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"I draw." Arnold didn't draw as he declared, however. Instead, he was figuratively sweating. Arnold was backed into a corner at this point. The one card he had in his hand was the original Thunder Dragon, which meant that it was statistically unlikely that he can combo that with the card he drew. His field was empty, and to his knowledge, there was no card in his graveyard that could be activated. Raymond was safe.
Arnold eventually did draw a card, and he was a bit scared to look at it the first couple of seconds.
[TURN 5 Arnold LP/3700 Hand/1 — 2]
But that frown turned upside-down. "By banishing Thunder Dragonroar and Thunder Dragonhawk, I can special summon Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!"
[ATK Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning: LIGHT LV/8 Warrior/Effect ATK/3000 DEF/2500]
Raymond just went and jinxed it, didn't he?
"When Dragonroar is banished, I can special summon a Thunder Dragon in defense from my deck, and when Dragonhawk is banished, I can shuffle my hand into the deck and draw a new hand."
[DEF Thunder Dragondark: DARK LV/5 Thunder/Effect ATK/1600 DEF/1500]
"YES! I've drawn another Black Luster Soldier!" Arnold almost jumped out of his seat. Raymond was really trying to hold his snark back on that thought. "I banish Thunder Dragonmatrix and Thunder Dragondark!"
[ATK Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning: LIGHT LV/8 Warrior/Effect ATK/3000 DEF/2500]
"When Dragonmatrix is banished, I can add another copy from my deck! And when Dragondark is banished, I can add Dragonhawk from my deck!" Arnold was fumbling through his cards like mad. "I then activate the same effects for my Black Luster Soldiers! Your Noble and Astro are banished!"
"I activate my trap card!" Raymond responded. "Dragon's Orb protects my dragon-type monsters this turn from targeting effects, also, they cannot be targeted for attacks this turn!"
"Counter trap!" What the!? London's face-down was activating now!? "Ultimate Providence lets me discard a card of the same type to negate it! I discard another copy of Ultimate Providence."
"Why didn't you activate that during Novak's turn?" Dylan questioned. That wasn't a good question; obviously it was because Raymond didn't activate any trap cards last turn. There would be no reason.
"I didn't think he would summon anything important with Poly."
Dylan paid close attention to that.
"I normal summon Dragonmatrix and link summon Borrelsword Dragon."
[ATK Borrelsword Dragon: DARK Dragon/Link/Effect ATK/3000 LINK-4]
"Borrelsword attacks your Eternity Dragon, and when it does, Borrelsword gain attack equal to half that monster's attack, and that monster's attack becomes half its current attack until the end of this turn."
[ATK Borrelsword Dragon: DARK Dragon/Link/Effect ATK/3000 — 4400 LINK-4]
[DEF Cyber Eternity Dragon: LIGHT LV/10 Machine/Fusion/Effect ATK/2800 — 1400 DEF/4000]
"I end."
[TURN 5 Arnold LP/3700 Hand/1]
There went their defense. Raymond still couldn't believe that their opponents got over four thousand so quickly. Now that he thought about it, none of their monsters lasted more than two turns. Was this the state of the game right now? Long gone was the days where players like Raymond could actually have an ace monster, something to be proud of. The amount of effort it took to bring out such a powerful beast bonded with its owner's pride… forgotten.
"Well boys, I don't know about you, but I've had fun." Dylan said. How could he have that calm all the time? "Too bad we have to end it here."
[TURN 6 Dylan Trudeau LP/8000 Hand/2 — 3]
"I normal summon Verstarkung again, which summons Novus, which in turn summons Herz."
[ATK Cyber Dragon Verstarkung: LIGHT LV/3 Machine/Tuner/Effect ATK/500 DEF/2100]
[ATK Cyber Dragon Novus: LIGHT LV/5 Machine/Effect ATK/2100 DEF/1600]
[DEF Cyber Dragon Herz: LIGHT LV/1 — 5 Machine/Effect ATK/100 DEF/100]
Oh. Right. Raymond had forgotten that Dylan had Verstarkung in his hand. He just summoned three monsters with only one card; it was looking good already.
"I overlay Herz and Novus to xyz summon Cyber Dragon Nova!"
