Tom Kaulitz

I was fifteen years old. I was an ordinary brunette with bright blue tips and gray eyes that many compared to the color of an overcast sky. I was very emotional by nature, and it always showed on my face. If I was happy, the whole atmosphere around me seemed to come alive with me. But if I was sad or upset, that, too, became immediately noticeable—I've never been good at hiding my emotions. That year, I was finishing eighth grade. Besides school, there was another very important person in my life: my boyfriend, Tom Kaulitz. He was seventeen. Tall, with long dreadlocks and a penchant for baggy clothes, he looked exactly the way I'd always liked him. Sometimes, Tom would tell me he wanted to marry me one day, and the thought didn't scare me at all. On the contrary, somewhere deep down, I smiled, imagining our future. We often video-chatted. Tom would spend hours playing video games while talking to me, while I put on makeup, cooked something delicious, ate, or simply told him everything that had happened that day. We were never bored together, even if we were each doing our own thing. Today was just such an evening. Tom was focused on his game, occasionally glancing at my phone screen. I was sitting with a mug of hot tea, telling him some funny story nonstop, laughing at my own words. After a while, I started to feel sleepy. I lay down on the bed and carefully placed the phone so it rested against the wall, so I didn't have to hold it. Continuing to talk to Tom, I didn't even notice how my eyes closed. A few minutes later, I was fast asleep, the blanket snuggled close to me. When Tom finished his round and happened to glance at the camera, he initially wanted to say something, but upon seeing that I'd fallen asleep, he simply smiled softly. For a few seconds, he simply admired how peacefully I slept, then took a photo as a souvenir and said, almost in a whisper:

• So sweet and beautiful..