Behind Mika's Smile
movie
ziel
The world always felt quiet to me.
Too quiet.
My name is Ziel, and I lived my life like a shadow—studying, walking through crowded halls, but never really being part of them. To everyone else, I was the boy who spoke little and smiled even less. And I was fine with that. Or at least I thought I was.
Until the day I met Mika.
It started in the library.
I reached for an astronomy book, and at the exact moment, so did she. Our hands brushed.
She laughed bright, sudden, like the world itself had cracked open.
I muttered an awkward apology, already trying to disappear back into silence. But she lingered, tilting her head at me as if she’d just discovered something fascinating.
ziel
Later, in the school clinic, I found a notebook on the chair. I picked it up, meaning only to return it. But curiosity betrayed me. Its pages were filled with messy handwriting and colorful doodles.
“Hospital visit today. Same white walls.”
“I don’t want pity.”
“Before autumn ends, I want to watch the sunrise by the sea. I want to laugh until my stomach hurts. I want someone to remember me.”
ziel
The words pulled me in, heavy with something I couldn’t name.
Mika stood at the door, arms crossed but grinning.
Instead of anger, she winked.
mika
Since you already peeked, you’re responsible now. You’ll help me check off everything in that notebook.
And just like that, my quiet world was shattered.
From then on, she clung to me.
Mika, the extrovert who laughed too loud, teased too much, and always seemed to shine.
She dragged me to the rooftop to eat cheap bread while watching clouds.
She pulled me into a photo booth at the festival, where we ended up laughing so hard that our faces blurred in the pictures.
She made me try spicy noodles I hated, stuck bright sticky notes in my locker, and talked about the future as if it would last forever.
ziel
I didn’t need this chaos.
But little by little, I started to look forward to it—the color she brought into my gray world.
One night, sitting on a grassy hill under the crescent moon, we watched the stars in silence.
(softly, smiling as she points at the sky)
mika
Do you see that one? The brightest star? They say if you make a wish, it’ll come true.
ziel
I don’t believe in wishes.
mika
Of course you don’t. You’re too serious.
Ziel looks at her, his expression softening. He’s quiet, but his eyes linger on her longer than on the stars.
ziel
Then… what would you wish for?
(turns her head toward him, still smiling but softer now)
mika
For more nights like this. With you.
That night, something inside me shifted. For the first time, I wanted to believe.
But Mika was not all brightness.
The camera slowly pans upward to the crescent moon, the two sitting close together beneath the endless sky. A shooting star trails across, faint but beautiful. Ziel finally allows himself a small smile.
ziel
…Then maybe I’ll start believing, too.
On the rooftop one afternoon, her smile faltered. Her voice grew soft.
mika
I don’t know how much time I have, Ziel. I’m sick. It’s not going away. And I don’t want pity. I just… want to live as much as I can.
The words hit me harder than anything before.
I wanted to argue, to scream that it wasn’t fair.
But instead, I just nodded and sat beside her, letting the silence say what I couldn’t.
From then on, her journal became our mission list.
We watched the sunrise by the sea.
We sang badly at karaoke.
We shared cotton candy at the summer festival.
And on the Ferris wheel, our hands brushed again—this time, neither of us pulled away.
She was slipping away slowly, but every moment burned brighter because of it.
Then one morning, she was gone.
No chance to say everything I should have.
Just an empty seat in class. A silence that stretched across the hallways where her laughter once lived.
At her funeral, her parents gave me the journal. Inside was one final entry I had never seen.
mika
"ziel thank you. For dragging yourself into my world when I dragged you into mine. You made my last days full of light. Please, don’t go back to hiding. Live. Live for both of us."
The school festival still happens each autumn.
The sea still greets the sunrise every morning. The stars still scatter across the night sky.
And I am still here—sketching constellations in my notebook, visiting the hill where we once sat.
Because love is not about how long it lasts.
It’s about how brightly it shines, even if only for a moment.
And Mika’s smile…
still shines in me.
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