-it could be the end-

    "Did you ever like me?" I ask her. "Or were we just pretending?"

    She closes her eyes and bites her lower lip. She does that when she's thinking.

    Finally, she opens her eyes. "I don't know."

I feel a twinge of disappointment. I know I can't expect a confident and positive answer from her. It's just not her nature. She rationalizes and doubts too much.

    "Why are you so complicated?"

    We sit huddled together at the bank of the Singapore River for the first time since I came back, becoming one of those faceless couples who make out in the dark that people love to laugh at and disturb. She stares emptily into the dark water.

    "It's been a terrible trip back hasn't it," she finally says.

    "It's not too bad," I reply. Wind rustles the trees. "The weather's become slightly more accommodating."

    "I don't know if I like you, Brendon," she says softly. "Life's gotten a little different since you left."

    "Well I'm back."

    She groans. She starts to grimace.

    "I'm not putting you to anything."

    "That's what you say. We all know what it actually means. I hate you."

    "Right."

    She sits upright and leans back to look at the overhanging moon. "What are you going to do when you graduate?"

    "It depends," I reply. I look at her. "It really depends if I'm coming home."