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Chapter 8

They found the smugglers underneath the rubbles of the mansion of Mr. Valdez. Finding entrance into the laboratory unnoticed was not hard for them because Reika showed them all the possible paths into it. They attacked in the middle of the night, and they finished the job even before the first sunlight touched the earth. Satisfied, Jericho and Charlene went back to the Spirit World while Eugene and the others went back home.

They were sitting underneath an oak tree at Mr. Valdez's garden, waiting for the sun to rise, actually waiting for each other to speak up.

"Reika, about your question the other day", Dennis started in a soft voice. "About starting all over again. I---"

"Oh, don't make a big deal about it Dennis. I understand your life is perfectly fine right now and you can no longer afford anything that might mess it up. So it's ok for me if you don't want to----"

Reika stopped in mid-sentence as she felt Dennis grabbed her waist and heaved her closer to his body. Reika let Dennis hold her inside his arms as she rested her chin on his shoulder and listened to his words.

"I don't know how much you suffered due to my absence and I know your grief is immeasurable. But will you let me at least protect you from any more suffering or grief from now on? Will you let me hold you like these and will you believe me when I promise that I will never leave you again?"

Reika smiled as she listened to every word Dennis uttered. She returned his embrace and said, "Yes."

"It is totally unbelievable. I never thought part of me still feels the same way I did back at the other world. These past years, I knew my heart was whispering your name, but after I saw you at school as Reika Hanzo I realized my heart started shouting your name again. I just did not expect that I will come to this", Dennis said.

"Are you not happy?", Reika asked.

Dennis lifted Reika's face and kissed her as the sun came out of the horizon and kissed the yearning earth below it. A scent of thousand flowers filled and lingered in the air, drowning life on earth in their priceless and endless love that no knows world nor boundaries.

The end.