Colorful Love

A Whole New World

"I can see it. I see color," Rhidian says, still in awe. He looks around, seeing the world in a whole new light. He then looks at me, acting completely normal. His face pales. "Do you not see it?"

"I see it, too. I've just... been seeing it ever since we first touched," I said truthfully, staring at the ground.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me?" he asks concernedly. He looks sad, I can see it in the crinkle in the corner of his eye.

"The first time we touched, we were fighting. After that, it was never really all that important," I confessed. And at the time, it never had seemed that important.

"I'm glad that we both see it now," he said, pulling me in for a hug. "Why do you think that I only saw color now?"

"Well, it's got to have something to do with my mother's story." I say honestly, thinking hard about the answer to his question.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter, as long as we both see color together," he said, pulling me in for a hug. "I'm here for you now."

"Okay. We had better get going. Our half of an hour is almost up," I sign, pulling away from Rhidian. I started walking out of the forest, towards my house.

"Are you a dog or cat person?" Rhidian asked out of nowhere, trying to start conversation.

"Well, to be honest, I've always liked cats. They seem small, and don't look like they take much work," I said. I've never had a pet before.

"I liked dogs, but that's okay. When we live together, we can get one of each, right?" He asks nonchalantly, as if he's not insinuating that we would move in together one day.

My mind is still shocked from this call from the future. "Sure, as long as they don't kill each other. But what would I know, I've never had a pet before."

"Well, if you had had one, you would know that the common misconception that cats and dogs don't like each other isn't always true. Sometimes, they can get along," Rhidian stated matter-of-fact.

"Ahhh, well then. I want a Siamese cat, then," I told him.

"Andi want a golden retriever," he mused. "My parents never let me have pets. They said that they were too messy and hard to deal with."

"Did you just grow up completely alone?" I asked bluntly. Maybe I should have filtered my words, but his childhood seemed extremely lonely.

"Well, yeah. I'm an only child, I've never had any pets, my parents never played attention to me, and for a long time, I was homeschooled. I'd say so." he says sarcastically. He looks at my sad face and rewords his statement. "But it's okay. You're here now. And you're a girl worth waiting for."

I smile to myself, and say to him, "You're not that bad yourself."

He grinned at me and tilted his head to the side. "Well, thanks. We should get going, our half hour is almost up."

Then, we walked back, Rhidian occasionally pointing out random colors that he liked. He seemed to especially favor the colors of tree leaves.