Chapter 7

Feeling bored. I decided it was a good time to go through my old stuff. I plugged in my earphones and sat in the chair before the table.

"Lemme introduce you to some new thangs," I sang 'Kick it' while opening the smallest box on the table.

This contained pictures, some of which I was familiar with but some I don't remember taking.

There was one with me, my brother, Missy, and two other boys who I'm guessing are Wayne and Archer. We were all dripping water and mud as we sat in the grass with water guns.

There was another one with Archer and me. I was blushing while he whispered something in my ear, and I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to remember what it was.

For a couple of minutes, I was going through the photos then I came upon one that made me jerk out of my chair.

"What?" I asked myself out loud.

And here I was thinking I've never kissed before until Aaron. I stared closely at the picture of Archer's lips on mine. Oh my God someone really took this photo of us, two five-year-old kids. Just how close were Archer and I?

I turned it around to finding small scribbles on it. I could barely read it but I somehow managed to.

I love you

And you said you love me too

Though we are young

I know our love is true

I hope you know

I love you I swear

Mainly because

You're my Debear

All I need

Are you and me like this

And I will always love you

That's my thumb promise

~Archy

P.s. I got help from my daddy

Then there was a little smiley face at the bottom and a heart. Now I'm really confused. I took out another picture of only the two of us hugging and turned it over.

Archer my love

You are so bright

I think you're my teddy bear

That I hold at night

Your eyes are so silver

I want to paint them blue

Because that's my favorite color

And I know it's yours too

I love you so much

You are my best friend

And I know you love me

Until the world comes to an end

P.s. grandma helped me

Did grandma help me? Then she must give me some answers.

Without wasting time, I hastily ran down the stairs to the kitchen where I guessed she'd be. She was definitely there along with two other female workers cooking. 

"Grandma, can I speak to you for a moment?" I asked her holding the two pictures to my chest.

"Oh, Debear. Sure, give me a minute to put these in the oven and I'll join you on the bench swing under the oak tree with some tea," she said sweetly while moving about and I followed orders exiting the house to the tree.

I sat under the tree staring at the photos. It's hard to believe I was so in love years ago and completely forget it. Now I understand why Archer seemed so upset. He must remember me and how we were and I came along not remembering a thing. I would be pretty hurt if someone I loved forgot me too.

"Hey Debear," grandma appeared with two mugs producing steam and handed me one.

"Thanks," I took it with a small smile.

"What did you want to talk about?" She asked before taking a sip.

I gave her the pictures and she took them confused. When she looked at them, a small smile appeared on her face immediately. I sipped my tea and savored the warm delicious taste of the mint. 

"Oh, Debear. You should've seen how you were. So in love. So adorable," she cooed sighing as if remembering.

"Grandma, is it bad that I don't remember him?" I asked guiltily. She looked at me with a sad expression answering my question. "Oh, I feel like a jerk," I groaned face palming myself.

"Debear, don't beat yourself up. You're only human," she assured me. "But Archer will come around too. He's just hurt. He's been through a lot after you left."

"Really, what happened?" I asked curiously and my grandmother refused to answer.

"It's not my story to tell," she pointed out and I huffed in defeat. "Let's talk about you now, how's the big city?"

We talked for a couple more minutes until Grandma had to go back to the kitchen. I offered to help but she said I should go roam the land. So that's what I was doing now.

I was walking up the hill listening to some NCT which I love to do when I spotted Archer sitting under the tree.

Hmm, I wanted to turn and leave him alone but my legs had a mind of their own and continued walking towards him. When I was a few feet away, I realized he may be sleeping because his eyes were closed, but they slowly opened when he sensed me getting closer.

"Hi, again," I said with a small smile and sat before him pausing my music. He remained silent but his silver eyes were studying me. I decided to continue talking. "Look, Archer, I'm sorry I forgot about you. I know we were pretty...close and it must be hard remembering someone who hardly does you. It's my fault because-"

"You were born with the memory of a goldfish," he finished with a smirk. "I remember," he finished my statement as I looked deep into his eyes.

"Yeah.." I trailed off looking down the hill on the flowers. "I just want you to know that I want to be your friend again."

He raised his eyebrow.

"Friend? We practically married 12 years ago with your brother being the pastor. It was the same day he died," he casually said then he stopped regretting his words when he realized my face fell. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's fine. I accepted it years ago. There's nothing I can do about it," I sighed defeated. "Anyways, can we be friends again? I want to make it up to you."

"Yeah we can be friends," he said after a few seconds then I sighed in relief. "But that doesn't mean I'll ever forget what happened between us," he added softly and I gaped at him.

He reached out to touch my cheek and I closed my eyes at the familiar tingling sensation as he leaned his face close to mine leaving only about an inch between us with my eyes still closed.

What am I doing? Stop him! Pull away! Say no!

But I couldn't. I sat there completely hypnotized. Frozen.

"Because you're my Debear," he said quoting a line from the poem on the picture.

I thought he was going to kiss me. And I really wanted him to, but soon his touch vanished and seconds later after I opened my eyes, he was gone.