Prologue
I remembered the cold and heavy rain.
The universe mourned with me for weeks, as I cried my heart out again, and again, until all that left was a lingering pain.
"I'm so sorry, Mikan."
Slowly, I looked up and saw a tall figure looming over my curled eight-years-old body against a big oak tree. He held out a black umbrella, then knelt on the wet grass, trying to cover me from the pouring water. His suit was getting soaked, and I felt guilty for making him go through this.
"My name is Takeshi, and I'm a close friend of your parents," he said carefully with a gentle and empathetic tone, "I'm a lawyer. Have you heard of a lawyer before?"
I stared at his dark grey eyes, and realized I had seen him talking to my parents before.
"Please come with me, Mikan. Everything's going to be okay," he coaxed again, and this time he reached his hand out. My eyes felt warm and tears slowly ran down my cheek.
"Nothing's going to be okay. Nothing."
He pulled out a handkerchief and slowly wiped my tears, "Everything will be okay, Mikan. I will make sure of that, you can trust me."
Takeshi-san helped me stand up and guided me back to the house.
Everything seemed blurry.
Inside the living room, someone was apparently waiting for me. A beautiful woman with dark ebony hair gave me a sad smile, and draped a white towel around my shivering body. She gave me a tight hug and whispered, "Don't cry anymore, Mikan-chan. Your parents loved you so much."
I started sobbing and buried my face deeper on her shoulder, "If they loved me, then w-why did they leave?"
It had been a week since my parents died in a car accident.
.
They were supposed to return home from a business trip that day, but they never came back. The past week had been dark and painful. I've been telling myself that life is not fair. Why were they taken from me? We never did anything wrong, so why are we being punished like this?
Kaouru-san kept hugging me for the next few minutes, then led me to the couch, "Just stay here for a while, okay? I'm going to talk with Takeshi-san for a while."
She stroked my head, and I nodded in defeat. All my energy was drained from crying, and I don't know what I should do anymore. I don't know why I should live if my parents aren't going to be with me anymore.
Takeshi-san went inside another room, followed by Kaoru-san who looked devastated. She was my mom's best friend. Her family lives down the road, and they liked to visit us sometimes. I wonder, would they still visit me now that I'm all alone?
I curled myself into a ball and started crying again. When I opened my eyes, I saw a shadow slowly moved from the porch, and a silhouette appeared from behind the window frames.
A familiar face was staring at me with a perplexed look, his raven hair dripping wet from the rain.
I couldn't remember if I stood up from the couch, or if I ran towards him. The next thing I knew, I was already in his embrace and found myself crying out loud.
"Shh, just let it out, Mikan. Let it out," he gently stroked my head as I started trembling.
He knew.
He hugged me tighter, then whispered a few calming words in my ears, as I sobbed louder with every calming word he uttered.
He knew I needed him.
.
.
.
That was the year my life changed it's course. The year I lost my parents, and I lost him, my best friend.
I never saw them again.
.
.
.
A/N
Updated: 2/9/19
I'd like to give everyone a heads up that I'm constantly rewriting/editing/fixing any typos on the chapters throughout.
Some parts of the chapters might have been altered as well, but I promise it wouldn't change the flow of the story overall.
Hope you enjoyed it!