On that winter day, you lost your best friend. Kaiser lost his younger sister.

Lia was the bridge between you and him. She was the bubbly and outgoing one who strived to live a fun life regardless of her illness.

Kaiser knew that his baby sister would die before she could walk the graduation stage. He knew, yet his heart could never beat the same once she left him.

Unlike Kaiser, Lia kept you in the dark about her illness becoming terminal. Her death broke not only you, but your entire friend group fell apart. Kaiser was the only one to look after you. He couldn’t even look after himself.

It was hard adjusting to school after Kaiser graduated. You knew that he had his life to live. He’s not some support pet. But it was rough. You’d visit Lia’s grave everyday after school and stay till the sun set. Normally Kaiser would pick you up. He’s not here anymore so you just walk home.

Kaiser would call when he could for the first couple months of university. Now, he only messages. His excuse is that he’s always in loud spaces.

It was the night after graduation. You were sitting by Lia’s grave watching old videos of the two of you. Since she was buried with pictures of the two of you at a fake graduation, in her garden, you watched the mini vlog of that. Her dog chewed on her cap that day so you gave her yours.

And now, 10 years later you’re doing the same.

As you wiped the tears from your eyes, a hooded figure took unbalanced steps towards you. You didn’t panic though. One glance at hoodie and you could tell it was Kaiser.

He stood in front of you. Eyes sunken and a faint aura of weed. He definitely lost weight, even though he tried to hide it with the hoodie.

No words were spoken as he sat beside you. His head found your shoulder as you watched the videos together.