Thanks again for the wonderful reviews you gave. I have to tell you that after this story, it'll be a while before my next fic. I do hope to hear from you again. Thank you for all your support. Love you guys! Mwah!

PnkSaKuRaSyAoRaNS2 - no, she's not a bad person. If you read it again, you're gonna realize that she was sort of the victim because Matt used her. As far as the reviews goes, no one mentioned a bad thing about Rachelle. I was really surprised because I thought they're gonna hate her, but the character they really hate is Michael. matt&mimi4eva - thank you for your review. I really appreciate it. I need more reviewers like you.

Chapter Fifteen: Truth Will Set You Free

The house never felt so empty before. Mimi was gone.

After a day sitting in chairs & staring at walls, Matt personally took himself in his office then filed & re-filed two years' worth of paperwork. Then he swam four to five miles a day until his legs & arms ached.

But the house stayed empty.

Maybe he should have fought harder. Maybe he should never have thought of that stupid bet in the first place. But then he'd never have held her or kissed her or made love with her. No, he wouldn't trade those memories for anything…even if it hurt every damn day from wanting her.

After a week he looked like hell & people started noticing. Mrs. Toshio sent him dinner. His co-worker's wife sent him frozen lasagna. Even Mrs. Amasake stopped by the house to see if she could 'help out in any way'.

"Hi, Matt, how are you?"

He raised tired eyes from his paperwork to look at his friend, Tai. He was standing in the open doorway of his office. "Hey, there, Kamiya."

Tai grinned before sitting down opposite him. He glanced around at the pristine neatness of his office. "This place sure is clean." His eyes came back to his face. "Man, you look like hell. How are you doing?"

Matt smiled a more genuine smile at his remark. "Not too good, judging by the number of married women that keep sending me food to the house."

Tai chuckled. "I'd be glad to help out in any way."

Matt chuckled too. "Help yourself."

"Nah," Tai's tone became a little bit serious, "you deserve a little suffering."

"Oh good. A lecture, just what I've been missing."

He ignored him. "Sora told me everything. She wanted to come here personally so she can beat the hell out of you, but something came up."

"So you came instead to take her place & kick my ass."

For a moment, that's what he wanted to do…but decided not to. "Mimi really does love you."

"Uh-huh," he leaned back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head. "I could tell that by how quick she left. Fucking ran away again."

Tai frowned at him. "As if you gave her a choice! That was really stupid of you, you know."

Matt's eyes widened. "So you came here to balme ME for what happened?"

"I came here to give senses into your brain, so don't bite my head off."

"Sorry," he looked sincere.

"Let's just hope Mimi doesn't get over you."

He sighed. "Oh, Mimi will get over me, all right. In fact, I think she's pretty much over me by now."

Tai leaned forward. "Don't you dare blame her for this. "This is YOUR fault."

He unlinked his hands, moving his chair forward. "I guess."

"Definitely your fault."

"Well, now that's settled," he stood up. "I believe it's time I go for my swim. So if you'll excuse me."

"I want to know what you're going to do."

Matt reached out for his towel, then threw it down on his desk in frustration. "What do you want me to do, Kamiya? Suffer more? Because let me tell you, I don't that's possible."

"You could get her back."

"Well, how stupid of me! Of course that's what I could do." He snapped his fingers in front of his face. "I'll just fly over to New York & kick Michael's preppy ass…which, incidentally, I REALLY want to do…and then throw her over my shoulder & carry her back here. I guess I better go book my flight." He looked over at the window.

Tai ignored him until he looked at him again. "You finished?"

He dropped down onto the edge of his desk, his shoulders slumped despondently. A small smile appeared. "Days ago, if that matters." Then he shook his head. "Look, if it makes this any better for you & Sora, I know how much I've lost, okay? And it hurts like hell."

Again he studied him. "No."

Matt exploded. "Well, what the fucking else do you want from me?"

"I want you to admit you're in love with her."

"God! Is that all? Fine," he ran his fingers to his already unruly hair. "I'm so in love with Mimi that I cant breathe properly when she's not around. I never fucking will, okay?"

Tai smiled gently. "Then try telling her, Ishida. She deserves to know."

"I can't."

He was completely knocked back by the pain he saw in his face. It was as if someone had just cut open his body without anesthetic. "Why not?"

"I've been trying to for nearly twenty years & I never even got close. I only just survived because there was Mimi. If I ever completely lost her then I'm not sure I could keep going. At least she's happy with Michael & I can still take a shot at trying to be her friend again...given time." He held his arms out in surrender. "So what on earth makes you think I can tell her now? I lost my chance the day she met him."

Mimi had never felt so empty in her entire life. Before, when she was lonely, Matt was there. Before, when she felt lost, Matt was there. Scared…Matt was there. Confused…he was still there. Now she had her worst nightmare…and no Matt.

