I almost pass out when Anya literally throws herself around my neck for a hug, exclaiming:

"YES! I'LL GO TO THE PROM WITH YOU!"

That's the maximum of physical touch we've ever had in our entire lives. When I feel her warmth, I can't help but wrap my arms around her, squeezing her lightly. At that moment, I realize I want more of it. I want more of her touch and her presence.

I don't know for how long we remained there, hugging each other, with Anya still wiggling in excitement and laughing, but we only stopped because we noticed that the other students began to look at us in the school corridor, as if wondering: "Hey, I thought these two hated each other!"

When we pull away, I see that she's a bit red and I also feel my cheeks blush. Anya looks at me from below, with puppy eyes.

"I thought you'd never ask me..." she says, joining her hands together in front of her body.

"S-Sorry for taking so long..." I reply, scratching the back of my head, avoiding her look. She giggles.

"It was worth it."

I look back at her and we give a little smile.

"Oh... If I could, I would kiss you right now," I end up thinking.

I notice that Anya widens her eyes a little and looks away from me, seeming nervous. I shake my head, not understanding, and an awkward silence falls over us. I need to say something, anything.

"C-Can I pick you up on Saturday at six?" I ask, rubbing my hands along my sides.

The graduation ceremony would start at 7:30 pm next Saturday, where it would be watched by the students' families. However, all the soon-to-be graduates would need to arrive an hour earlier, so they could get ready and do all those organization stuff that it's not necessary for me to detail.

Without a word, Anya just looks at me with a kind expression and nods in agreement. We hear the bell and enter the classroom.

Sitting with my best friends in the last row, we're told we're having a free class period. I play cards with Ewen and Emile, and for the first time in all these years of studying in the same classroom, from the first row, Anya turns her head smiling at me, and I smile back.

I park my car in front of the building Anya lives with her parents. I take a deep breath and dry my hands on my pants. Before getting out, I make sure everything is clean and organized inside the car. I don't want to leave a bad impression.

I go to the intercom on the front door of the building and ring her apartment number. I stomp my foot on the floor several times and squeeze the package I was holding in my hands a little tighter. The intercom seems to ring for an eternity, until a woman finally answers:

"Hello?" I notice she has a nice and soft voice.

"H-Hi," I reply, feeling my throat go dry, "it's Damian."

"Oh, right! You can come in!"

Her voice tone seemed to show a certain kind of excitement, and I feel butterflies in my stomach as I hear the front door automatically open. I begin walking up the stairs and my footsteps reflect my heartbeat.

When I arrive on the right floor, I feel like I'm panting and I stop for a while to try to calm down. The apartment is at the end of a long corridor. I start to walk, but that corridor seems endless. I get to the door and before ringing the bell, I check my hair and my jacket. I take another deep breath.

I barely ringed the bell and the door opened. For a moment, I was a little startled by the sight of the person who popped up in front of me.

A woman greets me with a big smile. It must be the same person who answered the intercom. I've seen her before and I know she's Anya's mother. But what surprised me was the huge pregnant belly in front of her.

How could I have forgotten?!

Anya was expecting a little sibling and I confess that, given the size of that belly, it would be born pretty soon. I mentally call myself an idiot, because I believe it would have been polite of me to also have brought something for the mother and baby.

"Damian, darling!" she says, signaling for me to come in. "Please, make yourself at home! We've already seen each other from afar, but I don't think we've ever introduced ourselves properly. I'm Yor, Anya's mother."

"Th-Thank you. Excuse me. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Forger," we greet each other and I notice she has a very firm handshake, compared to the calm and gentle personality she appears to have.

I awkwardly enter the apartment and slowly look around. It's quite nice and neat. Nothing fancy, but everything seems to be of good quality.

"I'll tell Anya you're here," says Yor. She then leans at me and whispers, "She's gorgeous!"

I believe I blushed a little when I heard that information, and I think Yor noticed, for she walked away giggling.

Then, I see a shadow rise beside me and I instantly recognize who it is: Loid Forger, Anya's father.

I can't help but feel intimidated by that tall man, although his expression towards me is very sympathetic. He was always at the Academy for some event, meeting, or whatsoever.

It was clear that he was a very present father. Pretty different from mine.

As I think about it, I feel a certain melancholy in my heart, but I try to push it away. Loid reaches out his hand to me with a smile.

"Hello, Damian. How are you doing?" He takes me to the living room, where there's an afternoon tea prepared. "Please, have a seat."

