Eight

Time starts to pass, before you know it you're frozen…
But something happened for the very first time with you
My heart melted to the ground, found something true
And everyone's looking 'round, thinking I'm going crazy.

—"Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis

The Skyloft Penthouse, 145 Hudson, Manhattan, New York
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
7:31 pm

"Oh my Gosh!" a brown haired woman squealed, clapping her hands together in delight. "Tell me more! What did he say?"

Anna could only shake her head at her friend's enthusiasm. "The right question would be: what didn't he say?" She paused for a moment. "I mean… he didn't actually say anything very special, you know? Most of the things he told me were standard: 'take me back', 'I want a second chance', 'I'll make it right this time', 'I'm sorry', 'I still love you'…" she trailed off, rolling her eyes. Then she sighed, and her shoulders slumped. "I really can't understand what it was about his speech that made me question my actions."

It was Kate's turn to roll her eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" she asked, grinning. "You still love him, silly."

"I know," the blonde replied, her voice soft and quiet. "But I've been away from him for so long and I've tried so hard to hate him for what he's done to me… I didn't manage to, yes, but that's another story. The point is, I shouldn't be feeling like this right now. Damn it, that's the reason why I didn't want to talk to him about this!" she exclaimed, frustrated.

"Because you knew it would mess things up?" Kate asked after a few moments of silence, sounding unsure of what she was saying. Anna nodded. "Then that means you knew what he was going to say," she pointed out, eyeing her in an almost suspicious manner.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at her. "How was I supposed to know, Kate?" she asked. "And what are you trying to get to?"

"You didn't know for sure," the girl clarified. "But you at least had a vague idea about it, right? If not, how would you know that conversation was going to make you insecure?" Anna opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off before a single sound could come out. "And that means that, somehow, you've always known he regretted what he did."

Anna shook her head. "The moment I realized he was sorry was when I saw him there, in the doorway of my office. Yoh never does things without having a very good reason and it didn't take long for me to realize what his reason was this time," she said. "If I'd known that from the very beginning, I would have never moved halfway across the world just to get away from him. I would have stayed there and waited for him to realize his mistake. I would have made it easier for him to win me back. Because, damn it, I wanted him to win me back."

"Correction: you still want him to win you back," Kate said, a small smirk present on her features. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

The blonde shrugged. "Maybe," she muttered. "But still… I'm not sure I would do the right thing by giving him another chance. I have a new life now. I've managed to achieve everything I wanted, everything I worked so hard for. I'm successful in my profession. I have friends. I have money. I live in a penthouse that people would kill for." She paused for a moment, shook her head and then continued, "I don't want to throw it all away for him. I don't want to risk losing everything and everybody again."

Kate could only gape at her. "You think Yoh would take all of this away from you?" she asked, an almost incredulous edge to her voice.

"No," she answered and raised her head to lock eyes with her. "I think I would give it all up for him. He would never ask something like this of me, but even so, I would do it without a second thought. And I hate how that feels, Kate," she confessed. "I hate the feeling of being so controlled, so utterly powerless in front of somebody."

"Yoh would never hurt you again, Anna," her friend told her in a gentle voice. "He loves you so much—I could see it in his eyes when he talked about you. What he did was a mistake; a huge one, yes, but just a mistake, nonetheless. Everybody makes those. Everybody gets hurt at some point. What truly matters is the things we learn from those experiences."

She smiled. "And I bet he's learned his lesson. All I know about him is his name and what he did to you—but for some reason or another, I can assure you that he will never make the same mistake again."