Julia went to her room, and began to make a note of what she needed to study. Her phone beeped.

"We found 2 job matches for you."

She wondered if she could balance work and study. However, there was a need for money. So, Julia checked the job advertisements.

The first was "Night shift at Jessica's Fast Food."

Julia couldn't imagine staying up for so long, for shifts throughout the months. Just thinking about it made her stretch her arms and yawn.

The other job offer was "Magical Performance internship".

She skimmed through the details. The timings seemed alright, and the pay was good enough. So, she clicked on "Apply Now".

After revising her guidebook for about ten minutes, she brushed her teeth and prepared to sleep.

Before falling asleep she mumbled, "Cole, I wonder where you are now, and how you are doing."

She had a dream where he gave her a strawberry lip balm and said, "You lips are too chapped,"

What was up with her and strawberries? They were somewhere between sour and sweet. She wondered if she could ever tart or sweet. For now, she was just expressionless and tasteless. She was afraid of saying anything.

The next morning, Julia walked past a wall and thought she saw something unusual there, so she stepped back. The girl was like an image, as her presence kept flickering. This gave Julia a chill. Yet, Julia kept herself rooted to the ground and watched.

“Oh, hello,” she said

“Umm, hi,” said Julia

“Sorry, let me get out of this state,” she said

Julia’s right leg kept shaking and she tried to stop it.

The girl appeared in front of her with a side curly ponytail made from her jet-black hair, icy blue eyes, and wearing a dark pink dress with organza puffed sleeves.

“Nice to meet you. Thanks for spotting me,” she said

“Who… what are you?” said Julia

She walked closer to Julia and grew a pair of small white wings.

“I’m Diana… a fairy friend all the way from the land of the DTCA,” she said

Upon hearing this, Julia started running away.

Diana appeared in front of her and Julia halted, then turned.

“Stop! We aren’t all evil you know. There are also fairy-type and witch-type DTCA.”

Julia said, “Really? I don’t believe you.”

The sunshine was bright and it made Diana’s dress reflect glitter. For some reason, the situation made her think of Cole.

“Why are you here?” said Julia

Julia itched her forehead behind her bangs. The air smelled sweet like vanilla cake. The wind made their hair flow.

“A certain warlock has sent me here,” said Diana

“Who? Cole?” said Julia

“Yes!”

Julia sighed and said, “I’m not going to the land of DTCA again.”

She didn’t know what became of Cole, but she had a feeling he was alright. Going near him would aggravate him. Their classmates seemed to stop caring about him after so much time had passed. The lecturers and professors didn’t even seem bothered by his absence from day one.

“Oh no, he just sent you a gift,” said Diana

Julia didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t right to trust someone like that.

“Here,” said Diana

It was a charm bracelet in a sheer fabric bag, along with a folded note. Julia took it.

“Someone’s coming! Bye,” said Diana

And she disappeared. Julia looked behind and saw Silvio.

“Julia!” said Silvio

“Y-yes?”

“I saw Cole today near the land of the dead,” he said

The breeze was calm and soothing in the spring.

“I thought he’s in the DTCA,” said Julia

“He’s back. I don’t know how.”

Silvio looked like he was at a loss of words.

“Julia, I… am in love with you and I don’t want to lose you.”

Something felt off. It made Julia more agitated. She wanted to celebrate. But instead, she was left with an unknown feeling that she couldn’t shake off.

“Why do you only say that when Cole has come back? If Cole wouldn’t have come back, you wouldn’t have said anything! He was gone for so long, and you treated me like a stranger,” said Julia

Silvio’s eyes widened and he clenched his fist.

“I have nothing more to say,” he said

And he left. Julia never felt so alone before. She wanted to cry. While holding her tears back, she wondered if she was too harsh.

“I guess it’s over, huh?” thought Julia

She went and sat on a bench. Julia opened the drawstring bag to take a look at the note.

“Dear Julia,

Even if I could gather every word in history, I don’t think any of them would be able to express my guilt, loneliness and regret.

I will come to see you very soon. In the meantime, I leave this behind… a trinket. You can add charms onto as you cross every milestone. I have already added three charms. A strawberry, to represent the start of your life. A crescent moon, to represent my rival for your love. It’s there for a reason, otherwise I would have omitted it long ago. And lastly, a flower, to represent my withering heart as I try to get your attention.

Goodbye,

Cole Letter

It had with a red strawberry, a silver moon, and a golden flower. Without much thought, she wore the charm bracelet and headed off to the class that would start soon. Silvio was already there, sitting in the front. Julia sat beside him while being distracted by the bracelet. Silvio kept looking at her in the middle of class. Well, no one said that Silvio had to be absent from Julia’s life. She wrote her notes with care.

At the end of class Julia told him, “It’s too soon for trivial matters like love, for now let’s just enjoy each other’s company.”

“If you need time, I can give you time,” said Silvio

Julia's pink hair waved in the wind and she held back smiling. It didn't feel right to smile.