Thanks to those who reviewed. The pills thing came from "The Aristocats",
of all places. First time I really saw that movie, I'm not kidding. I liked
the brown kitten Toulouse a lot. Anyway, I saw Edgar mixing in a whole
bottleful of the pills in cream, and there I suddenly found what I was
looking for. That idea did solve one big aspect of this story that refused
to work with the rest. My lessons in school will actually help in making
this thing convincing. I hope you like the results. On to the story.
............................
Poor Kaoru had a rough night. She only managed three hours out of her usual eight. Her mind was on her permanent houseguest, who she left in the practice area. She did not know what had happened to Kenshin, and she did not know who to ask about it. The new doctor was not exactly a very approachable person. And even if he were, she was in no position to be calling for him in the middle of the night without real reason.
As soon as the sun's rays passed through her paper doors, she resolutely got up to make breakfast. She knew her cooking skills were very pale in comparison to Kenshin's, but she had to do something to calm her nerves. She put some water to a boil, and readied some vegetables.
"You just had to like an unpredictable wanderer, Kamiya Kaoru, you just had to!" she reproved herself as she chopped the carrots and radishes. "You could've fed him, then let him move on, but no! You let the wanderer stay with you, and you had to love him-----"
"Good morning, Kaoru-dono," the wanderer's voice was heard from behind her. "I am sorry, you had to make breakfast........"
"Kenshin!" She dropped knife and carrots in her haste, all wrath forgotten. "I was so worried!" She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "Are you alright?"
The embraced was happily surprised, but surprised. "I am alright, Kaoru- dono, but why do I get a hug?"
"You mean, you don't remember?"
Kenshin gave her a puzzled look. "Remember what?"
"Well, you did notice that you slept in the practice area, right? I tried to wake you for dinner but I couldn't........"
"Oh, that," he said. "I am sorry. I suppose the medicine was just too strong?" he scratched his head and gave her a silly grin.
The young lady looked him straight in the eyes, with the look that made the most stubborn students obey. "Promise me you will not take them again, Kenshin!" she implored.
He remained silent.
He could not promise. For the first time in days, he felt completely relieved of the haunting past. There were no threatening voices, no tormenting dreams. He welcomed the absence of thought, even for a few hours. He wanted it again.
He was not sure if that was what people felt when they said they were dead drunk, or if it was something else. It was somewhat disconcerting when he did not immediately know where he was when he awoke. Nonetheless, he did not find any cause for Kaoru's alarm. And he did not see why it should not be alright to have peaceful slumber, drug-induced or otherwise. He was desperate not to have those nightmares again. If it meant he had to use the doctor's medicine again, he did not see why Kaoru should object. Kaoru did not even have to know, yes?
"Shall I help you with breakfast now, Kaoru-dono?" he asked after the long, uneasy silence.
"I'll be fine," she answered nonchalantly, turned her back on him and resumed chopping.
Breakfast was a rather quiet affair as well, and Yahiko knew better than to ask why. Each one thought his or her thoughts. Both were not sure if they wanted to know what the other was thinking.
To keep the daytime terrors away, Kenshin kept busy. He bought the groceries, fixed potential roof leaks, did the laundry, and hung them out to dry. However, most of these were routine jobs, and still did not require much of him. Thus, the ringing thoughts remained.
She will never be truly yours. She will never be truly yours. Never.
That is impossible! He answered himself. I saved her, did I not? More than once! She knows how I feel about her, yes? She returns my affections, does she not? How can she not be mine?
Think about it, Kenshin! Think about it! The voices in his head replied. Young women like her prefer men with reputation, and not the way YOU have a reputation. You are not famous, you are infamous. You are a hero, but you are a murderer.
Not anymore!
But you were. What will people say when they know she is married to a killer?
They do not know that here! And she has no family to answer to! I have a good reputation here, finally! I have proven myself to her and to my friends. What more is needed?
She keeps you here because she needs you. You are useful to her. Having no other man, she has seen you and liked you. The moment another man enters her life, you will be taken out of the picture. She will forget you, and she will have her own life apart from you. She will never be truly yours. Never.
Kenshin held his head, and covered his ears. "Stop it! That is not true! No! Stop it!" He panted and gasped for breath. The thoughts were choking him.
A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Kenshin? You alright?"
