Nino only noticed the people now, the sparse crowd that haunted the same scene they did, at this hour breaching midnight, likely enthralled by the vision of the colors playing in the water, of the dark motion of the river's current. Maybe they'd all pointed and stared when Nino smashed the guitar to the ground minutes before. He was glad he didn't see them then.

He felt calmer now, his heartbeats tamer. It felt good to sit beside Suze, to hear her voice close to his ear, not screaming at him or crying through a receiver. Although this was a deceitful calm, because it also felt that Suze was preparing to let him go.

"I'm sorry I let David kiss me."

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. It was after the fact." Anger licked his insides, but Nino knew this was for him to suffer. This was his doing. "Who the hell is David anyway?"

"Who the hell is Jenny?"

They exchanged shrugs.

"Tell you what hurts more," he began.

"Maybe don't, please?" 

"You look at me like you've already forgotten me. But it doesn't have to be game over, does it? I'll try harder." A vow flimsier than that could not have been uttered by a simpler man. But it was all Nino's desperate mind could conjure. "And you'll be here! Only a few hours of air traffic away. No more time difference!"

"Yes, but—"

"Let's skip the but's." Nino grasped Suze's fingers, willing her to not speak what he feared.

"But you've always been this. And you'll always be this." Her lips moved into a smile, smaller, sadder than the last. "A moving part. A blinking star."

"So are you, to me." She was a brilliant sight from the day they met, a rare find. And though she blinded him he'd reached out and grabbed her, wanting to keep her. Only to let her down, over and over. "What do you want me to do now?"

"I want you to come with me so I can finish my Singapore Sling, and you can get your own tourist trap drink." She grabbed his hand and started pulling him up. "Maybe we'll get drunk and make promises we can't keep yet. Tomorrow, you'll go back to Manila with your band, and I'll stay here."

Nino pulled back, staying put. "What about closure?"

"I don't want closure. Don't you see?" Suze crouched back down, staring back at him with a frown to match his. "That's how I'm looking at you, Nino. That's why I returned the guitar, hoping you could keep it for a while. I haven't forgiven you, but I don't want to forget you. And I don't want to decide right now. Is that okay?"

Nino titled his head. "Can I at least add you on Facebook again?"

Suze giggled, and it felt like a gift he didn't deserve, her laugh soft and free. "Sure."

"I'm so sorry I did this."

"I knew you were trouble when—"

"Brandon Flowers did not sing that."

"He might have. When he was younger and stupider in love."

But wasn't that everyone's ready excuse? Wasn't that his? He'd been running around with Suze's heart in his hands, thinking he was allowed to do so because he was young and stupid. Was betraying her trust supposed to have made him smarter? Was that how people grew up and learned to love like adults? 

Nino shook his head. He didn't think proper adults necessarily loved better. Sometimes they made grander mistakes.

He stood up with Suze and laced their fingers together, allowing her to lead the walk back to Long Bar. Neither of them had the answers tonight. But that was okay. It wasn't anger that was fueling his pace anymore, and it won't be anger he will be bringing back home to mask his pain, his sadness.

He felt Suze squeeze his fingers, and he pressed her hand to his lips, her touch steeling his resolve. He'd never been a patient man, but he was going to wait to be forgiven. And he will work for it, because this girl he loved was worth it.

TheEnd.