Chapter 1:

16 long years had changed a lot of things. Nothing was about grades or friends anymore; those things seemed non-existent as time flew by, the sky changed it colours and fate switched sides. Childhood was a precious time in their lives- when they were sheltered under comfortable arms of their family and friends, but adulthood was as different as it could get. It wasn't an easy journey for anyone to win the battle of life, but some of them gave up the courage and lost their battles.

Misty Waterflower

Loving Wife and Friend

April 24, 1997- November 7, 2013

May Maple kneeled down in front of her friend's grave, trying her best to block out all the crying noises around her. In her hand, was a ruby locket with a golden chain- Misty's lucky charm, which she had so selflessly given to her when she was about to start her new job as an animator. With her trembling hands, she kept the locket on top of the countless number of flowers that were now lying on top of her friend's coffin and let a tear fall down her cheek. Among these flowers, there lay Misty's mallet.

She looked up at the flowers and scoffed lightly,

"White roses. If anyone really knew Mist, they'd know that she loved tulips the most."

It was funeral protocol for people to show up and cry, no matter how much they knew the deceased. She curled her hands into a fist and got up unwillingly from the spot where she'd been rooted to for the last fifteen minutes, and turned around to face Ash.

The young widower was standing emotionlessly in front of Misty's grave; he couldn't believe his wife was gone so soon. After all, they'd only been married two years ago. All of his friends were gathered around him trying to get him to talk to them but he wouldn't budge.

Brock glanced at her and sighed. He was trying to keep everything together, no matter how much he was falling apart. Max was sitting on the grass with his head in his hand; he had met Misty over the years when she used to come over for hanging out and had considered her an elder sister. The loss was too shocking for him too. Misty's sisters were wiping their tears with napkins- being very careful not to spoil their makeup. This triggered the anger inside May.

She wasn't the same old bubbly, cheerful girl she had been sixteen years ago, when she was but a child. She had gone through things which she couldn't forget no matter how much she tried to block them out. And Misty along with Ash had been the only ones who had been there for her. Max had been too busy with his studies and her mother and father suddenly changed to strict, verbally abusing parents. She had studied hard to get the job of an animator and finally when she did, she was relieved to have moved to her own house.

She was feeling anything but relieved right now. An anonymous phone call had been made for her when she was in a meeting in Miami, and she'd left everything and had come home on the first available flight as soon as she had heard from Ash that Misty had been in a terrible accident. A group of drunken guys had been walking down the lanes of their house while Misty had been sleeping. They were shouting and as typical Misty would do, she went down to talk it out, and in the hurry, she had forgotten her mallet. Ash was staying at his mother's that day since he was on a trip to the neighbouring country from his office and it had rained too hard. The guys had tried to inappropriately touch Misty and she had pushed them back, but as retaliation, they had shoved her a little too hard for she fell on the road and didn't see the bus coming from the other side of the road.

A neighbour had recorded the entire situation, and when Ash got the call from the ambulance, he beat the neighbour up for not helping Misty. He had been blaming himself for not being there for her when she needed him. Since then, Ash was as numb as a person with anaesthesia injected into them.

May sighed and opened up her ponytail, letting her long wavy locks fall onto her shoulders. She'd become a beautiful woman when she reached her time, but she didn't seemed to care less about it at the moment. Spotting a spot near an isolated tree in the graveyard, she went and sat underneath it, letting the wind blow her hair and give her a little peace from all the chaos running through her head.

She hadn't even noticed that a person had come and sat beside her and was now lightly nudging her hand. She turned with a glare to see who it was- disturbing her silent moment and her eyes grew open in shock. She couldn't get anything to come out of her mouth.

"So there you are."

That's all he said. And that was enough to make her head go round and round. She hadn't expected to see him ever again, let alone at Misty's funeral.

"Drew."

He just smiled at her with those still gorgeous lips and stared at her with his emerald eyes. He'd grown into a well- built man, and looked even more dashing in his black suit. May stopped a blush from going to her face. The 26 year old lawyer just turned away and stared at the scenario in front of him, just as calm as ever, and so did May.

"It's been so long May, how are you?"

May just turned and smiled.

"Life goes on. I don't think you're asking the right question for the current situation."

"Yeah, it was a shock for me too; even if I didn't know her so well"

May just sighed again and Drew just looked at her with those same dazzling eyes. She pointed to the people around Misty's grave- the ones who were pretending to cry. She could differentiate between the real and the fake like a professional now.

"Look at them, crying crocodile tears. They think everyone is watching them and that they actually believe they regret Misty's death. This is why I hate people"

He looked at her and said,

"So it wasn't just my paranoia saying that you've changed. I'm surprised at how fast you saw through them. What happened May?" he frowned at the last sentence.

"Shit happens Drew, Life happens too. We're not kids anymore and this isn't candy land. I've lost a friend today and I'm not going to see these bitches sit around and fake mope her death" May's voice was sounding like a roar now.

He just laughed lightly and looked ahead. It came to May as a bit of a shock since Drew wasn't insulting her and taunting her about how immature she sounded. He was genuinely talking to her. She had a feeling about what it as but she decided not to ponder over it.

" May, let it go for today. It's more important for you to be there for Ash the most, because he's the one who deserves it. Your brother and Ash need you, not them."

She smiled and closed her eyes,

"People are just so selfish, they just can't be happy with what they have, they always need something more than they can get and then when they get it, and they just leave you hanging there. Why would someone want to change just for being seen as the 'fit in' category in society?"

Drew had immediately understood what had happened and he felt her pain, for he had known it too. She looked up at the sky and so did she and he asked,

"Will we ever be able to love again?"

In a moment of no sparks and fireworks but just two simple beatings of hearts, their eyes connected and she whispered to him,

"Maybe, someday."