PART FOURTEEN

The sweet pain of loss

Damn sh*t, Tokiya cursed impatiently, as he collided with a small boy (who apparently started crying) at the airport, almost tripping himself. He muttered a small apology, and then dashed off again. He barely even had time to reach Fuuko in time, much less guide the boy back to his parents. He couldn't even run straight through all the people in the crowded airport, owing to the fact that it was killing him to think of not making it.

And it so did not help that what the receptionist told him an hour ago kept popping back into his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry; they left thirty minutes ago for the airport…"

After that he pretty much killed himself just to get a taxi and reach the port in forty-five minutes. But the problem was, he'd almost spent ten minutes already, just looking for the plane his friends were boarding.

Or in his concern, the plane Fuuko was boarding.

He skidded to a stop in front of the huge billboards displaying the flights for that day. Panting, he looked up, his eyes darting back and forth through the planes listed and their destinations.

5 pm flight to Tokyo…5 pm flight to Tokyo…come on…where are you damn it…

He froze as he caught sight of the plane he was looking for. And the status—departing.

Holy sh*t, he glanced at the flight number and turned left to its port, checking his watch. And he felt like a huge cannon ball had just dropped into the pit of his stomach. For a moment he thought he would puke. He put his wrist down and didn't dare to think of the time he'd just seen. He concentrated on running his lungs out as he glanced around frantically for the port he was looking for.

This was insane. He was just given the best woman in the world a year ago to be his and only his. And yet he had let her go. He had even escaped from her by running off to China. And just a week ago he was given another chance to have her back. But all week he'd ignored her and acted like she wasn't even there. And now it was the seventh day, and she was leaving…in less than minutes…to leave his life forever…

And here he was just realizing how much he really loved her.

He'd seen these kinds of situations in movies before; oh yes, too many clichés that it wasn't interesting to watch anymore, because it was always the same ending. Everyone would already know the outcome. There would always be some guy in an airport to chase a girl at the last minute, and then the suspense would build up because the audience would think that the guy wouldn't make it. But in the end the guy always does anyway, and then there would be this big, happy ending with stupid kissing scenes and jumpy music in the background.

Same old stupid storylines.

But now that it was actually happening in his life right now, boy was it more than different. The fact that he actually might not make it was driving him more than crazy and he was hoping against hope that the ending really would be just like the movies.

Please…please…god let me make it on time…

And so he ran some more, not caring if everyone else around him was gawking at him like he was some wild horse on the loose. It didn't really matter if the cops started gaining on him any second, or if he drops dead from exhaustion right after he stops…

All that mattered right now was seeing Fuuko's face again…seeing her smile…hearing her sweet voice…and touching her skin…proving to himself that he actually made it…he actually reached her in time…to tell her how he really felt—

He finally reached the end of the endless hallway he'd been running on, where there were people crowding against the glass walls and attendants roaming the ticket checks and the entrance to the plane.

To the plane that wasn't there.

Anymore.

He slowed down to a stop, blinking through the glass walls at the wide airways of the port. Planes were moving here and there, and trolleys and carts were pulling luggage to every plane in sight.

But it was a blinding truth to him that there was an undeniable empty space right in front of him.

The plane was gone; he didn't make it; he was a second too late.

He had just lost the woman he loved.

He had just lost Fuuko.