Kaoru found him in the kitchen, standing in front of some chopped lettuce, holding his head, his hands shaking, and his eyes closed. It was as if he was a little boy, and had seen a ghost.
"Let me handle dinner, Kenshin," she offered. "I need practice, anyway."
"That is alright, Kaoru-dono. I will handle it," he replied, all color gone from his face.
"But Kenshin.........."
"I said I will handle it!" he snapped back.
The young lady was shocked into an open gape.
The unusual severity in his voice surprised him as well. "Sorry, Kaoru- dono," he quickly apologized. "I am alright. I will have dinner ready shortly."
She sighed and left to change her clothes.
He looked up and watched her leave. As he did so, he found a new bottle in the kitchen shelves. It was the bottle with the white pills.
He told himself he would not bother Kaoru with them again. He took the bottle and placed it in his bedroom. If he took it again, she need not know anymore. He need not worry her again.
But she was worried. He did not sound like himself, even if he apologized. He was keeping something from her, and she had a feeling it was something about himself. She knew enough about him to know that. When something bothered him, he would turn morose, quiet, and irritable.
No matter how much he had tried to hide it, she was not dense. For the past two weeks Kenshin did not smile as often. For several nights she had heard someone pacing the floor just outside her bedroom. Thankfully, nobody came who she did not know. No psychopaths, no mercenaries, and no policemen. Nobody wanted anything very important out of her favorite redhead.
When she tried to ask what was bothering him, however, he would not say. It was like before. He did not want to burden her with his problems. She shook her head. That was the main problem with Himura Kenshin. He did not know how to ask for help. He offered help, and people took it. People helped him without exactly asking him, and he just took their help. He rarely asked for help himself. It was the same now. If she asked, all he said what that he was fine, even if he was not. If she prodded, he would be angry. What was a girl to do?
There was one other thing that worried her. At the Maekawa dojo a few students were talking about a relative who had died just yesterday. The man had gone on a drinking spree that night, then gone to bed. He was found dead the next morning. Beside him was found a medicine bottle.
"Tell me," she had asked. "Was it a clear glass bottle, full of white round pills?" She even asked about the brand name given at the label, and the maker.
"Yes, I believe that's how they described it," someone answered.
She gave her thanks, and quickly left.
Kenshin did have one of those deadly medicine bottles. She went home as fast as she could. She found him just standing in the kitchen with a deathly pale face. He looked distraught and strange. When she held him at the shoulder, she was relieved that he still recognized her. Then she was deeply concerned when he shouted at her.
She looked at the kitchen shelves. She found the medicine bottle still placed at one of the high shelves. Tomorrow she would go to the big hospital and ask about them. Right now, she was glad Kenshin had not taken them again. Maybe his irritation was just a side effect from last night. Nothing to worry about. At least, she hoped it was nothing to worry about.
When she had finished changing into her house kimono, she returned to the kitchen. Rice and soup were ready at the table, but Kenshin was no longer there. Worse, the medicine bottle was no longer there.
She ran through the house, calling loudly for him, but he was not in the whole house. She armed herself with a lantern and ran to the neighbors. None had seen him. Where could that annoying little man be?! She tried the Akabeko, the police office, and the night market. He was not there. What if he got so mad with her pestering? What if he got so mad...........what if he, just up and left her?
She started to get desperate. The sun had set, and darkness had descended on Tokyo. Still no Kenshin. She swore that if she found him, she would first give him a solid whack on the head, and demand to know why he suddenly left without telling her. Then she would gave him such a tight hug he would gasp for air.
She remembered that quiet spot near the river, where fireflies dotted the grass with little lights. She walked there in a hurry, to her favorite quiet place with him, if only to pray there that he would be found. She needed someone to talk to. She did not care if they were the fireflies or the spirits of the river.
But she found a human figure already standing there among the fireflies. She walked closer to the figure. The light from the lantern revealed a familiar white hakama.
"Kenshin!" she called as he ran to him. She was eternally grateful he just decided to meditate or to think, at one of his favorite places.
"Hello, Kaoru-dono," he greeted with a sad smile. "Have you eaten?"
She let him have it. "BAKA! You just disappeared! How could I possibly eat dinner without you--------" Wait, wasn't that too frank?
But he did not reply, or give her a clueless grin, or apologize profusely. He just stood there with blank eyes.
