Arrival
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own anything.
:: Thank you for everyone who has reviewed the first part. I appreciate them so much. So this is the next one for you. Enjoy!
- Part Two
The same Kimberly who sent him the letter. To the Youth Center, for cryin' out loud.
Her hair was longer but it's still the same caramel color that he used to love. The petite woman donned a white shirt slowly and somewhat carefully brought herself off the floor. And as she stood there, Tommy still hadn't found his ability to speak.
"I think I need your help to put these back," Kim said after a long pause.
Despite anything, their history for almost three years back in high school and their so not very pretty broke up, Kimberly was smiling. Of the entire list he'd thought of how she would react, smiling was definitely not in it. Yeah, guilty as charged, he did make a mental note about meeting Kim again.
But then he noticed other unusual things. Her eyes. They were… not focus. She's not looking at him, more like the beige colored wall behind him. Tommy wanted to cry.
' I can't do that,'
" Mister? Whoever you ar-,"
" Kimberly," he finally said, swallowing hard. Tommy watched as Kim's mouth shut closed and her eyes widened when the stranger spoke her name. " it's me,"
" Who… T-Tommy?" the realization hit her like tons of bricks. Her face turned pale and she walked backwards, as if she was afraid of what he would do. She shook her head, her voice was barely above a whisper. " is that really you?"
He heard himself answering tightly, " In the flesh,"
The words seemed to make Kim shrink even more. Tommy gave her time to collect her composure back, all the while took deep breaths of air himself. He needed to sit down. No. They needed to sit down and talk.
There're so many questions that he wanted to ask her. What was she doing here? Why did she write that letter? What happened to them? Did she ever love him? Was she married? Did she ever think about him? Did she ever miss him? Did she still love him?
" Kim, what happened to your eyes?" the words finally came out from his mouth. In the background, the male singer was still singing his ballads. The aisle was empty, save for the two people who're standing face to face. Both were not ready to face the truth lying in front of their eyes. " Kimberly?" he questioned again when she didn't answer.
" What are you doing here?" Kim said, tilting her head up to where she sensed his voice come from. " I thought you live in Reefside?"
" How could you tell?" he blurted out before he could hold his tongue.
" Jason," she admitted, shifting a little. The former pink ranger looked not more uncomfortable than he was. Tommy's eyes darkened at the mention of the man who he claimed as his brother, related by anything but blood.
Jason's dead.
" What do you mean, ' Jason'?" Tommy repeated and found himself unable to stop. " you told him? He knew that you're…," God, he didn't even want to think about his Kimberly… unable to see, let alone saying it out loud.
" Blind?" Kim kindly filled the gap. Her face was still white but it seemed the tension had lessened a bit. She'd accepted that this was meant to be. She and Tommy standing in the middle of the 24 hour store after nearly a decade of no contact.
" What happened?" Tommy asked again. He needed answers and he wanted them now. His eyes followed her every move. She turned her head away, her teeth worrying her lower lip. When she suddenly moved backwards, Tommy instinctively reached forward and grabbed her arm. She grinned bitterly and lifted her head although the eyes never met his.
" I'm fine, Tommy. This isn't my first time coming to this place, you know,"
Tommy slowly released his grasp but still standing close. " I'm sorry,"
" It's okay," after another long pause, she spoke, " I honestly didn't expect to meet you again. Especially not here, in this circumstance,"
He could relate to that, Tommy mused silently. He couldn't drag his eyes to another place. His dark colored eyes studied her face closely, remembering again her every detail and feeling his heart sinking when he reached her eyes. They were lifeless. The bright light wasn't there anymore. Her eyes were one factor that he loved so much about Kimberly. They spoke volume even though she didn't say anything. Just by looking at her doe eyes his heart would beat faster but now those were just...eyes. The warm feeling was replaced by anguish and sadness.
Tommy barely ever cried in his life. There were times, like when he finally met Sam and David Trueheart or when his grandmother passed away that tears came through his lashes, but even when he received the letter from Kim, tears just wouldn't come out. Now he was standing there and was on the brink of losing his control. He blinked back the hot tears that had started bluring his vision.
" There's an accident," Kim began, ducking her head. " a terrible car crash back in Florida,"
Car crash? Was that why she didn't compete at the Pan Global? Tommy's jaw tightened.
" My friend was killed in that accident. I was lucky enough… I only lost my sight," Kim's voice grew tinier and tinier. He had to practically lean over to catch every word. " I'm sorry, Tommy,"
He was speechless. The rage and disappointment that were buried when he got the letter from Kim resurfaced. Why did she apologize to him? All of a sudden Tommy had a strong urge to smash something. Somehow, he regained his composure back but he's still not talking.
" Tommy?" Kim squeaked.
" Was that why, why you wrote the letter?" there's no another guy. Kim was never-.
