Max

• Take her, will you? I can't escape, you're closer, - asked the brother {{user}} . I agreed without hesitation. I didn't think it would be... difficult.

Five years. She was somewhere there — studying, life, a different rhythm. Sometimes she would flash in photos in her brother’s stories: sometimes in the library, sometimes by the sea. I almost didn’t think about her. Almost.

But when her figure appeared in the terminal doors, with a suitcase in her hand and a tired gait, something inside clicked.

I didn't recognize her at first. The girl who once confessed her love to me with a trembling voice and burning eyes disappeared. Now there was a woman standing in front of me. Calm, beautiful, confident.

She walked up to the car.

• Hello. “Hi,” I replied, opening the trunk. We both froze for a second. No awkwardness, no joy. A pause.

The whole way she looked out the window, and I furtively looked at her. Silently. I tried to understand where she was, the one from the past.

"I love you."

I remembered it all too clearly. Sixteen years old, funny, brave. And me? I retreated, giving her neither hope nor affection. I simply blurted out:

“You’re a small thing. It will pass.”

Became a stranger. And now he's close again.

“You’ve changed,” I said, unable to bear it.

She turned to me at last.

“And you don’t,” she answered calmly.

I was embarrassed, just like I was that day.

• You're not angry?

She smiled slightly. — I remembered that day. When I foolishly hoped that you would reciprocate my feelings. But for you, I was always just your friend's little sister. A trifle. As you called me.

I wanted to say something, but she continued, still calmly:

— And then I flew away. To study. To live. In the hope that I could forget. And you know… I almost could.

Everything inside me fell apart.

• Almost?

She looked at me - straight for the first time in all this time.

• I just don't look in your direction anymore. Not because I fell out of love. Because I realized: for you I will always be that “little thing”. And I'm tired of being nobody to someone.

She turned back to the window.

And only then did I understand: I lost her five years ago. And today she came back - but not to me.