bent on giving them an earful about.

"Mamas." A voice called out.

Amanda did not pay attention to the voice. No way that call was for her, she convinced herself, it just couldn't be.

"I'm talking to you."

The voice was closer now, Amanda noted the same time she felt a hand grab her arm. She tried to pull her arm away but the hand only tightened around her like an anaconda that refused to let go of its meal for the day.

Amanda struggled to not let her repulsion show on her face when her eyes were introduced to the facial features of the man. The man was boney, literal skin and bones, the skin on his face pulled inwards so much that it outlined his skeleton. The funky odor and general lack of hygiene of the man was not helping with Amanda's assessment at all. The man's smile was greasy, having jaggered yellow teeth jutting out of his mouth at such awkward angles that Amanda wondered how the man even managed to speak normally. It must have been some sort of miracle, she figured.

"Please, kindly leave me alone." she said. She held her usual scowl on her face, which made her displeasure clear. His miracle did not apply to him having the right to put his hands on her, and she was not shy to make it known.

"Hey now..." The man pulled up the bottom of his hoodie, "won't you listen to me for even a second?

Amanda's breath hitched when she saw the three-star okapi (a short knife with a wooden handle that has three steel stars adhered to it: a common weapon for common thugs) that was adhered to the man's side like a gun. It may not have been a gun, but the weapon was just as lethal, if not more, considering how close he was to her.

"Are you ready to listen to me now?" The man took a step closer. "Name's Khulekani, what's yours?"

Amanda took a step back by instinct, shaking. Her brain was going haywire, sending every last bit of energy to her legs for her to run, but with the fear that gripped her, her legs felt heavy like they had been turned to stone. In a situation of sink or swim, she was drowning underneath the waves of fear.

Khulekani took another step forward, closing the distance. "It's rude to ignore a gentleman when he talks to you, you know?" He even had the decency to chuckle, showing more of his yellow teeth, making it clear that he was enjoying the situation.

Amanda stood there, shaking, like a rabbit cornered by a lion. Her brain was struggling to come to terms with the situation. She had checked, like she did every morning. Her wrist had nothing on it, so why was all of this happening?

#

"Crud." Linda paled.

"What?" Khwezi poked his head over his friend's shoulder. "... Oh."

"Yeeeaaah..."

The boys gave each other a look, then they scrambled out of the house running.

After successfully bulldozing past the the doors, and the gate that would normally allow for one person at a time, they ran down the road together, intent on getting to the arcade as fast as they could. Also, their intention was to get as sweaty as they possibly could so that they could get points for when they apologized to Amanda. She was more forgiving when she knew that they were doing their best.

They rounded the corner, breathing heavily. They were both gamers who prioritized staying indoors as much as possible so they were as fit as your expert couch potato, which wasn't fit at all.

They saw a person near the gate to Amanda's house. When they got closer, they saw Amanda in front of that person.

The fear they saw portrayed on her face sprung both boys into action.

Khwezi grabbed the right outstretched hand and Linda grabbed the left hand that was at the man's hip. The boys twisted both arms at the man's back simultaneously as they swung their legs forth, then brought the appendages back, tripping the man. They made sure the landing was as rough as possible as the man landed, face-first, on the ground.

"What's going on here?" Khwezi asked.

The man barely managed to lift his face off the ground. "Why you little-"

Khulekani was cut off by Khwezi pressing his face back down.

"I'm not talking to you." The thunder in Khwezi's voice made it clear that he was no pleased.

Twinkle.

The glint called for his gaze, and the moment Linda saw it, his heart skipped a few beats. A lump rose up to his throat. He tried to swallow it down but the viscosity of the bundle of anxiety was of high quality, refusing to go down without a fight.

When Linda saw the blade, it all came crashing down on him the second time that day. Khwezi was going to die in four days, and now, Amanda almost died. His mind was clouded by darkness when his hand grabbed the okapi. With three clicks, the knife stood at attention like a good cadet ready for their orders.

"Linda no!" Amanda cried out. She went to push him but she would not reach him in time.

Khwezi was quick to react, his close proximity allowing him to reach Linda faster. He grabbed his best friend's wrist, twisting it so he dropped the knife and pushed him against the wall, and off of Khulekani.

"The hell do you think you are doing?" Khwezi's voice was low, but his anger was bare for all to see on his face.

Khulukani used the distraction wisely, scampering away.

"Get off me!" Linda shot back, shoving at Khwezi.

Having not expected it, Khwezi tripped on his own feet and fell on the ground. He was up a moment later though, and the menacing scowl on his face made it clear that his hands were itching.

"Boys stop!" Amanda was already between the two bulls, pushing them back from each other before something happened.