"… no," Kimberly shook her head weakly, reaching up to move a strand of hair behind her ear. There's no sign of her wanting to break down and cry but her voice was wavering. Tommy's eyes widened considerably, feeling his heart breaking once again. " as much as I want to say that the reason I wrote that letter was because of my being blind, that's not it," she chuckled awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood but clearly failed. " and as much as I want to tell you that I didn't want to be such a burden for you, I can't say that,"
" You found someone else," Tommy moved his eyes to the boxes which were still laying on the floor. "that's what you want to tell me,"
" This might sound silly to you, Tommy," Kim braved herself to say. " but that time I was only seventeen. Long distance relationships rarely ever worked. I saw how all of my friends' relationships falling apart. I was lonely, missing home so much and that time, the letter seemed to be the best way. For both of us,"
" Oh, you're still thinking of what's best for me when you did that?" Tommy almost spat, his hands clenching and unclenching. "you made decision that you thought was the best for US? You didn't trust me, trust that what we had was enough so you wanted to cut me loose, kicking me out of your life,"
" I know that you're mad but that won't change a thing," Kimberly said with greeted teeth. For a while she looked like the teenager who's sharing a teary goodbye at the airport with him.
Tommy wanted to argue, to be angry but he couldn't. Seeing her again after all this time overcame his anger. And surprisingly, he's quite able to see her reason. She was lonely, scared and not having him and her friends only made it worse. " You're right. You're still writing the damn letter, breaking up with me and none of our talks could fix that," she's still someone dear and perhaps someone's mother. He never asked something to Jason. He had had many shits to do already in his life and he didn't need more distraction. Hearing Kimberly married to a guy, had two adorable children and lived in a house near the coast would surely distract him to no end. " Did you meet someone else?"
" I did. But not after I sent you the letter," Kim added quickly as if it could dampen his anger.
" How long?"
Kim turned her face away. " Four months,"
She was over him in four months. Four fucking months to forget him. " Why you never told me?" he didn't have to say about what. She knew.
Kim let out a small laugh. " I knew you, Tommy and I didn't want your pity,"
Her last statement had succedeed in breaking his heart. Again. Groaning, Tommy grabbed her upper arms tightly, wanting to shake some sense into her head. " I'm your friend, Kim. I deserved to know,"
" Then what?" she challenged him. " If you know that I'm blind then what would you do? I know you, Tommy and I couldn't do that to you,"
" Do what? Making me miserable for thinking that you had found someone else that you love more than me? That you didn't care about me anymore? That you wanted nothing to do with me in your life? I loved you!" damn it. He did, still do and always would.
" Kimberly?" a gentle voice cut in and Tommy moved his head abruptly to see a middle aged woman standing at the end of the aisle. The petite woman tried to break free from his grasps but he wouldn't allow that.
" Aunt Mary," Kim answered back before hissing to the tall martial artist in front of her, " let me go!"
The woman, who's now revealed to be Kimberly's aunt walked closer until she stood beside the pair. She eyed Tommy inquisitively. Tommy sighed and let his left hand drop from its place around Kim's arm.
" I'm sorry. I'm Tommy Oliver, Kimberly's friend from Angel Grove," he might look rude and impolite but at this rate he really couldn't give a damn care. " I really need to talk to her,"
" There's nothing to-,"
" Please," Tommy said, hoping he could make the woman understand how important this was to him. To Kimberly. To both of them.
" Kimberly?" Mary asked her niece. She recognized the man as Tommy Oliver as soon as she had a good look at him. The long hair and the pony tail had gone but it was him alright. Kim had showed her many pictures of him back when they're still dating. Seeing Kim nodding, she said, " I'll be waiting outside,"
Tommy waited until the woman had gone behind the corner before bringing his hands to frame her face. He could see that she's surprise at the gesture. " Kim, I… I was angry. I felt cheated because you never told me but I… I can understand your position. But you're wrong. I won't pity you because you don't need that. But I want to offer you my friendship. I don't know how to say this without you taking it the wrong way but the feelings never changed. Never ,"
That's it. He had said the words and there's no turning back. Hell, he didn't want to turn back, he want to move forward, hopefully with Kim. Tommy never thought that forgiving her would come this easy but she was right. Sweating over it right now wouldn't change anything. And it happened a long time ago. They're both adults now. They could talk about this with cold head.
But before that he had to tell her that she still held his heart in her small palm.
" Tommy…," he wiped her tears from her cheek with his thumb, swallowing hard. He pulled her into his arms and for a moment there're just the two of them. They're completely oblivious to their surroundings. Kim sobbed against his chest and he tightened his hold in return. They needed this.
" Come on, let me take you home and then we'll talk," he said softly. A long talk about everything. Tommy pulled back but still kept her hand in his.
" My Aunt-,"
" I'll explain to her," he answered shortly and simply. Please, say yes. Give them another change to make things right. " Beautiful?"
Her face turned a shade of pink once the nickname flew from his mouth. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She nodded. " Will everything be okay, Tommy?"
" I'm sure it will,"
.. you will know, it would be clear..
That angels brought me here…
- fin -
-Angels brought me here - Guy Sebastian.
:: Yeah, Kim is blind. I don't know, just out of the blue the idea came into my head. So the reason behind the letter isn't that original but the condition is a little bit different. Thank you for reading and please review. No Flame please. And the next chapter of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars should be up soon. Expect it sometime next week. Thanks.
- Yuuri ;)
