How long has it been? A year? Maybe two?
I'm pretty sure it has been two years.
When I finished school a few months after he left, I moved out and decided to stay at the college I dorms. Who would have thought would have left that city. I even thought I would wait for him. But I didn't.
At the time I had cursed myself for having realized that I had fallen for him. At the time, in the forest, when he asked me, 'Me? Or Gene?" I knew I had loved Gene, but it wasn't just Gene. It was also him. My heart hurt a little inside. And the pain worsened after he left. Every day I cursed myself for feeling like this. However, thankfully I kept my promise to myself that I would never cry again.
After he left, I thanked Gene. I wish I had done it before he left. However, he would never appear again in my dreams. Now I wished I had gotten to know the real him. Make him happy, because he was there the whole time, not Gene.
What was it I said to Bou-san?
Oh yes, "The feeling of love remains until you forget about the other."
It was such a great feeling admitting that, and what I said was true. Though I still love Gene in a way and I have not fully forgotten him, my feelings for his brother grew. Not because he looks like Gene, but because he was there the whole time, and I regret not actually trying to get to know him.
However, I will never let that regret ruin my life. Here I am now, in college, I have a part time job, and I'm saving up for travelling. Paying my through college, and planning on becoming a photographer. Every so often I visit my hometown; I would call up Ayako and her new fiancé and hang out with them. I once met Masako by chance in this city after she had a major interview; we stopped by a local café and had tea together. John went back to Australia, but we occasionally email each other. Yasuhara is still in university, and we occasionally meet up when we both have free time.
We all stay in contact, though we have not heard from him and Lin for a while. I still have the spare key to the office, so when we wish to hold a party among ourselves we decide to visit the office. We remember happy moments when we used to work together on cases, and even off of case, when we just gathered in the office.
It's true that we miss him, but we will never let that get in the way of our life. Especially mine.
And when he returns I plan to greet him with a huge smile, and say, "Welcome back Naru."