Leo opened his eyes slowly. He held his head, still feeling the remnants of pain. He closed his eyes for a moment. The vision he saw before he fainted—was it just a hallucination? He really saw Luna crying. But would Luna even want to see him after knowing everything?
"Leo…"
Leo's eyes opened wide at the sound of that voice. He turned to the side and noticed Luna was beside him. She looked like she had just woken up. Had Luna been waiting for him to wake up?
Leo looked at Luna in disbelief. Was he dreaming? Tears welled up in Luna's eyes and finally streamed down her cheeks.
"I… I thought I'd never see you again…" Luna cried, hugging Leo. Leo's body automatically tensed. Luna sobbed uncontrollably. Leo broke the hug, and for a moment, their eyes met.
“Luna… you… you don't hate me?" Leo asked weakly, barely audible. Tears streamed from his eyes. Luna wiped her own tears and then gently wiped Leo's tears with the edge of her shirt.
"I never hated you, Leo…" Luna replied softly. Her gaze was sincere, with no hint of hidden resentment.
"I… I must be dreaming, right? Your reaction can't be like this. I… I lied to you, Luna. I took advantage of your situation and… I'm the reason you lost someone you loved…" Leo said. Half of him still couldn't believe Luna's reaction. Did Luna not hate him because he was sick?
"You're not dreaming, Leo. I never hated you. Do you think I would hate you because you raped me? Or because you're the reason Adam died?"
Leo's body tensed at those words. Luna shook her head.
"You're wrong about everything, Leo. If I had only read my diary, maybe I would have hated you and blamed you for everything. Thanks to that diary, I fell down the stairs, and my memory returned. Do you remember our first meeting, Leo?" Luna asked.
Leo was silent. Their first meeting? He tried to remember but failed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall anything about their past. 
"You don't remember?" Luna's eyes welled with tears. She forced a smile.
"It's okay. I remember everything, so let me tell you about our first meeting. I'm sure you remember our first meeting at the café, right? Where Adam was the boss, and I was the chef. Back then, you came to the café every day with a different girl, and one day, I overheard you asking Adam about me. You asked Adam if I was taken. That's when you started to take an interest in me. You came to the café every day, but this time without any girls. Every time you came, you would cause trouble. Just like Ariel. You liked to bully me and make me do all sorts of things until one day, you finally confessed your feelings to me…" Luna recounted with a smile, reminiscing.
"I did?"
Luna nodded.
"That's what you know. But the truth is, I've known you for much longer. I was the first person to notice you the first time you came to the café. You were my first love since high school, Leo."
"What?"
Luna smiled and nodded. She took Leo's hand and kissed it gently.
"You and Adam went to the same school. Although Adam and I were good friends, for some reason, you never noticed me. And even though Adam liked me first, my heart has already been set on you since that night."
"That night?"
Luna nodded. Her memory flashed back to ten years ago when she was in 11th grade.
That night, Luna had to attend detention class because she was caught with some male students bullying another student behind the school, though it was just a misunderstanding. She tried to explain to the teacher on duty, but her explanation was not accepted. Reluctantly, Luna had to go to detention class as punishment. It was hard for Luna to stay calm, considering she was the only girl in the detention room, surrounded by five boys who had been giving her intimidating looks. One other boy, Leo, was sleeping soundly at his desk.
"Hey, what were you doing back there? You were the one who reported us to the teacher, weren't you?" One of them threw a crumpled piece of paper at Luna, startling her.
"No... It wasn't me. If I were the one who reported you, I wouldn't be here," Luna replied bravely.
"Oh, you dare to talk back? If it wasn't you who reported us, then what were you doing there?"
Luna swallowed hard. She glanced briefly at Leo, who was sleeping with a book over his face. Her real purpose was to return Leo's wallet, but she didn't know how she ended up getting caught by the teacher. If she had known this would happen, she would have given it to Adam instead. Adam would surely have returned it to Leo. Stupid, Luna, she whispered to herself.
"Why aren't you answering us?" the second boy snapped. Luna was trembling. She was imagining all sorts of things. She knew this school gang well enough—they were quite the troublemakers.
"I... I... I had no intention of causing trouble for anyone. This is all a misunderstanding. Really. I'm not lying. I didn't report you to the teacher. I swear!"
"This girl is really getting on my nerves." They all approached Luna with menacing looks.
"You need to be taught a lesson, bitch..." they said, laughing loudly. Luna was terrified, imagining what they might do to her. She backed away.
"What's wrong? Are you scared, bitch? You weren't scared when you reported us, were you?" they taunted.
"I already told you it wasn't me!" Luna screamed in panic.
"Come here. Don't think you can get out of this room alive. At a time like this, who's going to come and help you? The teacher? Do you think the teacher has time to wait around here with us?" the second boy said, followed by more laughter from the others.
"Hey, why all the noise? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?" Leo's voice broke through the commotion.
Luna lifted her head to look towards the voice. 
"Sleep? Okay. Keep sleeping. We're just going to teach this girl a lesson in the next room. If you want to join, come on." They invited Leo, but he burst out laughing suddenly.
"You're laughing?"
"Don't you find this funny? So, what are you planning to do to this girl? I feel sorry for her, seeing how scared she is. Just let her go."