[ATK Cyber Dragon Nova/2: LIGHT RK/5 Machine/Xyz/Effect ATK/2100 DEF/1600]
"By detaching a material, Nova summons back Sieger!" The material he detached was Herz, but Dylan didn't bother with activating its effect. This confident?
[ATK Cyber Dragon Nova/2 — 1: LIGHT RK/5 Machine/Xyz/Effect ATK/2100 DEF/1600]
[ATK Cyber Dragon Sieger: LIGHT Machine/Link/Effect ATK/2100 LINK-2]
"I now rank-up Nova into Cyber Dragon Infinity!" He slapped another xyz monster right on top of the first one. Could he really do that? He wanted to question it, but he figured that Dylan should know what he was doing. "It gains two hundred attack for each xyz material!"
[ATK Cyber Dragon Infinity/2: LIGHT RK/6 Machine/Xyz/Effect ATK/2100 — 2500 DEF/1600]
"Infinity allows me to target Borrelsword and attach to it as an xyz material!"
"I chain, activating Borrelsword's effect to switch Infinity's battle position." Arnold responded. "And you can't respond back!"
[ATK — DEF Cyber Dragon Infinity/2 — 3: LIGHT RK/6 Machine/Xyz/Effect ATK/2500 — 2700 DEF/1600]
"That's not even a setback." Dylan grinned. "I activate Power Bond! Using Infinity and Verstarkung to fusion summon Chimeratech Rampage Dragon!"
[ATK Chimeratech Rampage Dragon: DARK LV/5 Machine/Fusion/Effect ATK/2100 — 4200 DEF/1600]
"Sieger's effect activates! I target a machine-type monster I control and give it twenty-one hundred more attack points!"
[ATK Chimeratech Rampage Dragon: DARK LV/5 Machine/Fusion/Effect ATK/4200 — 6300 DEF/1600]
"Then Rampage Dragon's activates! Once per turn, I can send up to two light machine-type monsters from my deck to the grave, I send Cyber Dragon Core and Electromagnetic Turtle from my deck to the grave to give an additional two attacks!"
Three attacks… sixty-three hundred attack points… all direct damage…
"Battle! Chimeratech Rampage Dragon, all-out attack!"
[TURN 6 London LP/5400 — 0 Hand/1]
[TURN 6 Arnold LP/3700 — 0 Hand/1]
"Damn it." Arnold slapped his cards into the table. London did the same, except much weaker. "There goes our chance of three mill…"
All that… without a single point of damage to himself… Dylan was really something else. Raymond didn't want to sound like some sort of moron in his head, but Dylan was a dueling genius. But while Dylan celebrated their victory with his fist in the air and trying to dance on his seat, Raymond felt a little less hope. On the one hand, the rest of the day and the following day would be easy pickings; on the other hand, the third day may pit him up against his former partner.
He needed to figure out a plan. Now. Before it was too late.
Arnold collected his cards and quickly rushed out of from the table with London following. "Let's go, London, we came all this way for nothing."
That struck Raymond. That could've been him. If not for Dylan's cards, he would've been on the first ticket out of here. After all the heavy taxing on his strength, the unpredictable weather, the hours he put into the journey, all wasted. He wouldn't even be able to face his sister. What would he say to her? That her brother was failure who couldn't even begin save her?
Failure was death.
"…Earth to Novak…?" Dylan was waving his hand in front of Raymond's face. Confession: it did scare him. Only a little. Okay, he flinched. "You there…?"
"Yes," Raymond packed his things. "Just lost in thought."
"Oh?" Dylan's curiosity peaked. "What kind of thoughts?"
"Just things." Being vague would hopefully send the message that he didn't want to share it. Like a normal person. Then again, Dylan was a niche man, not the average.
"What kind of things?" Knew it, of course he was blind to social cues. The signs were all there. The naivety was there.
"Just… uh…" What should he say to throw Dylan off? Anything would do the trick, really. Just pick random things in his mind. "Being a master at baiting makes you a masturbator."
Okay, he took it back. Anything would not do the trick. What stupid thought was that? It sounded like a pick-up line some fourteen-year-old would use to catch himself a cougar! If for whatever reason the cougar went to some dirty motel with that fourteen-year-old, it must be out of pity or money. Next time he needed to come up with a distraction, remember to tell himself to never use that sentence ever again.
