It's autumn already, the time when the colors of the leaves change. The cherry blossoms that would dance in the air in spring is replaced by the falling leaves scattering on the road.

Walking home after a tired day of school, I feel like my energy have been drained completely. The excitement and joy from spending almost the entire day with my friends suddenly go away, replaced by the unknown feeling that I can't even recognize. I can feel the emptiness in my heart, as if I'm missing something important or someone's smile. Closing my eyes for a moment, I take a deep breath and release it immediately. I don't feel like wanting to do anything right now.

Maybe I'm just exhausted. And the cool wind makes it even worse, I could just fix my gaze all over the grey sky with gloomy eyes. It's tiring to be cheerful all the time, as I also have my sad lonely moment.

Taking another step forward, my ears suddenly catch the sound of someone's footsteps behind me, which make me come to a halt. Strangely, the footsteps also stop that makes cold sweat starts to form all over my body. But I don't know why, I suddenly have the courage to open up my lips and say,

"Why are you following me?"

"You seem sad, and I'm worried."

My heart drops immediately, hearing the voice that keeps appearing in my dreams. Hiding my shaking hands inside my jacket pocket, I keep my gaze forward, even though the voice in my head keep asking me to turn around, to finally look at the beautiful face that I missed a lot.

"Why are you here? After missing for days without even telling me anything."

The sound of shoes touching the ground is in sync with my rapid heartbeat and although I'm still facing my back against them, I can still feel their presence behind me, so close that their voice sounds so clear to my ears.

"I'm sorry, I know I should've told you the reason. But I一“

Can't hide my feelings anymore, I turn around and start to hit their arms while uttering, "You said that you worried about me, but what about me? Heck, I thought something bad happened to you that I couldn't even eat and sleep in peace. And now you just appear in front of me and say sorry? Do you think that's fair? You一“

I gasp when that pair of arms pull me closer to wrap me in a warm embrace. "I know, it's all my fault. I was wrong, I shouldn't have just left like that, but it's the first time that I planned to give someone a surprise and I thought by missing from your eyes would make it more spectacular."

"What? A surprise?" 

They immediately release their hold on me and mumble a couple of curse words that make me even more confused. But being the smart girl that I am, my brain is working to connect the dots and finally, after realizing the meaning underneath everything, I find myself laughing out loud while clutching my stomach.

"What's the surprise? My birthday is not even near, what could it be?"

The reddened face makes me laugh even more as I come forward to pinch those chubby cheeks. Too fluffy.

"Alright, I forgive you. Come on, I need to go home."

I start to walk only to halt my steps when someone pulls my wrist gently.

“Wait! There's a piece of the maple leaf on