She had to get to the bottom of this, and she was ready to get facts. "Don't you like staying at the dojo anymore, Kenshin?" she asked. "Tell me the truth."
"On the contrary," he smiled faintly. "It is..........it is not that, Kaoru- dono." He looked away.
"Am I...............am I...........is there a problem with me, Kenshin?" she asked again.
He shook his head. No, it was not her. Nothing was wrong with her. Something was terribly wrong with him. Especially, the way he hoped she loved him as much as he loved her.
Kaoru was the reason the nightmares that filled his evenings. He knew that now.
It was that lingering thought that made him remember his blood-filled past, and tortured him night after night. With a past like he had, what right had he to make her his forever? The last time he fully opened his heart, the woman died! As it was, it had quite happened to this woman beside him already.
With Tomoe, they were paired together by someone else. He liked the arrangement, of course, but someone else had made it so. With Kaoru, it will be completely up to him. He had to propose to her. He was not sure if he could do it.
The rest of him agreed. You could not do it, Kenshin! You do not deserve her! With a past like yours, you don't deserve her!
"Kenshin? What's wrong?" Kaoru gazed at his serious face. "Please tell me!"
He could not tell her, not just yet. He did not even know how to tell her, anyway. He sighed. "I am just tired, Kaoru-dono. Shall we go home?"
She nodded.
They walked as they always have, side by side, the lantern between them. They walked in silence, looking straight ahead. The crickets chirped around them, and the occasional songbird warbled a sorrowful tune as they passed.
Kaoru still felt the turmoil in Kenshin's mind. He was worried about something, something he could not tell her. She wanted to tell him, somehow, that he could trust her with his problem, whatever it was. But words would not suffice, or would not be truly heard.
She took her right hand, and placed it in his left. He did not say anything. He just squeezed her hand as they walked.
They entered the dojo, hands together. He only released his hold when they were reached his bedroom. "Thank you," he bowed to her and opened the sliding paper door. "Good night." He went in, and closed the door behind her.
"But what about dinner -------" she asked as he was closing the door.
"Not hungry." The door shut.
He turned in for the night, and was surrounded by darkness. Then he was aware of a beautiful summer day. He sat by himself on a log near the river.
In front of him, Kaoru stood in her favorite yellow kimono. Her long hair flew every which way in the summer breeze, having been freed from a purple ribbon. It was the first time he got a very good look at her, and how pretty the rather tomboyish girl could be.
She held the ribbon in front of her. She wanted him to keep it. As a reminder of her. As his promise that he would not leave without telling her. As his promise that he would return to her. He finally took it, and she gave him a beautiful smile.
But as she smiled, a figure snatched her from behind, and took her way. The man carried her away in a boat, farther and farther from him. He could only stand there and stare, as Kaoru drifted farther, and disappeared from sight.
"No! Kaoru-dono!" He called out.
He woke with a start. His hair was soaked in sweat.
The clock chimed the first hour of the new day. The full moon shone through the window. He held his face in his hands.
So what if she loves you, Kenshin? The voices rang again. Someday she will be taken from you, for good. You've just been lucky. You were able to get her back. But what about the next time? Will you be able to save her again? She will never be truly yours, Kenshin! She will never be yours!
His eyes fell on the medicine bottle. He remembered Kaoru's eyes as she pleaded with him yesterday morning. But she did not understand what he was going through. She did not know about the nightmares. She did not know, she was the reason for them. He truly wanted to do what she said, and stop taking the medicine. Yet, he remembered the absence of thought. It was better than the presence of dreams.
"I am sorry, Kaoru-dono," he said as he looked at the bottle in his hand. "I have no choice."
He opened it, took out a pill, and swallowed it. Soon, both problems and Kaoru were forgotten.
.........................
This got done during the Saturday after classes started. I just wanted to take a break from it all.
JML already knows this, and I have to tell the rest of the reviewers. I post new chapters now whenever I can, since I get busy in med school. 2-3 weeks between chapters is good turnout now. I hope you will be patient with me and keep tracking this little piece over the school year. It might take a long while, but I will finish it.
Hikari Kitten – Thanks much. Hope you like this update!
Marlingirl – Thank you for liking the story. I hope you get to read this update.
KyteAura – Thanks for liking my work so far. Don't worry, this is solid K/K, with nothing else. Thanks for not going on a rampage because I write E/M. I'm glad you think my work is improving!