"Boys stop?" Khwezi spat, sounding exasperated, "I'm not the one trying to stab people, so why am I being told to stop? You know what, this is stupid, you'll catch me inside." Khwezi left promptly.

Amanda gave Linda a fleeting glare of disappointment, then she followed after Khwezi.

"Khwezi wait."

Khwezi stopped before the entrance to the arcade. "I don't want to talk to you right now." He stated flatly, with no room for argument.

Amanda stopped, then she watched him walk away. Linda came behind her a moment later. She reached out to him, grabbing his hand, but he pulled it away. She recoiled, like a hurt puppy, and watched him walk away too.

She was left outside alone.

No one but her was going to do it so she wiped away her tears before they fell, and steeled herself as best as she could. She had a competition to run, after all.

#

Since Linda and Khwezi entered the competition late, they got the last match, which meant that there was no escaping watching the other teams play. They were not happy about that.

Normally, they would have complained together, but things were not normal. The could not even meet each other in the eye.

An hour passed, and they still stood next to each other in an awkward silence.

Linda finally stole a fleeting glance at his best friend.

Khwezi was suffocating. He was struggling to come to terms with everything that was happening. He had forgotten about his anger at Linda at some point, and was consumed by other thoughts. Here he was, his world in shambles, yet the world was carrying on like nothing was wrong. The wave of loneliness that he had barely managed to escape from in the morning hammered into him tenfold.

The excitement in the arcade was palpable, the crowd was going wild with cheers and the players were giving their best. Laughter and giggles were shared, but all Khwezi could see was himself at the centre, with demon-like shadows laughing at his despair.

He turned - he just could not take it anymore - and before he could run out of the arcade, a hand grabbed his own.

No words were said, but Khwezi could feel everything Linda wanted to say from the gentle squeeze that had his hand in its gentle grasp.

Don't lose. It was as simple as that. Simple, but it was not going to be easy to accomplish.

Khwezi pulled his hand away. "I know." Then he left.

Linda retracted his hand with a rueful smile. He shoved his hands in his pockets and continued to wait for their match. He wanted nothing more than to run after his best friend but he knew that he could not do that because he was not supposed to know about the number on Khwezi's wrist. The last thing he wanted was to ambush Khwezi in the delicate state that he was in.

Amanda, who was watching them the entire time, gnawed on her bottom lip.

Linda's senses had returned, and he knew that he had to apologize for what happened with Khulekani, but he could see that Khwezi was not in the right state of mind to receive an apology.

Depending on the timing, an apology could be annoying sometimes, after all.

And chasing after Khwezi would not have made sense either since they would end up losing the competition. Thinking over everything that was happening at first, Linda decided to prioritize what came first, and then the rest would follow.

First on that agenda was winning the match because Linda did not want lose. He never lost. Losing was never an option.

We never lose.

#

While a lot occupied his mind, when his match came, Linda won with relative ease.

Luzuko had won so Linda was glad that the captain was still in the game as it would not be fun without him.

When the competition ended for the day, everyone had to leave because it was already past closing time for the arcade.

With that came the second item on Linda's agenda, which was to apologise to Amanda. He may have been angry at the time, but he still had no right to react that way towards her, who was only trying to help.

In the end, it was Linda and Khwezi's inability to be honest about their feelings with each other that led them to blow a fuse at the first thing they saw, which happened to be Amanda.

And as kind as she was, Linda knew that Amanda would forgive him. Knowing that made his heart ache because it felt like he was taking advantage of how much she loved both him and Khwezi.

Amanda had locked up the entrance to the arcade, ignoring Linda who stood against the pillar that was in the middle of the room.

After what had happened, she just did not know how to talk to him without slapping him across the face. She knew that Khwezi was in a bad place, and Linda, who did not know that, was mistakenly fanning the flames of an already raging inferno. It would not be right for her to hold him responsible for something he knew nothing about, so she ignored him and started cleaning up the arcade.

"Hey, Amanda."

She turned towards him when he called out. Seeing that she was not going to say anything, Linda decided to continue.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"It's okay."

The smile he received made his heart ache even more. He knew better than anyone that when someone said that it was okay, it did not mean that it was actually okay. It just meant that they understood why you did something bad, but it still hurt that you did it. Knowing all that, Linda could not let it end that way. He could feel that if he left it at that, things would never be the same between them, and that their normalcy, the type that warmed him up and kept his hope alive everyday, he would lose it.

