For the next few days, Lucia watched as Luna and Alex often played together whenever they could and studied well together as well. They appeared to be a genuine happy childhood friends, with Luna being grateful for Alex’s family for raising her in place of her parents, who both seemed to have faced a complication of their own.
“Her mother died at childbirth?!” Lucia exclaimed in alarm upon discovering Luna’s backstory from Sarah.
“Yes. It was tragic,” Sarah said sadly while in the middle of cooking lunch, “and then Mike lost his mind at her death. It’s a truly tragic way to lose both parents simultaneously.”
“Yes!” Lucia replied, looking very shocked, looking behind her where she could hear laughing voices of Luna and Alex playing together. “Does she know?”
Sarah shook her head and said, “No. We didn’t think it was the right time to tell her about her parents. All she knows is that they went on a long journey after putting her in our care and disappeared without a trace.” She turned to Lucia and said softly, “It’s better this way than feeling the shock that her only living parent is in no state to recognise or talk to her.”
Lucia watched her silently, looking very sad after hearing such a tragic story. She, too, lost her mother at a young age, but she still had her father to fill that missing spot. So, she could understand the reasoning that went into Samuel and Sarah lying to Luna with the pure intentions of protecting her.
“Will you tell her eventually?” She asked Sarah after a few seconds of thought.
Her question made Sarah pause in her movement and turn to look at her with a thoughtful expression on her face. Then, she nodded and smiled faintly at what the magic teacher was getting to.
“Eventually, yes. It may break her heart, but I’m hoping we can repair it quickly and let her live on in their place,” she replied, indicating the parents that Luna lost as a baby.
Lucia nodded, understanding the sense in her thoughts and smiling back at her. However, as she walked away from the kitchen, she wondered about the current relationship between Alex and Luna. It was clear just by looking at how they play that they were really close and cared deeply for each other, however, a small gap was there when it came to playing outside with the kids in the neighbourhood.
“Luna seems to want to play with Alex even outside,” muttered Lucia, thinking back to each time that Luna went outside to play.
Whenever she was called out by the children, she hesitated and always looked hopefully towards Alex as if wishing he would come out to play with her. However, he refused and encouraged her to go out alone, causing her to briefly become sad that quickly turns to joy as she enjoyed her time playing with the other kids. What was even stranger about that was that Alex seemed to enjoy watching Luna playing from a distance, as he watched her through the window of the living room.
At one time, she decided to take interest in the subject and asked him, “Alex, Luna seems to really want you to go and play with her along with the rest of those kids. Shouldn’t you, as the elder, go along with her wishes?”
He looked up at her and blinked in surprise, appearing as though he did not think of that. Still, he shook his head and said in a resolute voice.
“I don’t like interacting with those strangers. I can’t trust them.”
His reply was so strong that it instantly put an end to the conversation, which startled her.
“For a cheerful boy, he sure has strange complexities,” she thought wryly.
That was what she thought at that time, but today, when she entered the living room and saw Alex sitting all alone in the room staring out of the window, she sighed. It was like he was in a world of his own and no one could understand him at all, causing him to reject all outside interference.
“His personal space is a little too large,” she thought, walking over and sitting down next to him, “but he’s very happy to have people he likes and trusts be with him.”
He did not want to pursue the subject of him choosing to seclude himself, but she did not want to give him the chance to be like that. As a teacher, she believed strongly to improve the development of her student and push him to succeed as it will help him in the future.
“Why don’t you trust them?” She asked him abruptly.
He slowly turned and gave her a sardonic look, which made her wish she could laugh due to the look not matching his age.
“Look at them, miss,” he said, gesturing out of the window at the kids playing around. As she looked out of the window, he went on to say, “Those boys are clearly attracted to her and want to play with her while the girls find her cute and want to be her friends. None of them have this… feeling that they’re actually friends.”
“What do you mean?” She asked him curiously, turning to look at him quizically.
He looked at her and seemed to think for a moment before he said, “There are ‘just friends,’ then there are ‘friends,’ and finally there are ‘real friends’.”
This further puzzled her, and made her ask, “and which category do they fit in?”
“They’re ‘just friends’, miss,” he said, looking out of the window again. “They are simply attracted to one another through interaction, similar interests, and hobbies. The second kind of friend is whom you grow up with, like to be together and stay in touch from time to time.”
“And the real friend would never leave you alone, stand by your side and so on, right?” Lucia asked curiously.
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He nodded, but he added a statement saying, “Yes, and they should also be willing to risk their life for their friend. That’s the meaning of having close friends whom you trust with your life. Otherwise, there is no meaning to the existence of those words.” As she nodded in understanding, he went on to say, “As for me, I want real friends, friends I could trust, friends that would come to my rescue, and friends that would stay by my side forever.”
“Even if you are separated?” Lucia asked, looking surprised by his statement.
“Distance may separate us, but they shouldn’t forget about me just as I wouldn’t forget about them,” he replied and formed a small smile on his face. “That’s the kind of friends I want, and they are not them,” and he indicated the children playing outside.
His teacher nodded slowly in understanding, accepting his logic as she also figured that none of those children were suitable to be his friends. On the other hand, she wondered just what her student felt towards Luna considering their close relationship.
“What kind of friend do you think of Luna?” She asked him finally.
