The words seemed to tumble out of my mouth before I could stop them. I stared at João, who seemed not to even have heard what I said to him. All he had gotten from my confession was that I thought that he was stupid.
“Did you hear what I said, João?” I whispered.
Until this moment, I hadn’t known that I needed to hear him say it back. I hadn’t thought that I would ever tell João that I loved him. He had always been so pissy with me, always showed me his dark side and wanted me to break. He rarely showed me this side of him.
He was so fragile.
We stared at each other for a few long moments. My heart pounded hard inside my chest. I wanted him to tell me that he loved me too. I didn’t want to be a fool, standing in the middle of the mall with my mom and trying to get him on insurance for
