Chapter 14. A Request

ASHER

We were just a few steps away from the playground when we stopped walking because I pretended to cough again to avoid looking at Tate, my eyes still moist with tears.

“Are you okay?” Tate asked. “I have water here…” he added. Without waiting for my response, I saw his shadow as he unfastened his backpack from one shoulder to get something inside.

I continued to pretend to cough, and when Tate handed me his insulated tumbler filled with water, I immediately accepted it and slowly took a sip.

“Thank you…” I said, returning his tumbler. I flashed a big smile at him too, quickly averting my gaze, afraid that he might notice that I just cried.

Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice that I had cried because we continued walking and eventually reached the playground.

We decided to leave our backpacks on the bench here at the playground, and the first thing we tried was the seesaw.

As we played on the seesaw, we couldn’t contain our laugh