I greet him back and thank him for his kindness, claiming that they shouldn't need to worry, as I didn't want to bother.

Loid serves me tea and some biscuits, and despite his external sympathetic expression, I feel as if he's been inspecting me from head to toe, almost as if reading my own soul. His eyes seemed like he could find out any terrible situation about me, even silly things, like when, for example, I stole some candy from the pantry of the mansion I used to live in when I was about four years old.

An awkward silence hangs over us and I do my best to start any conversation with him. I comment on stuff like Yor's pregnancy and praise their apartment. Anya's father knew how to respond very well to each subject I mentioned, saying interesting things and which luckily, made the conversation flow better.

When I notice we're running out of topics again, Loid asks me:

"So... Now that you're graduating, what are your plans for the future?"

I confess that I never liked this sort of question, and the main reason was that I didn't have an answer for it.

Usually, children of rich people always follow the path of their parents, as in a company or family business. But, as I've already mentioned, my father was a complete stranger to me. To this day, I can't tell you exactly what he worked with.

Excuse me. I do know he worked on something related to politics, but I just can't stand that kind of stuff. But so far, even at nineteen, I still don't know what to do with my professional life.

But when Loid Forger asks me that question, it's not the vision of a future profession that comes to my mind, but of a certain pink-haired young lady.

I'm extremely relieved to see Yor come back into the living room a bit excited, announcing Anya's arrival, because I believe this was not the moment, much less the time for me to tell Mr. Forger that my plans for the future included marrying his daughter.

We both stand up to greet her and I don't think I managed to disguise the look of surprise I made. Even Loid seemed impressed.

Anya is magnificent.

She wears a long flowing aqua green dress, providing a perfect contrast to her hair, which now reached her hips in long, shiny, silky strands. She seems to float across the apartment floor. I believe the word that would best define her at this moment was that she looked like a fairy straight out of children's storybooks.

For a few moments, I'm completely speechless. Then, when I'm able to speak again, the only thing that comes out is:

"You're... Perfect..."

Anya has a gleam in her eyes and gives a shy little smile, thanking me. Yor was already deliberately clapping her hands in excitement at seeing her daughter looking so beautiful. Loid, I confess, was still a little surprised.

I hand Anya the package I've brought.

"Here..." I smile, embarrassed, "I-I didn't know if you liked flowers, so I thought I'd bring you peanuts. 'Cause I know you like these."

Anya chuckles and is happy with the gift, thanking me with another smile that makes my heart melt. How could I resist her for so long?!

She finishes taking her stuff and her parents arrange to meet us after the graduation ceremony, before the dinner and gala party that would follow the event.

I almost have a stroke when, after we say bye to Loid and Yor at the front door, Anya locks her arm with mine so we can walk side by side down the corridor, heading for the stairs. I must have turned very red.

We finally leave the building and I take her to my car, opening the door for her to go in. I walk around the vehicle while taking a deep breath to calm my nervousness.

I get in the car and what I feared happens: silence.

We glance at each other and I clear my throat.

"Do you wanna listen to something?" I suggest.

"Sure!" she answers, looking interested.

I put a cassette tape into the car radio and a soft blues-style song starts to play, filling the silence that once hovered between us. I notice she likes the melody and it calms me down.

I start driving towards the Academy and we chat a few things here and there about the ceremony and the party. Gradually, the mood gets lighter and we feel more comfortable in the presence of each other.

Then, at one point, after she laughs at some joke I've managed to pull off successfully, silence falls over us again. However, this time it's not a bad silence, but a good one. Of that kind we don't need to struggle to find a subject to fill it, but only the simple pleasure of being in the company of each other is enough.

The sun slowly sets, reflecting Anya's sweet eyes. The music is nice and the atmosphere too. Then, I notice she has her left hand resting on the seat, drumming her fingers on it.

I immediately think about how I wanted to hold her hand, and to my great surprise, Anya looks at me in a meaningful way and brings her hand a little closer to me.

I couldn't believe it. Did she want that too?

While looking at the street ahead, little by little, I bring my fingers close to hers and our hands brush each other. I give Anya a quick glance and she gives me a shy smile.

Then, slowly, I run my fingers over her palm and go up, until finally, our fingers intertwine.

I feel my heart thudding in my ears and I worry if she could be able to hear it beat that loud. I'm almost bursting with joy and I can't help but smile. Anya clearly senses my excitement and laughs, squeezing her hand a little tighter against mine.

With that sunset, that music, and that company, I'm absolutely sure that nothing can ruin my night.

Today, everything will be perfect.