"What? You're telling me to let this girl go? Don't you know she's the reason we all got caught? If it weren't for her…"
"You're wrong. It wasn't her who reported you guys."
"What? Then, if it wasn't her, who was it? Who betrayed us?"
"Isn't it obvious? Who else but me?" Leo admitted calmly while cleaning his ear.
Before they could react, Leo quickly ran while pulling Luna's hand, dragging her out of the room. Luna followed, her eyes fixed on Leo's hand, holding hers tightly as if he didn't want to let go. He ran while laughing non-stop. For a moment, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. And at that moment, Luna's heart fluttered seeing him. Leo pulled Luna into a small, dark alley. He was panting, but even in the dark of night, his smile was still visible. Luna was mesmerized. Her heart pounded harder when Leo still didn't release her hand even though they were safe.
"Wow, that was thrilling." Leo laughed, and when he realized, he quickly let go of Luna's hand.
"Sorry. Did I pull your hand too hard?"
Luna shook her head shyly. Leo scratched his head.
"Err, sorry for getting you involved. I didn't know the teacher would catch you too. Well, where do you live? Let me walk you home. It's late, and your parents might worry."
Luna nodded, and that was the first time they walked together.
"Why did you do that? Aren't you one of them?" Luna asked, breaking the silence between them. Fortunately, her house wasn't far from the school. Otherwise, the situation would have felt even more awkward. Her heart was already pounding like it was going to burst out of her chest.
"I'm not. For your information, I'm not one of them. I'm just pretending. You know, to report them, I need to gather important info and evidence first. But wait, have you ever seen me? I'm the captain of our school's soccer team. Have you never watched any of my matches?"
"No," Luna answered honestly. She wasn't interested in sports, so that may be why she hadn't noticed Leo.
"Well, you should watch next time. I may become a national soccer player. Who knows."
"You want to be a national soccer player?"
"Yup. That's my dream. I'm working towards it now. So, you better watch my matches," Leo said with a bright smile.
"Since when have you been interested in soccer, huh?" Adam asked when Luna invited him to watch the school soccer practice that day.
Luna smiled, remembering the night she spent with Leo.
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Adam asked, suspicious of Luna's reaction.
"Nothing. Come on, accompany me this evening. I really want to watch it. Please, please..." Luna pleaded persistently.
Adam sighed.
"You go by yourself. I'm not interested in soccer."
"What? Are you going to let me watch alone? Come on. I'll treat you to lunch. Come on, Adam. Please..." Luna begged.
"I said I'm not going, can't you understand? I'm heading home."
"You said you were going to the library earlier?"
"Not in the mood. You go alone." Adam walked away. Luna watched Adam walk away, fuming.
"What's his problem? Always in a bad mood," Luna mumbled softly. She stepped into the library and went to the bookshelf with novels. Luna smiled to herself, her heart fluttering at the thought of watching Leo play soccer that afternoon. Even if Adam didn't come, she could watch alone anyway. Luna smiled again, Leo's words replaying in her mind.
"I'm working towards that dream now. So, you better watch my matches."
And Luna couldn't forget Leo's smile when he said those words.
"So, he wants to be a national soccer player..." Luna said, smiling to herself. Her eyes suddenly landed on her favorite novel by Stephen King. Unfortunately, it was placed on a high shelf. Luna tried to reach it, but her height was insufficient. Even on tiptoe, she failed. Luna looked around, hoping to find a chair, but there was none. She sighed and tried again, standing on her toes, when another hand reached past her and grabbed the novel. Luna's eyes widened in surprise. She turned around, and her heart pounded even harder when she saw who it was. Leo.
"Here. Next time, ask someone for help. You might hurt yourself," Leo said, handing the novel to her. Luna was still stunned, staring at Leo. Her tongue felt tied, and her face turned red. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart.
Seeing Luna still frozen and not taking the novel, Leo gently took her hand and placed the book in it. Luna blinked, her face turning even redder like a tomato.
"T-Thank you."
Leo managed a small smile before leaving, while Luna remained standing there, still in shock.
"Since then, my heart would flutter every time I saw you, and I watched all your matches. Sadly, you never noticed me, and after that, you were completely absorbed in your soccer world. When Adam confessed his feelings to me, I didn't hesitate to reject him because I liked you. I didn't mind if you didn't have the same feelings for me or didn't notice me. Just seeing you, feeling that subtle flutter in my heart, was enough to make me happy. Even watching you from afar made me very happy…" Luna recounted. Leo listened intently.
"Unfortunately, I heard that you got seriously injured during a match against another school. Your injury was so severe that you couldn't play soccer anymore. My heart broke for you, and I knew yours must have been shattered since your dream was crushed. I wanted to comfort you, but I was too shy to face you. So, I kept sending letters to your locker, hoping they would make you feel better. Not long after that, I heard you left school and continued your studies elsewhere. Even though you were no longer there, I never forgot you. You were my most precious memory. Silently, I always prayed that we would meet again. My prayer was answered. We finally met again at Adam's Café. The first time I saw you after so long, my heart fluttered again, and I realized I had never forgotten you."
Leo smiled at her words.
"Even though you often teased me and made me do this and that, I never felt hurt. I cherished every moment spent with you, and I was happy that you finally noticed me. That night, you finally confessed your feelings to me, and after that, everything changed."