"It's not." he said, "I shouldn't have acted that way towards you and Khwezi. I-"

"Look, Linda, not to sound rude or anything, but not everything is about you." Amanda said, a scowl on her face. It held no particular emotion, but it still stung the receiver of her words. Her voice did not rise, nor did it fall, but it conveyed how she felt clearly and transparently, "Khwezi is not okay right now, so it would be better if you eased up." That last part, it was more emotional. It held the intensity of her raw emotions that she just could not hide.

Linda's eyes widened.

"You know." he blurted out.

"What?"

"You know that Khwezi has a number on his wrist." he clarified rather hesitantly, scared of what it would mean should he be wrong.

Amanda's eyes widened too. She knew that Linda would find out eventually, if not told, but she did not expect it to happen so soon.

Wait... Amanda paused.

She had been wrong. Linda knew everything, and because he knew, he could be held accountable. She felt rage bubble from the depths of her heart when the realisation hit her like a ton of bricks, and that feeling made her act in a way she had never thought she would act, especially towards Linda.

She walked up to her crush, looking up at him.

Linda did not expect what happened next.

Amanda grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and she shoved him against the pillar.

"Then..." her voice shook, "w-why? Knowing that he was going through all of this, w-why would you be like this? He ran out of here, and you didn't even act like you cared. W-Why?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Then make me understand!" she shook him violently.

Linda went quiet at that demand. His silence made Amanda aware that he believed she would not understand even if he explained. Her hands grew slack with that realisation, then she pulled them back to her sides. She found the ground more interesting all of a sudden.

"It's not fair." she croaked out, her voice trembling, "He needs us."

"No, he doesn't."

"How could y-"

"He wants to kill himself..."

"What?" Amanda squeaked out as she looked up, eyes wide.

The expression of pained surprised on her face, red eyes stained with tears that could fall at any moment, hurt him to see,

"And when you get like that, someone telling you that you have a lot to live for, someone begging you not to do it, someone telling you that it will get better, those are the most annoying people you could come across in that state of mind." Linda went on. "That's why he doesn't need us. Even though I know how it feels like to wear the shoes he's in, it's up to him whether he chooses to go, or he chooses to stay."

Tears spilled, cascading down her glistening cheeks.

"How could you be so calm while saying that?" She croaked out, her voice breaking apart completely.

"Like I said, you don't understand."

It was indirect, but Amanda understood what he was really saying, and it drained every last bit of strength she had left to fight him. She raised her fists limply, and thumped them on his chest repeatedly. Her heartbeat was hammering into her, yet she felt like she was the weakest she had ever been.

"I didn't ask for my parents to be alive, and I didn't ask for yours to be gone." she said, her voice low like she was regretting the words that were leaving her mouth, "So please, don't say it like that."

Amanda had always felt that way somewhere at the back of her mind, but she never thought that there would ever come a time where she would ever say it out loud. Now that it was out in the open, she felt as if a load had been removed from her shoulders.

Because of the presence of her parents, she always felt that the she never really fit in with the boys. To her, it felt like she was always the third wheel, someone who was forcing her presence upon them, and every time one of them said that she did not understand, it hurt: reminding her of the insecurities she fought with on a daily basis.

Her thumping stopped and her one hand went over her chest. "It h-urts because every time one of you says that, i-it feels like y-you d-don't believe that I truly care about you guys." her voice was quivering quite violently, but she, somehow, managed to speak.

Although she spoke like she was whispering, as she choked on her feelings, the silence of the arcade made sure that every word of what she was saying reached his ears.

"Linda, I know a part of me is naive to the type of pain that the both of you go through, but I still love you guys. I-"

Her words died in her mouth when she felt the soft hand that cupped her right cheek, while another hand grabbed the hand that was over her chest. Her eyes widened when the soft thumb of the warm hand wiped away her tears gently. The touch was tender, and every stroke with his thumb set her pacing heart down gradually to a mellow calm.

His hand was bigger, easily enveloping her smaller hand into his gentle grasp as he brought her hand to his heart. Her eyes widened and her face adopted a brilliant shade of red when she felt his raging heart. Each anxious, fast-paced, beat made her wonder how he could keep such a calm expression on his face.

She looked up at him. Steel-grey met brown, and anxious met gentle. She felt him rub the back of her hand before his right hand slipped to the back of her head, bringing her head gently to lie on his chest.

He couldn't, not anymore. He couldn't take how she was breaking to pieces right in front of him.

"I'm anything but calm." he said. "I'm in shambles just as the two of you are. I care about you, and I care about Khwezi. I love you, and I love Khwezi. It's because I love him that I have the unwavering faith that he'll return to us. So please, don't say it like that either."

After Linda spoke, Amanda did not know what to say. No, she had nothing to say. She just let herself get lost in the gentle embrace that told her that everything would work out somehow.