“Can I buy you drink?”

“Only if you tell me your name.”

“I’m Zelo, you?”

“I give you three chances to guess my name and until you get it right, you have to entertain me. How’s that?”

Zelo smiled at me sweetly, his hand ruffling his hair and his eyes playfully still looking at me. He had a charm, boyish and childlike and it made his eyes sparkle in a way I’ve never seen on any man before. He cheekily guessed names that weren’t mine but pretty names nevertheless. I listened as he told me stories that made me feel young and somehow I knew Zelo was still a child on the inside. I watched as his hands motioned the words he conveyed, beautifully, he kept me listening and on my feet.

In his shirt and jacket, he looked effortlessly handsome. His stature was tall with broad shoulders and his hair was a neat do. When he smiled, dimples accompanied the curve of his lips and I was enthralled with his every inch of being. His excitement when he’s talking to me reminded me of the innocence of a child and yet in those beautiful, beautiful eyes I was lost. He brought me into a world I had long since forgotten and with every little word; he pecks at my nostalgia bringing back days when I was younger.

Zelo bought me a drink I have never tried but always heard of but I drank it anyway. This is why I felt attracted to him, with him around I felt like maybe I could do all the things I never thought I would and that made me feel infinitely infinite. For hours I talked to him, the way his voice make the melodies stop and new hymns ring in my ear, made me feel like maybe this was going to be different.

“You’re still not going to tell me your name?” he asks again for the umpteenth time.

“No, not today, Zelo. Maybe some other day but just not today.” I told him before I got up to leave without saying goodbye.

I’ve seen boys like him, young and wild. Always making woman like me feel endless, as though the world was boundless. Boys like him are dangerous, and young. The way he made me feel was wonderful but boys like him never last.

Bye Zelo, this is the goodbye I’ve never said and to the likeliness of us never meeting again, it was nice knowing you.