He was a little surprised by her question before stating, “She’s my sister, although, we somehow ended up in a childhood friend relationship, but I still like her very much and treat her with great respect, and I’ll do whatever I can to help her.”
“Basically, you love her,” his teacher said with a knowing smile on her face.
“I love her?” He asked, looking at her in surprise.
“Yes,” his teacher said, nodding with the same knowing look on her face. “What you described isn’t something one has towards close friends, it’s for those that they really love from deep within.”
“Oh....” He said slowly, coming to the realisation that his feelings were indeed different from her explanation. “I see now. I never realised.”
Alex was feeling an array of strange feelings within him, and he looked out of the window at Luna playing with the other kids. Whenever the boys touched her, he became irritated, when the girls seem close to her, he felt a little lonely, and when she was laughing with them, he sometimes wished she was laughing with him instead. All of those feelings he was experiencing were indeed a sign of affection for the other person that is bordering on love.
“I suppose I felt strange because I never experienced such things in my past life,” he thought, thinking it made sense considering how new these feelings were for him. Not sure how he should feel about it, he simply though, “This is strange. How did I end up like this when I promised I’d make her feel proud of me being her brother?”
While he was deep in thought, Lucia watched him for a few seconds before turning her attention to Luna playing outside. She wondered whether the young girl also felt the same about Alex and decided to ask her when she got back home from playing. Sure enough, an hour later, Luna returned home feeling tired but excited from the fun she had playing with the other kids.
“Luna,” she called to her from the living room, and Luna walked in to find the magic teacher sitting alone. “Can I speak to you right now?”
“Sure, miss!” Luna replied happily, bounding forward and sitting down next to her. “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”
Lucia looked at her for a brief moment in silent before asking directly, “Do you love Alex?”
At the question, Luna simply looked at her with a blank face. Then, the blood rushed to her head and a puff of smoke seemingly exploded out of her ears as she became bright red from shock.
“Eh?!” She exclaimed, blinking rapidly with a thoroughly shocked look on her face. “L-L-L-Love?! W-W-Who? A-A-A-Alex?!”
“Yes,” responded Lucia with a nod. “Do you love him?”
At the repeated question, Luna looked down at her fingers and began fidgeting with them nervously. She did not say anything, and the teacher did not feel the need to push for an answer as it was quite obvious.
“That was relatively easy,” she thought wryly, “but I need to know more to be sure.”
“Okay. So you love him, but why do you play a lot with the others outside?” She asked her curiously.
“Um…” asked Luna hesitantly, looking nervously at her. “Is that bad?”
“I’m asking of your thoughts, and then I’ll tell you about my thoughts.”
“Oh. Okay. Well… I do… um... “ began Luna and faltered, flushing crimson from embarrassment of saying that word. With a light prod from Lucia, she recovered and said, “Anyway, I do want to play with him, and I always ask him to come play with me and my friends, but he just sends me alone and stays home watching me play.”
“Oh? You noticed that?” Lucia asked, looking surprised.
Luna nodded sadly and said, “Yes, but I wish he would come out and play with us. It’s really fun.”
The older girl nodded in understanding, but became curious about something and asked, “Okay. In that case, tell me something. Do you love playing with Alex?”
“Yes!” Luna replied promptly without any delay.
While nodding with a smile in understanding, Lucia asked, “Okay. Do you love playing with the kids?”
“I do,” she replied normally with less enthusiasm compared to before.
“I see,” Lucia said, nodding in understanding before asking, “In that case, which would you rather choose to play with the most? Alex, or the kids?”
Luna blinked at her in surprise and asked, “S-Sorry?”
“Whom do you want to play with the most? Alex? Or the kids from the neighbourhood?” Lucia repeated in a clear voice, waiting expectantly to see what the young girl’s answer would be.
Luna sat there, staring at her knees while she contemplated about her choices that the magic teacher laid out for her. It took her nearly a minute to decide before looking up at the older girl and stating her choice.
“I’d choose Alex.”
Lucia was amazed the firmness with which she spoke as well as the confident look on her the young girl’s face. Curious about what made her decide, Lucia decided to ask her about it.
“I see. In that case, why choose Alex over them? You seem to clearly enjoy playing with those kids as well, right?”
Luna pondered for a moment before looking up and saying with a small smile on her face, “They are friends, miss. They come and go, but family… they’re there for you forever. That’s why I chose Alex because he’ll be there for me whenever I need him.”
With that said, the girl rose to her feet and said, “Please excuse me, miss. I’ve got to go to the washroom.”
“Carry on,” replied Lucia automatically, looking dazed as she watched Luna smile and hurry out of the room. Leaning back in her chair, she sighed heavily and muttered, “What is up with the maturity levels of these kids? One’s acting above his age, and the other’s showing a remarkable set of values for those close to her, and both of them have affection for each other that’s just not coming out right. What to do…?”
She thought for a moment in silence before saying with a smile, “Maybe this is another job for me as a teacher to bring two love birds together since they’re obviously meant for each other, although… I really doubt other teachers would agree to my chain of thoughts, but whatever. It’s my choice, and I’ll somehow make it happen!”
Determination surged within her as she punched the air with her fist with a smile on her face. And so, the teacher had decided to help the two love birds come together as she felt it was destiny while also conducting her practice as a teacher to make her student grow into a great man.