Page 63 of Henrikk’s Secret

“I saw the goodness in you,” Asher said, hearing his thoughts. “No one is irredeemable.”

Henrikk did not agree, but he kept that thought hidden.

Young Asher emerged some time later, looking as if he’d seen a ghost. He strode a fair distance from the tents before collapsing to his knees, wheezing and gasping.

Watching his shoulders shake as he cried was awful. Henrikk hadn’t realised he’d done that.

Henrikk fell to his knees, his heart breaking at seeing the young Asher weep.

He felt a tug on his elbow.

“Come on,” said Asher. “Stop beating yourself up. I have something to cheer you up.”

Asher took over, presenting another memory from a few months earlier: a late afternoon in autumn, with leaves swaying gently in the sunlight. Trees surrounded a quiet pond like a curtain, creating a private place of serenity.

Young Asher was swimming, or pretending to. He kept glancing at the young Henrikk who was lounging about naked on the floating platform, pretending to sunbathe (when really, he kept stealing glances as Asher).

Henrikk and Asher smiled at the scene.

“You wanted me to join you on the deck,” Asher murmured.

“I did.”

“I wasn’t sure. I was hoping you would invite me to join you.”

“Come up here and join me, the sun is nice,” young Henrikk called with a lazy smirk.

“I did,” Henrikk pointed out.

“You made it sound like you were mocking me,” Asher said.

“I was nervous.”

“You didn’t seem nervous.”

“I liked you.” How easily that confession came now, after all these years. Who would have thought they’d come full circle?

As they watched the scene unfold, it became apparent that young Henrikk didn’t merely ‘like’ Asher. He was clearly infatuated. Obsessed, even, a stark hunger drawing his features tight.

Whenever young Asher looked away, young Henrikk’s casual smile vanished, and he stared at Asher intensely without blinking. Like a predator watching its prey.

Or like a young man, too afraid to tell another how he truly felt. If only that young man had known that the opportunity to speak his heart would soon slip out of reach.

Suddenly, young Asher climbed onto the platform, spilling water everywhere. A surprised Henrikk sat up, scowling to hide the momentary delight that had graced his features.

“Careful, you’ve gotten water all over me,” he complained, swiping water off his naked thighs.

“That’s not all I want to spill on you,” young Asher said, kneeling down beside young Henrikk.

The older Asher frowned. “Hold on. This definitely did not happen.”

Henrikk grinned. He was tampering with the memory.

“Oi, where's my underwear? I was NOT completely naked!”

“I’m just having a bit of fun. Fantasising about what could have been.”

“Me too,” Asher admitted, “But perhaps we best leave the past alone.”