a goodbye

A girl and I stand in an intersection a few blocks away from my apartment. She has shoulder length, dark hair and a pretty face. It is early nighttime and all the restaurant signs are lit up. I can read the one down the way "village yokocho" written in Japanese, even though that restaurant closed years ago and was elsewhere.

We are saying goodbye, it is clear it is a sort of permanent but fond goodbye. We tightly hug, her head nestled deeply into my neck. She feels light but solid up against me. She says

I love you

sadly, several times. I echo it back, but I don't feel it resonate in me.