BACKSTORY

Two children, barely the age of seven, sat together on the front porch of the house, savouring one last time together as they caught their breath after a game of cat and mouse. The older of them was a girl, with short blonde hair that seemed to reflect the sinking sun. She wore a big bow on her head, a traid that she didn't want to go out without. Her eyes were a magnificent blue as deep as the ocean and filled with life. Mothers would fuss over her as she was - as they say - really cute. The younger was a boy with similar features as her as puberty hadn't interfered. He was shorter however and his skin was pale, almost as if he bathed in white powder. His messy hair grew to his shoulders which he didn't bother to tidy. Both of them were born on the same day and some mistaken them for twins, which couldn't have been more false. They did looked like and shared the same surname, but were in no way blood-related.

'Rin...when will you be back?' the boy asked her.

The girl shrugged. 'I don't know. Mom said she wasn't sure. Grown-up business she said.'

'But who will I play with when you're gone?'

'I'll be back soon.' The girl tried to reassure her friend but realised that it was useless once she saw the tears started welling in his eyes.

'I don't want to be alone. You know once you're gone I'm all alone,' he sobbed as the tears came in fat droplets, soon turning into a waterfall.

Rin reached out towards him for a hug and the both of them remained there like that for a long time. The boy was still sobbing violently and Rin felt her own eyes wet with tears.

'I'll be alone over there too, but I promise that I'll come back to you,' she said and wiped away his tears with a handkerchief tucked away in her dress pocket. 'Mom said I won't be away forever, she said that we'll come back and we'll play together again, Len.'

Len held up his pinky towards her. 'That's a promise, right?' He wiped his face with his other arm.

Rin hooked her own pinky around his and connected their thumbs. 'Of course, we'll remain best friends forever, even when I'm away.'

The two of them pulled each other together in an embrace again. The day after, Rin would be going away to Singapore with her single mother, for how long she was unsure. Len would continue living in Japan, in a school he was so sure he would not make any friends, and his own parents were barely around.

Once they separated from each other's grasp, Len's tears had stopped falling. The sun reflected something shiny from her chest that caught Len's eyes. He smiled when he saw the necklace he had given her for her birthday - a treble clef with wings, with a turquoise in the middle that resembles their birtmonth. He had a matching one too except his was a bass clef. He had begged his parents to buy them as he remembered that she loved to sing and sometimes even urged him to be her backup singer. She loved the present and earned himself a peck on the cheek. His face flushed red as he remembered the moment.

'What?' Rin asked, noticing his sad grin.

'I just can't wait until you're back,' he said dismissively. He stood up for a brief moment to give her a kiss on her forehead before sitting back down on the porch. Rin's eyes glistened and she closed her eyes to stop the tears from welling again.

Len swore to himself that he would never forget this moment, and definitely not forget his best friend.