JML – Sorry you got confused or something. Thanks for reading all the same.
Chiki – Ey! Long time no see! Thanks for liking it! I hope school is fine for you.
See you all next time!
............................
Poor Kaoru had a rough night. She only managed three hours out of her usual eight. Her mind was on her permanent houseguest, who she left in the practice area. She did not know what had happened to Kenshin, and she did not know who to ask about it. The new doctor was not exactly a very approachable person. And even if he were, she was in no position to be calling for him in the middle of the night without real reason.
As soon as the sun's rays passed through her paper doors, she resolutely got up to make breakfast. She knew her cooking skills were very pale in comparison to Kenshin's, but she had to do something to calm her nerves. She put some water to a boil, and readied some vegetables.
"You just had to like an unpredictable wanderer, Kamiya Kaoru, you just had to!" she reproved herself as she chopped the carrots and radishes. "You could've fed him, then let him move on, but no! You let the wanderer stay with you, and you had to love him-----"
"Good morning, Kaoru-dono," the wanderer's voice was heard from behind her. "I am sorry, you had to make breakfast........"
"Kenshin!" She dropped knife and carrots in her haste, all wrath forgotten. "I was so worried!" She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "Are you alright?"
The embraced was happily surprised, but surprised. "I am alright, Kaoru- dono, but why do I get a hug?"
"You mean, you don't remember?"
Kenshin gave her a puzzled look. "Remember what?"
"Well, you did notice that you slept in the practice area, right? I tried to wake you for dinner but I couldn't........"
"Oh, that," he said. "I am sorry. I suppose the medicine was just too strong?" he scratched his head and gave her a silly grin.
The young lady looked him straight in the eyes, with the look that made the most stubborn students obey. "Promise me you will not take them again, Kenshin!" she implored.
He remained silent.
He could not promise. For the first time in days, he felt completely relieved of the haunting past. There were no threatening voices, no tormenting dreams. He welcomed the absence of thought, even for a few hours. He wanted it again.
He was not sure if that was what people felt when they said they were dead drunk, or if it was something else. It was somewhat disconcerting when he did not immediately know where he was when he awoke. Nonetheless, he did not find any cause for Kaoru's alarm. And he did not see why it should not be alright to have peaceful slumber, drug-induced or otherwise. He was desperate not to have those nightmares again. If it meant he had to use the doctor's medicine again, he did not see why Kaoru should object. Kaoru did not even have to know, yes?
"Shall I help you with breakfast now, Kaoru-dono?" he asked after the long, uneasy silence.
"I'll be fine," she answered nonchalantly, turned her back on him and resumed chopping.
Breakfast was a rather quiet affair as well, and Yahiko knew better than to ask why. Each one thought his or her thoughts. Both were not sure if they wanted to know what the other was thinking.
To keep the daytime terrors away, Kenshin kept busy. He bought the groceries, fixed potential roof leaks, did the laundry, and hung them out to dry. However, most of these were routine jobs, and still did not require much of him. Thus, the ringing thoughts remained.
She will never be truly yours. She will never be truly yours. Never.
That is impossible! He answered himself. I saved her, did I not? More than once! She knows how I feel about her, yes? She returns my affections, does she not? How can she not be mine?
Think about it, Kenshin! Think about it! The voices in his head replied. Young women like her prefer men with reputation, and not the way YOU have a reputation. You are not famous, you are infamous. You are a hero, but you are a murderer.
Not anymore!
But you were. What will people say when they know she is married to a killer?
They do not know that here! And she has no family to answer to! I have a good reputation here, finally! I have proven myself to her and to my friends. What more is needed?
She keeps you here because she needs you. You are useful to her. Having no other man, she has seen you and liked you. The moment another man enters her life, you will be taken out of the picture. She will forget you, and she will have her own life apart from you. She will never be truly yours. Never.
Kenshin held his head, and covered his ears. "Stop it! That is not true! No! Stop it!" He panted and gasped for breath. The thoughts were choking him.
A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Kenshin? You alright?"
Kaoru found him in the kitchen, standing in front of some chopped lettuce, holding his head, his hands shaking, and his eyes closed. It was as if he was a little boy, and had seen a ghost.
"Let me handle dinner, Kenshin," she offered. "I need practice, anyway."
