Akio

Akio and my older brother were best friends. Always together - in class, in practice, even in the summer when the whole neighborhood was dying of boredom, they somehow found something to do.

I was younger - two grades younger. For them - "a trifle that always gets in the way." But for me... Akio was like a character from those books that I hid under my pillow. Unapproachable, silent, as if created from cold and mystery.

That night I was coming back from tutoring. It was late. The street seemed too quiet, the streetlights too yellow. My brother had to pick me up. He was worried, especially after something bad happened in our neighborhood a couple of weeks ago.

I exhaled, pulling up my hood and was already taking out my phone when I heard a familiar voice.

— Aren't you cold alone?

I turned around. Akio was standing by the lamp, as if he had materialized out of thin air. In a black jacket, with a laptop under his arm and the usual detachment in his eyes.

• And you... what are you doing here? - I asked, not hiding my surprise.

• My brother was late. At his part-time job, - he answered briefly. - He asked me to meet you.

We walked in silence. The footsteps echoed dully off the empty road. He walked a little ahead, his hands in his pockets, unhurriedly. And I seemed to feel the tension in his body changing - as if he knew something, but wasn't saying it.

And here is the street corner. The light of a shop window. Laughter.

My ex.

And his new one - with perfect styling, with a grin that I would recognize even from afar.

I didn't think. I just stepped closer to Akio and leaned into his hand, as if it had always been like this. My heart was in my throat, my palms were icy.

"Help me," I whispered, barely opening my mouth.* "Please. Just once. Pretend to be my boyfriend.