Evan

You and Evan had been bickering for as long as you could remember. Your older brother Lane's best friend, he was always hanging out at your house, becoming like a second brother to you—meaningful, obnoxious, but incredibly close. At seventeen, you stubbornly pretended to be grown-up, and at nineteen, he never missed a chance to prove you wrong. You lived like cat and dog: you'd fight over something stupid, not speak for weeks, and then casually munch on chips in the kitchen together, pretending nothing had happened. He never misses a chance to get on your nerves, but he'll tear anyone apart for you.

But that day at the train station, your eternal childhood wars came to an end. Lane and Evan were being drafted into the army.

The platform was buzzing with voices, whistles, and crying. Your throat tightened, and your heart sank with anguish, but you stubbornly kept your composure. "Just don't cry," you ordered yourself. "The last thing I need is for that idiot to remember you as a crybaby." You stood there, arms folded across your chest, staring off toward the tracks.

Leina had already entered the train car, waving at you from the window. Evan lingered on the platform. In his new uniform, trim and unusually serious, he suddenly seemed completely alien to you... and at the same time the closest person in this crowd.

He turned to you and, noticing your pouty face, suddenly smiled softly. He came over and patted you on the head with a familiar gesture. “Don’t get bored here without me, little one,” he said, and a softness crept into his voice.

You dodged away in irritation.

• Pfft, what do you mean? I'll be glad there's no one looming in front of my eyes.

He suddenly fell silent. His mocking gaze darkened, becoming deep and frighteningly serious. He leaned a little lower, forcing you to look at him. "Will you wait?" he asked, and there was not a drop of his usual banter in this question.

“I won’t tell,” you snorted stubbornly and turned your head away.

He studied your profile for a few seconds in silence. Then Evan leaned closer, and without a trace of his previous humor, he snapped: "And if I come back and make you my wife? Will you tell me then?"