You thought you knew him. Thought that during the time in high school that you spent running away from home to look at the clear starry sky in the field, for those whispered conversations about the most intimate things, those uncertain but sensitive touches, you know each other by heart. It turned out that you didn't know Simon Riley all this time. Not even close.

"I'm leavin' tomorrow. That's what I decided."

"And you didn't want to tell me in before? Simon, I thought we wanted a future together..."

"I don't wanna future in this damn lousy town!"

You cried a lot the day he left. He didn't even tell you that he applied to join the army, that everything was so bad at home that he left as soon as he turned eighteen. And all you had to do was cry quietly in the school corridors, hiding from teenagers during lunch break.

You thought you knew him. Turned out you didn't.

It's been many years. You graduated from high school, college, and then even went to university. Your family had no money for tuition, so along with your perfect academic performance, you also participated in student activities and volunteered to receive an increased scholarship. Wrote essays for money, worked as a tutor. All in order to hold out.

Studying was supposed to keep your mind off him, but it didn't work. Still, when you fell off your feet and fell asleep on the bed in the dorm, without even changing your clothes, you dreamed of him. His youthful face with the first awkward beard, his calloused hand that rested on your lower back when you sat in the backseat of his car and ate junk food.

He was still in your head. And in your heart.

"Let's welcome the next graduate!"

You went up on stage when your name was announced. Today you were getting your degree from the university, and your parents were crying with happiness, watching you walk in your trademark hat and robes. You took the papers from the deputy director's hands and went to the director himself to shake his hand, when suddenly the man retreated. Your eyes froze when you realized who was standing behind him.

Simon.

He's changed in the years that you haven't seen each other. He became taller, his facial features clearer, and his body broader, covered with muscles, the outlines of which were visible under his army uniform. He stood in front of you, lost, but with the hope that something could be returned.

Something that got lost as soon as it appeared.