As You Wished

The House By The Lake

Gravel crunched under the tires as they pulled off the main road. Golden leaves drifted across the windshield, and the air smelled like wet earth and lake water. In the distance, small waves made soft sounds against an old wooden dock.

The house sat exactly where Elior remembered it. White paint peeling just enough to look lived in, green moss creeping up the roof edges, but every window sparkling clean. Someone had been taking care of this place.

"It looks exactly the same," Elior said, stepping out of the car. His voice carried something heavy, something that had been buried for years. "Uncle Ju's been keeping it perfect."

Kael just nodded, like he understood every complicated feeling running through Elior's head right now. He walked to the front door without saying anything.

The hinges creaked the same way they always had. Inside, the house smelled like old wood and lavender, warm and welcoming like stepping into a memory. Everything was exactly where they'd left it. The brown leather couch, the patterned rug with that small tea stain from when Elior had panicked watching Kael nearly fall down the stairs. Even the glass cabinet with all those delicate teacups sat untouched.

On the wall hung their painting. Teenage versions of themselves grinning at the camera, the lake golden behind them in sunset light. It felt like that painting was welcoming them home.

"Come on," Kael said, reaching for his hand.

The stairs creaked under their feet, each step a sound from their past. Their room waited at the end of the hall, frozen in time. Same navy sheets, same wooden desk with pen marks carved into the corner from homework sessions, same huge window overlooking the water.

They sat on the bed, awkward at first. Then conversation started flowing like it used to.

"So how's work treating you?" Elior asked. "Running the family empire and all that."

"Complicated. Politics everywhere, but I'm used to it now." Kael's smile was slight. "What about you? New album coming out?"

"Next month. First time I've been excited about my music in forever. These songs are different. More honest."

"Honest how?"

"About loss. Missing people. Missing places." Elior glanced at him. "And I'm filming this series where I play a pianist who falls for his childhood best friend."

Kael went quiet. "Art imitating life?"

"Something like that." Elior's smile barely showed. "Tell me about London. What was it like?"

"Cold. Brutal. But I needed that back then. Learned about business, about trying to forget things."

"Did it work?"

"No."

They started laughing about high school then. All their chaos and trouble.

"Remember when you skipped English lit to race those West Academy kids?" Elior was grinning now. "I thought you were going to die."

"You were losing your mind on the sidelines, screaming at me the whole time."

"Because you were insane! That turn you took, I swear my heart stopped."

"But I won."

"You almost got flattened by a truck!"

More memories came flooding back. Pranks that made their teachers question their life choices. Hiding homework in ridiculous places. Detention for being late constantly. Fights with older kids who thought they were tough. That street fight that ended with both of them at the police station.

"Marcel and Julian looked ready to murder us both," Elior laughed. "My brother didn't talk to me for a week."

"Julian said it was the most embarrassing day of his career."

"That time we got stuck in the rain and hid in that tiny café until dark. Fighting over the check like idiots."

"Then running out of money and washing dishes for hours." Kael was really laughing now. "The owner felt so bad for us."

In the middle of all this laughter, Elior suddenly went still. His smile faded as he looked at Kael, really looked at him.

"Kael." His voice changed completely, getting serious. "What made you fall in love with me?"

The room went quiet. Just lake water lapping outside and the old clock on the wall ticking away seconds that felt like hours. Kael didn't answer right away. He stared out at the water like he was searching for words that might actually be good enough.

The question hung there between them, heavy with everything they'd never said.