"Why?" he replied briefly.
"No reason. It's just… usually it takes forever for you to warm up to someone new. It's not even half a day and you're already giving fist bumps," Kayla said, raising an eyebrow, teasing.
Abian didn't respond right away. He took a slow breath, then answered in a low voice, almost like a murmur. "Because he's not the type to pretend."
Kayla blinked. Her expression softened as she heard it.
"He's honest," Abian continued, "and he doesn't try to seek attention. But he knows how to carry himself."
His words were simple, but to Kayla. They were enough to make her feel both warm and a little confused.
Maybe, out of all the people who had ever come into Abian's life, only Alaric had managed to break through his walls this fast.
And in that moment, as the golden light of the sunset poured over the ocean and the sand still whispered with the footprints of passing visitors… Kayla began to see something different.
Alaric wasn't just her childhood friend.
