ONE DAY [ MATHEW BARZAL ]

- thirteen hours -

I watch them attentively; my eyes linger of the girl much longer than I did with the boy. I watch them, I watch carefully and then I see it, I turn back around to Mathew. I find him hovering over me, an eyebrow raised when I turn back to him. "She doesn't love him." I tell him instantly.

"What?" He asks, a little taken back by my words.

I gesture my head towards the female. "Just watch her when she looks at him, she doesn't love him, I don't think she ever has. There is no love in that relationship, there never has been from both sides of the relationship." I say shrugging my shoulders at Mathew. "My point is proven, love doesn't exist."

"What about those two?" Mathew says pointing behind me. I follow his finger to see an elderly couple sitting next to each other on a park bench, the male holds his partners hand as they both seem to be in a conversation with each other. I watch them both closely, my eyes roaming over both males yet I see nothing coming from them unlike I did with the last couple.

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" I ask looking back to Mathew.

He raises a surprised eyebrow at me. "You don't see it?"

"See what?" I question him, my brow creasing as I try to understand what he is talking about.

"Love." Mathew answers, a smile on his lips as he says it. I turn back around to the couple, my eyes narrowing as I try to see what Mathew sees but I don't. How can he see love? It just doesn't exist, it never has.

"I don't see it." I tell looking back to Mathew.

He stares down at me, his hazel eyes watching me carefully. Mathew grabs a hold of my hand, linking his fingers through mine as he almost drags me to a different area of the park. I say nothing as we walk, my eyes more focused on my small hand wrapped in his. I feel weird holding the hand of someone I have just met, yet I can't help but think my hand fits perfectly in his. They are large and he must use his hands a lot as they are rough, it makes me wonder what he does for a living.

I don't know anything about him besides his name, I want to know more about him. My body is almost yearning to know more stuff about him, it is something I have never felt for anyone before and it's making me question why I agreed to come with Mathew. I understand why agreed to go with him, I want to prove to him that love doesn't exist for anyone.

Mathew brings us over to a park bench, he sits down on it and I follow. Mathew keeps his hand in mine, not letting go and he rests our hands against his thigh. I stare at him, my brow creased as I try to work out what he is doing or more importantly, why he is still holding my hand. I get what he is doing, within the thirteen hours I have left here he wants to prove to me that love is real.

Wow, I have thirteen hours left in my home city before I move across the Atlantic and here I am sitting in a park with a stranger. Mathew watches me from the corner of his eye, trying to see if I have any reaction to why I haven't said anything about him holding my hand but I say nothing because I don't have anything to say about it.

"I assume that because you don't believe in love, that romance movies are out of the question for you?" Mathew asks me, I find his soft hazel eyes waiting for me to look at him.

"Of course." I say nodding my head at him. "That shit makes me want to vomit every time a new romance movie comes out. It is because of romance movies is why I don't believe in love; the fakeness is just so evident in them. It is always the same plot line too, can't they come up with something better?"