Kevin’s POV:

As I reach the park I immediately spot Amy, sitting on a swing with her head bent down. She looks so.. tiny.. and fragile. Not at all the usual happy, strong Amy.

I walk over to her, and as I stop in front of her she lifts her head up.

Her cheeks are wet with tears.

She doesn’t say anything so I just kneel down and wrap my arms tight around her. Holding her cold body close to me.

Her breathing is shaky and once again I feel that she’s fragile, something I need to protect.

“I-I-I’m-“ her hands grips the front of my jacket, and I hear the silent wish.

-No, I won’t leave you Amy, ever.-

“Shh, it’s gonna be okay, everything’s gonna be okay, I’m here now, I won’t leave you.” I her head, still holding her and her hands tighten the grip of my jacket.

She starts crying, she breaks down in my arms. My eyes stings, and I bite my lip to prevent me from crying as well. After a while, I don’t know how long, she calms down a bit.

I let go of her then gently pry her fingers from my jacket. I take her hand.

“Come on, let’s go warm up with a nice cup of tea and we can talk later if you want to..?”

She nods, but avoids my gaze.

-She must be embarrassed-

We start walking, I’m leading her and she walks half a step behind me.

“And Amy, there’s nothing wrong with crying.”
 

Once we get back home my mum walks out of the kitchen.

“Hello kids, I was just wondering when..” She grows silent when she sees us, or rather, Amy.

 “Oh. Amy, sweetheart, are you alright?” Mum asks with a worried expression.

“No, but it’s nothing too serious, don’t worry, Mrs Woo.” She smiles weakly. We both take off our shoes and after I’ve hung my jacket on the hanger I also take Amy’s, and I realize that this is a too thin jacket for this weather.

-No wonder she was so cold before-

“Oh, well, I was just going to make some tea, do you two want some?”

“Yes mum, we’d both love some tea, right Amy?” I turn to Amy.

“Yes that’d be nice.” Her smile is a bit more real this time.

“Well, I’ll call you down when it’s ready, okay?”

“Mhm.” I answer and Amy and I walk up the stairs to my room. After I’ve closed the door I turn around, and she’s seated herself on my bed, hugging my teddy bear.

“So..” I sit down beside her. “.. Do you wanna tell me what happened?”

She sighs.

“It’s kinda stupid.. I mean I don’t think anyone else would’ve reacted like this but.. I don’t know..”

“Just try and explain. What happened this afternoon when you couldn’t hang out? You said your dad called? I thought he was in Taiwan?”

“Well.. I thought that too but it turns out he got the contract finished earlier then he had planned. So he came home.. And, he kinda noticed that I wasn’t at home. So he called and said I should come home. Mum wasn’t at home so he went down to my driver to ask him to go and fetch me..” She starts playing with the teddy bear. I let her be, patiently waiting for the reason why my best friend since forever is this sad.

“And he saw the schedule I’ve done for the driver.. He wasn’t very happy, at all. He was angry.” 

“What schedule? Why was he angry?” I can’t stop the two questions that popped up.

“I’ll get to that soon..”

“Kevin, Amy? Tea’s ready!” My mum’s voice is clearly heard from downstairs. We both look at the door.

“I’ll go get it, you wait here.” I say and get up.

When I come back I’ve got a tray with two big cups of tea and two big cinnamon rolls with lots of sugar on, just the way Amy likes them.

She smiles but with her puffy, red eyes it still doesn’t look too convincing.

“Mum picked them out, she figured you’d like them.” Her smile becomes a bit wider, and I see a hint of the usual glint in her eyes.

She leans back against the wall, I sit down next to her and carefully place the tray between us. She picks up her cup and holds it in her hands.

“Anyway.. So.. The driver came and got me home, and he didn’t warn me or anything, I suppose dad told him not to say anything. I was too happy, thinking that dad would finally spend some time with mum and I, so I didn’t notice, but he DID look sad..” She takes a sip. “Anyway, when I got back home, dad was FURIOUS, I’ve never seen him like that. It was scary.”

She shudders and puts the cup back on the tray.

“Why was he so angry? Are you sure we’re talking about the same person here? It’s your DAD, the one who’s never been angry with you and always spoilt you?”

Yup, that’s the one.” She laughs, but it’s a bitter laugh.

“He’s angry.. Because he found out I haven’t taken the limo everywhere I go.”

-WHAT!? She hasn’t failed a class, she hasn’t done anything illegal, all she did was to not use the limo!? That doesn’t sound like her dad at all!-

“I.. I don’t get it..”

“He doesn’t think it’s safe to use public transport. He was furious and yelled at me, saying I could’ve gotten murdered by a psycho and stuff like that. I didn’t understand anything, why was he so angry?” Her voice is a bit shaky, but it doesn’t seem like she’s close to tears. She takes a cinnamon roll, but doesn’t eat it, just holds it in her hand, looking at it.

