Chapter 5

"Look at them! They are cute while eating!" Larissa exclaimed while feeding the fish. We decided to buy fish foods and feed them. Larissa's smiling while feeding the fish. Some eats in groups and some are just eating by themselves.

"Isn't amazing?" I asked then I slowly look at her big smile. She still looks the same but happier. I can still recognize the first night we met at the bar. We're both wasted that night and we didn't think that we're going to spend this amazing time with each other. We didn't think that we're going to cross paths like this.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Hayden." My heart fluttered when she said those words. Did I just make her happy? I'm not an expert on making different people happy nor smile but Larissa being grateful to me is enough. "It's been always my dream to go again inside this zoo."

"Why? I mean this zoo is very cheap and it's not that far from your place. Why is it your dream?"

"When I was a child, my family and I are used to be here and I enjoyed being here but we never came back again." Her words are like pinpoints that strike my heart. Her words are too powerful to me. Maybe, just because we're the same.

When I was a child, my sister and my parents used to get along. We travelled miles just to be happy and to enjoy every moment that we have for each other. But those are just memories right now. My mom died four days after my high school graduation so my dad decided to work on abroad. My sister's been my companion until I graduated and she left me alone here in Manila. It's my sad but my true story.

"Where is your family?" I curiously asked to her. She suddenly became quiet because of that. It's not the right question to ask. I shouldn't have invaded her privacy. "I'm sorry for asking that but you don't have to answer my question. Let's just talk about other things. She shrugged her shoulders then she shook her head.

"No, it's okay. My family's not here anymore. I don't know where they are. I didn't remember where they are. They might have told me where they are but I think I forgot where exactly they are." In that moment, I just want to hold her hand for me to explore her past. I just want to help her recall her memories but I can't. I don't want to see her past. I don't want to intrude her privacy and secrets. Secrets should remain as secrets.

"We're the same. I mean my family also left me here. They left me alone in here, fighting the cold nights." She laughed by what I just said. What's wrong with it? Did I say something funny, but it's okay. She's smiling. I want to see her smiling like there's no problem in the world. Those smiles, they are genuine. Am I addicted to her smiles?

"W-What's wrong?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing." I put my palm on my face when said that. She just laughed for nothing? What a woman? "Laughing is a medicine, to remove those toxins in your body. Do I look gross if I am laughing by this age of twenty-four?" She's actually twenty-four only? So I am two years older than her. She still looks good even though she's already twenty-four.

"No. I mean, you actually look good when you're laughing. Your smiles and laughs are addicting making me addicted to that smile." She laughed again but this time it's louder and more genuine. It's really addicting!

"Like this?" She stopped laughing and the she showed me her wide smile. I nod slowly at her before averting my sight to the fish. I threw some fish food on the small pond and they gather in groups. My arm was on the barricades which is fencing the small pond. A lot of children are feeding the fish with their parents. They look happy and they enjoy feeding the fish.

Fish are a nice pet. When I was a child, I had a pet named Fishy, it's a goldfish and it lives inside an aquarium at home. I always feed it with healthy and expensive fish foods. I always play a song with it while I was feeding it. My savings on childhood was invested on that fish. I just really love that pet but it died a year after I took care of it. I cried when it died like it was a family member. I just love the fish and now I just laugh every time I remember that memory.

I watch how the fish swim from one place to another when a child gripped my shirt.

"Daddy! You're my daddy! I miss you, daddy!" I slowly look at the child who's crying and his eyes were full of tears. I am not his dad. Do I look the same just like his dad?

"You have a child?" Larissa commented. Her eyes enlarged while looking at the child. I threw a confused look on her.

"No. I don't have a child. This isn't mine." I averted my gaze to the little boy whimpering. "You're an adorable boy but you're not my child." I brushed off his hair before holding his hands to let go of my shirt. Before I did that, my vision became black and that's the moment I knew that I was travelling on the child's past.

All I can see is a cotton candy and an ice cream that are being hold by the little boy before my sight suddenly gets brighter in his past. The place is crowded and there are a lot of stalls where you can buy any food. Then I saw the parents of the child calling him. The child ran towards his parents while licking the melted ice cream. They rode inside a van and I was transported inside an airport. I can see how the child and his mother whimpered while watching how his dad disappeared from their sight then I was transported again in an unfamiliar house. The child and his mother were crying while watching the television. I read the news in my mind.

Flight 004 crashed on the Pacific Ocean.