[The thought that Jehan might not be so keen to talk about somebody else in return never even entered Albert's head for a second. He enjoys gushing about the good qualities of the people he loves-- even if it might bring back painful memories. It's the best way he can think of to honour them.]

... We were best friends since childhood. It's funny when I think about it now-- we actually met at his father's funeral. I was so young, I didn't really understand the concept of death back then and why he was so upset. But Franz was always ... more intelligent and mature than me for his age. He was crying ... so I thought I'd try to cheer him up by asking him to play with me. Haha, pretty insensitive, right?

Naturally he yelled at me, so I started crying too. I don't really remember well what happened after that, except that he started cheering me up instead. Even though he was the one who should've been sad ...

That should tell you really what kind of person he was. He's-- the sort of guy who was always thinking about other people, you know? Almost too much. Sometimes I used to get mad at him and say he was clucking like my mother or a girlfriend. Sometimes... sometimes I wish he could've been just a little more selfish.