“What the hell? Is he paranoid or something? He has no reason to be mad at you!” I’m feeling angry as hell.

-Who the hell would be mad over such a small matter!?-

“I know.. But no matter what I said he wouldn’t listen.. And then mum came home.. And first she tried to defend me, but he was still pissed off so then he started blaming her as well, and kept going on about her not being strict enough! I mean HE’s the one who’s been spoiling me, not mum.”
She pauses for a moment, breathing uneven and without even looking she just places the untouched cinnamon roll back on the tray.
“So they had a fight.. And then it all became quiet. When it was time for dinner they were both sitting there.. And then as soon as I came in, he started yelling again..”

The tea is probably cold by now and the cinnamon rolls are long forgotten, so I move the tray and get closer to her. Now that I’m closer I see that her eyes are brimmed with tears.

“I mean how can he just act like this!? One day I’m ‘daddy’s little girl’ and the next day he hates me.” Her voice breaks at the last word, and a single tear rolls down her cheek. Just as I’m going to say something to comfort her, she continues, now sounding angry rather than sad. “And he just yelled at me and was so angry over nothing! It’s not life threatening to take the bus, everyone does that for God’s sake! He was furious over nothing! He just came home, yelled the whole afternoon and night, and then left with ‘you’re grounded for at least a month’! And mum didn’t even try to defend me!”

“WHAT!?” Now I can’t hold it in anymore.

-Who the hell does he think he is? Grounded for THAT? And for a MONTH!?... Wait a minute..-

“Amy..” I say slowly and she looks up at me.

“Yes..?”

“If you’re grounded, then why are you sitting here?”

“Well.. As I said, he left. He’s on a plane to Shanghai right now, so.. ”

“But what about your mum? Didn’t she agree with him in the end?”

“Yeah she did.”

“So you’re not allowed to go outside!?”

“No.. But.. You know that bathroom on the second floor?”

- Bathroom? What is she.. just, what?-

“Yeah?” I answer, looking at her suspiciously.

“Well.. I climbed out of the window there and got down thanks to the big tree next to the house.”

She smiles at me and it takes a few seconds for me to realize what she actually said.

“Y-you… You IDIOT! What if you’d fall down, you could’ve hit yourself really bad, you COULD’VE DIED!”

She looks at me with big eyes, clearly shocked about my reaction.

-! First her dad yells at her, then I yell at her? Damnit, I didn’t mean to!-

“Well I didn’t so don’t worry.” She coldly answers.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you, it’s just, I freaked out a little ok? Amy c’mon don’t act like that now, please?” I use my puppy eyes.

She doesn’t react like she usually does when I use my puppy eyes. Her eyes fill with tears.

“Wah! Uh, I’m so sorry Amy, is it cause I yelled at you? I really didn’t mean to…”

She shakes her head, biting her lip, trying to hold it in.

-Why is she so afraid to cry in front of me? We ARE best friends after all..-

“Aish, come here.” I open my arms and she immediately throws hers around me, holding on to me.

“I-I’m so sorry Kevin, I’m just r-really confused right now.”

“Shh, it’s okay, let it all out.” I sooth her, and she starts crying, again.

After a few minutes she calms down. She lets go of me and start wiping away the tears.

“Do you.. Do you think I can stay here tonight..?” She looks up at me, batting her eyelashes, I don’t know if she’s doing it unconsciously or not but somehow a voice in my head is telling me that ‘OF COURSE she can stay, it’s too late for a young girl to walk home anyway.’

Then I snap back to reality.

She just had a huge fight with her parents and was told that she could not go out, and the first thing she does is to climb through a window and meet up with me. Not the smartest thing to do. And now she wants to spend the night here.

“Amy..” I start, unsure what to say since I don’t want her to cry anymore, “don’t you think your mum will be angry once she finds out you’re not home?”

“Well.. I don’t think she will find out. I overheard when she asked a maid to get her a sleeping pill and a glass of water.. And tomorrow she’s got yoga at seven so she won’t be home when I usually wake up.”

“Are you absolutely she won’t realize you’re gone..?”

“Yeah, I’m 100 percent sure!” She nods.

“Well.. I’ll just go down and ask mum, okay?”

“Mm, sure.” She lays down on top of the covers.

I take the tray since there’s no point in drinking cold tea.

“Do you want your cinnamon roll?”

“No it’s okay, I’m not hungry.” She smiles, and finally it looks like her real smile.

I smile back, and ruffle her hair. “Okay.”

Just as I’m gonna walk through the door she speaks again.

“Thank you Kevin.” Her voice is so sincere and filled with gratefulness.

I feel a flutter of something warm inside of me.

-She’s just so precious, I never want my best friend to be sad again-

I turn around and answer her, smiling.

“No problem Amy, that’s what friends are for, right?”

“Mhm!” She nods and smiles as well.

I walk downstairs.

-Heh, I love asking mum for something when I know she’ll say yes-