"That is alright, Kaoru-dono. I will handle it," he replied, all color gone from his face.
"But Kenshin.........."
"I said I will handle it!" he snapped back.
The young lady was shocked into an open gape.
The unusual severity in his voice surprised him as well. "Sorry, Kaoru- dono," he quickly apologized. "I am alright. I will have dinner ready shortly."
She sighed and left to change her clothes.
He looked up and watched her leave. As he did so, he found a new bottle in the kitchen shelves. It was the bottle with the white pills.
He told himself he would not bother Kaoru with them again. He took the bottle and placed it in his bedroom. If he took it again, she need not know anymore. He need not worry her again.
But she was worried. He did not sound like himself, even if he apologized. He was keeping something from her, and she had a feeling it was something about himself. She knew enough about him to know that. When something bothered him, he would turn morose, quiet, and irritable.
No matter how much he had tried to hide it, she was not dense. For the past two weeks Kenshin did not smile as often. For several nights she had heard someone pacing the floor just outside her bedroom. Thankfully, nobody came who she did not know. No psychopaths, no mercenaries, and no policemen. Nobody wanted anything very important out of her favorite redhead.
When she tried to ask what was bothering him, however, he would not say. It was like before. He did not want to burden her with his problems. She shook her head. That was the main problem with Himura Kenshin. He did not know how to ask for help. He offered help, and people took it. People helped him without exactly asking him, and he just took their help. He rarely asked for help himself. It was the same now. If she asked, all he said what that he was fine, even if he was not. If she prodded, he would be angry. What was a girl to do?
There was one other thing that worried her. At the Maekawa dojo a few students were talking about a relative who had died just yesterday. The man had gone on a drinking spree that night, then gone to bed. He was found dead the next morning. Beside him was found a medicine bottle.
"Tell me," she had asked. "Was it a clear glass bottle, full of white round pills?" She even asked about the brand name given at the label, and the maker.
"Yes, I believe that's how they described it," someone answered.
She gave her thanks, and quickly left.
Kenshin did have one of those deadly medicine bottles. She went home as fast as she could. She found him just standing in the kitchen with a deathly pale face. He looked distraught and strange. When she held him at the shoulder, she was relieved that he still recognized her. Then she was deeply concerned when he shouted at her.
She looked at the kitchen shelves. She found the medicine bottle still placed at one of the high shelves. Tomorrow she would go to the big hospital and ask about them. Right now, she was glad Kenshin had not taken them again. Maybe his irritation was just a side effect from last night. Nothing to worry about. At least, she hoped it was nothing to worry about.
When she had finished changing into her house kimono, she returned to the kitchen. Rice and soup were ready at the table, but Kenshin was no longer there. Worse, the medicine bottle was no longer there.
She ran through the house, calling loudly for him, but he was not in the whole house. She armed herself with a lantern and ran to the neighbors. None had seen him. Where could that annoying little man be?! She tried the Akabeko, the police office, and the night market. He was not there. What if he got so mad with her pestering? What if he got so mad...........what if he, just up and left her?
She started to get desperate. The sun had set, and darkness had descended on Tokyo. Still no Kenshin. She swore that if she found him, she would first give him a solid whack on the head, and demand to know why he suddenly left without telling her. Then she would gave him such a tight hug he would gasp for air.
She remembered that quiet spot near the river, where fireflies dotted the grass with little lights. She walked there in a hurry, to her favorite quiet place with him, if only to pray there that he would be found. She needed someone to talk to. She did not care if they were the fireflies or the spirits of the river.
But she found a human figure already standing there among the fireflies. She walked closer to the figure. The light from the lantern revealed a familiar white hakama.
"Kenshin!" she called as he ran to him. She was eternally grateful he just decided to meditate or to think, at one of his favorite places.
"Hello, Kaoru-dono," he greeted with a sad smile. "Have you eaten?"
She let him have it. "BAKA! You just disappeared! How could I possibly eat dinner without you--------" Wait, wasn't that too frank?
But he did not reply, or give her a clueless grin, or apologize profusely. He just stood there with blank eyes.
She had to get to the bottom of this, and she was ready to get facts. "Don't you like staying at the dojo anymore, Kenshin?" she asked. "Tell me the truth."
"On the contrary," he smiled faintly. "It is..........it is not that, Kaoru- dono." He looked away.