It felt like hell. He didn't come home the night of the auction so she was able to pack her stuff. Her first day without him had been spent alternately hating his guts & crying her heart out. Then she cleaned her almost-finished house from top to bottom. After that she cried some more. And she swam in the evening when the water was cold.

A week later she knew she probably looked like hell & had no tears left. That stupid, dumb bet. Maybe she should have just left & went back to America. But Sora was due to give birth next week, so Mimi would be needed at the shop…

She knew these were all good excuses, but she realized the truth was that she couldn't leave again…not now. She was finally home, regardless of whether she could ever look at Matt again. Home is where the heart is. And Mimi's heart was in the small corner of the world where Matt was. That was the simple fact.

Sora came to see her one day. She waddled around Mimi's house, studying each room intently & never once mentioned Matt.

Mimi made tea & joined her on the patio. "So, how's the shop?"

"Oh, it's doing great. That new girl we hired is doing all right, you know."

Mimi nodded. "That's good."

"Mmm," Sora glanced back at the house. "This place will be nice when it's done. You have a really great view."

"That's why I bought this place. There's even a pathway to the beach through those trees." She jerked her head in the direction of the pathway.

Sora nodded. "That's nice."

Mimi took a sip of her tea. "So, how are you & the baby?"

"We're only about twenty months overdue now."

"Oh, well, that's all right then." Mimi took another drink before raising her eyebrow. "And how it Tai?"

Sora exploded. "Oh, for crying out loud, Mimi. Why don't you ask me how Matt is? It's pretty obvious you want to know."

Mimi blinked with wide, sad eyes. "Okay, fine…how is he?"

"Oh, he's just great, if you think the zombie look I attractive."

Mimi stood up & walked towards the railing. She thought she was finished with the crying phase…apparently not.

"Yes, he looks as bad as you do right now. If you ask me, both of you need your heads banging together. Why on earth would you prefer being miserable to being together?"

"It's not like we had a choice."

"Really?"

"Oh, right, I get it." She looked at her friend with glistening eyes. "This is all MY fault because I chose to leave, right? That's what you're getting at. Nothing at all to do with the fact that Matt kissed another woman in front of the entire town to get back at me for something I didn't even do."

"I didn't say that."

"No, but that's what you thought."

"But the two of you were so happy! You walk around smiling like idiots the whole time." Sora shook her head. "So, what went wrong?"

Mimi seemed to deflate before Sora's eyes. "He gave up on me. If he loved me as much I love him then he would never have given up. I want him, Sora…" he voice broke, "I want my best friend to fall head over heals in love with me."

"He did."

She brushed a hand across her face. "No, he didn't. You see, Matt fights for the things he loves the most. How could he even, for one second, think I'd go back to Michael's fucking ass?"

Sora looked at her friend's sad face. This was just awful. "Maybe he's scared, Mimi."

"Yamato Ishida, scared? I don't think so."

"It's possible."

"Well, in that case he was obviously less scared of losing me than he was of taking a chance on us. That's really fucked up!"

"Maybe he was scared of the same things you would be if you were in his shoes."

"Like what?"

Sora sighed dramatically. "Oh, you know…the usual stuff. Maybe you didn't love him as much as he wanted you to. Maybe you really belonged with Michael. Maybe you'd run off to America & break his heart again…"

"I never broke his heart by going to America!"

She looked straight at her friend's eyes. "Didn't you?"

Mimi stared back. "Sora, did I? Did I break his heart when I left?"

"Yes, you did."

The first time he saw her she was dancing with Joe Kido. It had been two weeks of hell, and the first time he had courage to attend a social gathering there she was…with fucking Joe Kido!

He marched straight up to them on the hotel dance floor, all eyes in the room were on him. "What in God's name are you doing here?"

Mimi raised an eyebrow, then glared at him. "I believe it's called dancing."

Matt stared at her in complete amazement.

"Go away, Ishida."

"Like fuck I will."

"Look, Matt," Joe turned to look at him. "I believe the lady wants you to leave. I don't think she wants to talk to you."

Matt glared at him, fire burning in his eyes. "Unless you plan on eating your own teeth for dinner, I guess you stay out of this."

"Matt!"

"I mean it…he better stay out of it."

"Stay out of what exactly?"

For a moment he looked dumbfounded. "Well…"

Mimi raised both eyebrows. "Well?"

His eyes scanned the room, ignoring the fact that they've become the center of attention for the evening again. "Where is Michael?"

"Who?"

"You heard me."

She appeared to think for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "Oh, you mean Michael…the guy you GAVE me to. Well, now, my guess would be that he's back in New York…with his fiancé."

Her clod eyes looked him up & down before turning to shine on Joe. "Now, Joe, if you don't mind, I think we'll go somewhere else. I don't feel comfortable with the crowd in here."

