The Diary

A few days later, Lily was cleaning her room.

She opened a small box filled with old memories. Inside were movie tickets, dried flowers, birthday cards, and a blue notebook.

It was Ethan's diary.

He had given it to her a few months before the accident.

"If anything ever happens to me," he had joked, "you can read it."

At that time, Lily had laughed and promised she would never open it.

Now, with tears in her eyes, she slowly turned the first page.

The diary was filled with Ethan's thoughts.

Some pages were about school, basketball, and his family.

But most of them were about Lily.

One page made her stop.

"Today Lily laughed so hard that she almost dropped her camera. I don't think she knows how beautiful her smile is. I hope I can spend the rest of my life making her smile like that."

Lily smiled through her tears.

She turned another page.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever find someone better than Lily. Then I remember... I don't want someone better. I just want her."

She closed the diary and hugged it tightly.

"I miss you," she whispered.

The next day, Lily met Ethan at the park.

"I have something for you," she said, holding out the blue notebook.

Ethan looked at it.

"What's this?"

"It's your diary."

"My diary?"

Lily nodded.

"You wrote it before the accident."

Ethan held the notebook but didn't open it.

"Weren't you curious to read it?"

"I was," Lily admitted. "But I only read it after the accident."

Ethan looked at the cover for a long time.

"What if I don't like the person I was?"

Lily smiled gently.

"I think you will."

He looked at her.

"And what if I still don't remember?"

Lily took a deep breath.

"That's okay."

She smiled, even though it hurt.

"I don't want you to remember because I'm asking you to. I want you to remember when you're ready."

Ethan nodded.

That night, he sat alone in his room.

He opened the diary.

The first page read:

"If you're reading this... it means something has happened. And if I don't remember Lily anymore, please don't push her away. She's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Ethan froze.

He read the sentence again.

His heart started beating faster.

For the first time since the accident...

He felt that the stranger named Lily was much more than just a forgotten memory.

She had once been his whole world.

END OF CHAPTER 9