"Am I...............am I...........is there a problem with me, Kenshin?" she asked again.
He shook his head. No, it was not her. Nothing was wrong with her. Something was terribly wrong with him. Especially, the way he hoped she loved him as much as he loved her.
Kaoru was the reason the nightmares that filled his evenings. He knew that now.
It was that lingering thought that made him remember his blood-filled past, and tortured him night after night. With a past like he had, what right had he to make her his forever? The last time he fully opened his heart, the woman died! As it was, it had quite happened to this woman beside him already.
With Tomoe, they were paired together by someone else. He liked the arrangement, of course, but someone else had made it so. With Kaoru, it will be completely up to him. He had to propose to her. He was not sure if he could do it.
The rest of him agreed. You could not do it, Kenshin! You do not deserve her! With a past like yours, you don't deserve her!
"Kenshin? What's wrong?" Kaoru gazed at his serious face. "Please tell me!"
He could not tell her, not just yet. He did not even know how to tell her, anyway. He sighed. "I am just tired, Kaoru-dono. Shall we go home?"
She nodded.
They walked as they always have, side by side, the lantern between them. They walked in silence, looking straight ahead. The crickets chirped around them, and the occasional songbird warbled a sorrowful tune as they passed.
Kaoru still felt the turmoil in Kenshin's mind. He was worried about something, something he could not tell her. She wanted to tell him, somehow, that he could trust her with his problem, whatever it was. But words would not suffice, or would not be truly heard.
She took her right hand, and placed it in his left. He did not say anything. He just squeezed her hand as they walked.
They entered the dojo, hands together. He only released his hold when they were reached his bedroom. "Thank you," he bowed to her and opened the sliding paper door. "Good night." He went in, and closed the door behind her.
"But what about dinner -------" she asked as he was closing the door.
"Not hungry." The door shut.
He turned in for the night, and was surrounded by darkness. Then he was aware of a beautiful summer day. He sat by himself on a log near the river.
In front of him, Kaoru stood in her favorite yellow kimono. Her long hair flew every which way in the summer breeze, having been freed from a purple ribbon. It was the first time he got a very good look at her, and how pretty the rather tomboyish girl could be.
She held the ribbon in front of her. She wanted him to keep it. As a reminder of her. As his promise that he would not leave without telling her. As his promise that he would return to her. He finally took it, and she gave him a beautiful smile.
But as she smiled, a figure snatched her from behind, and took her way. The man carried her away in a boat, farther and farther from him. He could only stand there and stare, as Kaoru drifted farther, and disappeared from sight.
"No! Kaoru-dono!" He called out.
He woke with a start. His hair was soaked in sweat.
The clock chimed the first hour of the new day. The full moon shone through the window. He held his face in his hands.
So what if she loves you, Kenshin? The voices rang again. Someday she will be taken from you, for good. You've just been lucky. You were able to get her back. But what about the next time? Will you be able to save her again? She will never be truly yours, Kenshin! She will never be yours!
His eyes fell on the medicine bottle. He remembered Kaoru's eyes as she pleaded with him yesterday morning. But she did not understand what he was going through. She did not know about the nightmares. She did not know, she was the reason for them. He truly wanted to do what she said, and stop taking the medicine. Yet, he remembered the absence of thought. It was better than the presence of dreams.
"I am sorry, Kaoru-dono," he said as he looked at the bottle in his hand. "I have no choice."
He opened it, took out a pill, and swallowed it. Soon, both problems and Kaoru were forgotten.
.........................
This got done during the Saturday after classes started. I just wanted to take a break from it all.
JML already knows this, and I have to tell the rest of the reviewers. I post new chapters now whenever I can, since I get busy in med school. 2-3 weeks between chapters is good turnout now. I hope you will be patient with me and keep tracking this little piece over the school year. It might take a long while, but I will finish it.
Hikari Kitten – Thanks much. Hope you like this update!
Marlingirl – Thank you for liking the story. I hope you get to read this update.
KyteAura – Thanks for liking my work so far. Don't worry, this is solid K/K, with nothing else. Thanks for not going on a rampage because I write E/M. I'm glad you think my work is improving!
JML – Sorry you got confused or something. Thanks for reading all the same.
Chiki – Ey! Long time no see! Thanks for liking it! I hope school is fine for you.
See you all next time!