"Wait," one large hand grasped her arm. "You didn't go back with Michael?"

Joe stepped between them, removing Matt's hand. "Why can't you just leave her alone, Matt? I think she made it perfectly clear she doesn't want to speak to you."

With a smirk Matt glanced at Joe from the corner of his eye. "I did warn you." And with that, Matt punched him so hard it put him on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Mimi yelled. She dropped down beside Joe. "Joe, are you all right?"

"I warned him," Matt justified his action while nursing his bruised fist. "Where have you been if you haven't been with Michael?"

"Go to hell!"

Matt laughed. "Been there, done that."

Mimi stood up, helping Joe to his feet before standing off against Matt. "You are a complete moron…you know that? Who the hell do you think you are? When you GAVE me to Michael you gave up all your prior claims. So you can just butt out of my life…you hear me?"

"You fucking kissed him!"

"You kissed Rachelle Song!"

"That was different!"

"The hell it was! She has a boyfriend for goodness sake!"

Matt blinked, then frowned. "Whatever…have it your way."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Yeah, right" Matt stormed off the dance floor.

Mimi marched right after him. She couldn't help herself. "Oh, and by the way, tough guy, that friend you were so eager to give me to?"

Matt turned around, his face serious. "What about him?"

"He screwed around."

"What?"

At the look of complete shock on his face Mimi almost softened. But it was about time he heard the truth. "Yup, just shortly after I figured out he wasn't the guy for me, he went & proved I was right…several times. So what makes you think I'd want to stick around for more?"

A variety of emotions crossed his expressive face. Then he shook his head, his eyes sad. "I had no idea. I'm so sorry. If only I knew…"

Honey-brown eyes stared up into ocean blue. "Yeah, well, that's why I didn't tell you. I knew exactly what you'll do." She glanced around the room, her voice lower. "But like I've told you before, Ishida, I'm crap at relationships. You've proved that, haven't you?" She turned away, walking back towards her table & Joe.

"Mimi?"

Her softly spoken name made her stop, but she just couldn't look at him again. If she did, she wouldn't be able to walk away. And she knew it. "What?"

"Why did you kiss him?"

"I didn't," she sighed. "HE kissed ME. If only you waited ten seconds you'd have seen exactly what I thought of him doing that."

The music changed in the background & a soulful love song filled the silence. Mimi held her breath.

"I've really screwed this up, haven't I?"

She looked at her feet, her eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to stay in control. "It was that stupid bet, Matt. IT screwed things up. Maybe we'd have been better if we stayed the way we were."

Matt stared at her back for a long moment. "What do I have to do to make this right again?"

"If you don't know by now, Ishida, then I can't tell you." Her eyes blinked harder as she looked towards the ceiling.

She waited for a few moments, but when Matt said nothing she walked away, even managing to get to Joe before glancing over her shoulder…but he was gone.

"That's quite a hook your boyfriend has," Joe smiled wryly as she joined him.

Mimi was a little embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Joe. I had no idea he would hit you."

Joe smiled at his date. "You did warn me he might be upset if he saw us."

"Mmm," she looked towards the entrance way. "But still, it's not like Matt to just run around hitting people all over the place."

"The man's tortured. I have to say he looks like hell."

Mimi noticed too. For a moment she wanted to reach out for him, to comfort him. But if he was stupid enough not to see how she felt then why should she help him out of his misery?

Joe studied her profile for a few silent moments. "It must be something to love someone as much as you two love each other."

Mimi turned sad honey-brown eyes towards him. "Oh, yeah, it's something all right." She reached a hand towards his swollen cheek. "I really am sorry. If I thought this would happen, I would never have asked you to come along."

He placed his hand over hers, turning her palm to his lips to place a kiss there. "It's certainly my pleasure, Mimi. I've been waiting to have a date with you since I first saw you, & at least this way I can say I went out with you before you settled down."

"You know, Joe Kido, you're not that bad after all."

He smiled. "Why don't you put him out of his misery, Mimi?"

"You mean, why don't I go tell him how much I love him & all that?"

He nodded. "Yeah, all that."

She glanced towards the entrance way, then back into Joe's eyes. "Honestly?"

With a gentle squeeze of her fingers, he released her hand. "Honestly."

"I'm scared to death he doesn't feel the same way I do."

Joe smiled broadly. "Honey, I really don't think you've got a problem there."

Mimi smiled weakly. "I guess a part of me knows that, but I just need him to tell it to me too. I'm only human; I need the words."

"I'm pretty sure they're there. I'd say Matt is just struggling on how to say them."

"God, I hope you're right."

AN: I hope you're not mad at me for putting Joe in here. At least he's helping Mimi out, right? Anyways, one last chapter to go. I personally want to thank everybody for your great reviews! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!