If You Could See the Sun

by Ann Liang

“Have you tried?” “Of course I’ve—” “Have you tried harder?”

“Everything is temporary, Yan Yan. And all the more reason to seize whatever’s in front of you while it’s still there.”

Maybe it’s just a trick of the light, but I swear I see his ears turn pink.

“Wait. We hate each other?”

“Wait.” Something shifts in the black depths of his eyes. “You think I’m attractive?”

Henry cocks his head to the side, a slow smile spreading across his lips. “You were telling me how much you hate me.”

“Do you not know me at all?” he says after a long pause. “I never quit anything.”

I can’t believe I ever wanted to push this boy off a stage.

“Descartes was wrong, you know, when he said, ‘To live well, you must live unseen.’ To live well, you must learn to see yourself first. Do you understand what I’m saying?”