"This is the Wishing Card, Rin. My birthday gift for Arga when he turned twenty-one."
"Interesting. Explain. This sounds like something straight out of a novel."
"Arga turned twenty-one. Me? A scholarship kid from a single-parent family—I couldn't afford something grand for someone like him, a rich boy. So I gave him this. A card I cut out from the cover of a Sidu notebook. I signed it. He said he'd use it at the perfect time."
"You thought he was just being polite?"
"Yeah. I figured he was just trying to be nice, pretending my gift mattered."
"Wow. Flip it over, Nis. Let's see what he wished for," Rini said, her eyes wide with curiosity.
I turned the card around.
It was pristine. No creases, no stains, not even a speck of dust. He had kept it all these years. Protected it.
'Let's be best friend like before.'
Just one sentence. But it shook me to my core. My hands trembled, and my eyes burned. I didn't know what I was feeling.
Was it warmth? Because I meant that much to him?
Relief? Because I wasn't the only one who had been hurting?
Annoyance? Because he'd used this card to trap me into something I couldn't refuse?
Fear? Fear that I'd fall for him all over again?
What was this feeling?
"Nisaa!" Rini pulled me into a tight hug. "How can you not forgive someone this sweet?"
I couldn't answer. I just cried. With the Wishing Card clutched tightly in my hand, I let everything go on Rini's shoulder. All the feelings I'd buried. All the tears I'd held back. Maybe... a part of me was finally letting go. But another part... was still terrified of hoping again.