I'm fine...

   "Well, you didn't think everything would turn out the way you wanted, did you?" Tysin asked, a slight mocking in his voice.

   Sairi didn't move her attention from the large pot in the sink, her small hands busily cleaning the soapy inside. after a while, she finally spoke. Her voice calm, yet strained.

   "If it did, then I guess you wouldn't have to deal with all this huh? I'd be gone from the existence of your memories, Lucy wouldn't be so hypothetical and Jet..." She hesitated, but regained herself. "Jet wouldn't be so distracted because of this troublesome person."

   Beside Tysin, Alin started to take out his phone while dialing a certain number. Once he knew that person had picked up, he began to question Sairi.

   "And why would you think he wouldn't worry about you?"

   Not knowing the phone was there, Sairi kept busying herself while answering. "He has a lot to worry about already. Has...swimming to focus on, school, his goals, future...I'm just distracting him from all that. Besides," she chuckled lightly, "it wouldn't have worked out anyways."

   Alin clicked the side button, turning the receiver volume higher. "How do you know that?"

   "I'm not the right person for him.."

   "Is that so...to you, did you think he was the right person for you?"

   Her hands stopped. "....Yeah."

   "Why?"

   Sairi rested her hands at the rim of the pot, her eyes making contact with the ceiling as she slipped more into her kept thoughts. "I guess 'cause, well, when I saw him, I thought he could be someone who could...make me feel protected when I was hurt, give me that security that I've always needed, hug me just to let me know that he was still there...or maybe, just be there for me when I needed to talk to someone."

   "So he's the only one giving?"

   She turned to Alin, as if confused by his question, but answered it. "Nah..my response would be to be there when he needed me, support him, cheer him on...be his reassurance..." She paused, looking down at her wet, plum fingers. A sorrowful smile appeared on her lips as she continued. "That was the least I could do, if not more...that's why when he told me he liked me...I was so happy, but then after that day...when he started to disappear from my sight, told me he just wanted to be friends, I was so confused, angered at myself because I kept wondering if I had done something to have driven him away... And then, I came to a conclusion."

   "Conclusion?" Alin questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.

   "I was just a distraction to him..." Sairi said absent mindedly. "I'm just blocking him from his goal...so, I might as well just take myself away. He doesn't need this person...if I can't even be a sympathetic friend, then I can't be his other half."

   Tysin, the whole time, had been focusing on the phone behind his brother's back. Finally figuring what Alin was trying to get at, he began to focus on what Sairi's responses would be.

   Alin shifted on his feet before asking her again. "One time, Jet told me you had considered him your sun, why?"

   Sairi smiled at the question. "Just because he was. He came into my life like the sun, clearing away the fog of doubt, making my day brighter..."

   Alin walked closer to her. "How about now?"

   "It's gone..." came the soft reply. Alin noticed the small trinkling of tears falling from her eyes. For a second, he could see regret and lost in her deep orbs, but just as the emotions were there, they were gone.

   Sairi lifted her head, wiping the tears away with her arm, replacing the sad emotions with a smile and soft laughter. "But I'll manage. I got through it before without him, I can do it again."

   Without waiting for Alin to respond, she turned her back to him and continued cleaning the pots and pans.

   After standing still for a while, Alin glanced over to his brother, who turned and walked out the kitchen entrance.

   Turning back to Sairi, Alin hesitated, not sure if he should say anything, but soon, he left as well.

   ----

   When he made it out into the hallway, he saw Tysin leaning against the wall beside the wending machine. He didn't stop as he kept walking into the direction of the pool. As he walked, he heard Tysin's footsteps following in behind his.

   "She's not fine..." Alin said into the phone.

   After a long silence, a quiet male voice replied. "I know..."

- Fin -

   "Never make a girl fall for you if you have no intention of catching her."

   "What if I want to, but can't?"

   "Then that's your problem, she's falling either way."

   "Is it ever late to catch her?"

  "If you don't hurry, someone else will."

  . . .