"Oh. My. God." Dylan, however, disagreed. He gasped and his face lit up like Galileo discovering that all objects—regardless of weight—fell to the earth at the same rate. What was the word? Oh yes, Eureka. "Novak, you are a genius."
Was he though? Thoughts produced without much time often are equivalent to jobless hipsters who dream to be revolutionaries for some unachievable new age. Fantasy must be quashed before they could get out of control, and Raymond's 'Master baiter' quote was certainly something that needed to be oppressed.
…
All of a sudden, Raymond understood how the church felt when they tried to silence Galileo.
"Truly you are a man beyond your time." Dylan added on. He made an okay sign with his hand and kissed the thumb and index as if indicating he was tasting the most exotic of spice.
What scared Raymond was that he still couldn't tell if Dylan was being serious or not…
Was scared the proper word? How to describe the fear of stupidity spreading like the gospel disguised in the form of wise proverbs?
Slow down. Maybe Dylan was only joking, and it flew over Raymond's head.
Wait…
Wow, he was the oblivious one. Of course, there was no way Dylan was serious.
"Being… a… master… at… baiting…" Dylan was texting on his phone, repeating the words as he typed along. "Makes… you… a… masturbator."
Oh God, he was serious.
Thankfully, there was no reply. A quick peak told Raymond that it was a girl. Oh… oh no… that was not something one should say to a girl, even if it was a joke. Raymond lived with two women; he should know by now that women's taste in humor were undeniably different. Their brains were fundamentally different. There's a certain limit on how dense a person could be. He refused to believe that Dylan was an anime protagonist incarnate and the embodiment of the densest element in the universe.
What was this girl going to think? That Dylan was secretly saying that she was an ugly slut baiting him around because she took advantage of the perceived fact, he was thirsty for her but still wouldn't put out? Who knows how and in what way she was going to take this? She'd probably now be cutting all ties to him without him even realizing what he did wrong. A joke to one man is an insult to another.
It'd be a duty as a fellow man to teach this knowledge to Dylan, whom looked like he had little to no experience with this kind of stuff. It'd be the least Raymond could do for him after all Dylan did for him.
"I wouldn't send that if I were you." Raymond said. "Especially to a girl."
"What?" Dylan asked, genuinely puzzled. "It's a good line."
"Is this girl your friend?"
"Well, yeah— I mean… I think? I like to think so." That's what friend-zoned guys would always say. "I hope…"
"You screwed up." Raymond explained. "Girls don't understand guy humor. What's funny to you might not be funny to her."
"No way." Dylan dismissed. "Girls can be funny too."
What? That wasn't his point. "Trust me, I've being around women long enough to know what they think." Kind of. Family members counted. Ms. Rhoads, his next-door neighbor counted. Her infant daughters counted. Who else…?
"For the last time Reynalda, she's just a friend."
"A friend eh~? And pray tell why she is here~?"
"I felt pity for her grades so I'm helping her with her homework."
"And you sure it's just a… 'study session' and absolutely nothing will happen~?"
"Oh, shut it, sis."
…And that one girl he brought home during the Christmas vacation to which both Reynalda and Mom teased him over about. Still could recount the cocking eyebrows Reynalda was doing the entire time whenever the girl was not looking. Mom cooked up a big feast too, the best of the best.
That was the first and last time he was bringing any girl to his home. Ever.
"Oh my God…" God can't save him from a woman's scorn. Dylan suddenly grabbed Raymond by the shoulders. Not aggressively, Dylan was too damn—not strong enough for that, but he managed to move Raymond a little. Let's not go insult the man who provide already so much help for his goal, even mentally. "What should I do?"
"It's too late." Raymond gave him the hard truth, despite the protest on Dylan's face. "We men don't hate someone unless we have a good reason. Women though? They can hate anyone for anything."
"I change my mind, I don't like her at all."
"Wha—? Then why the hell were you teasing me about a relationship with her?"
"Because she fooled me for a while. You have to understand Raymond, people like her hides her true personality like it's an art."
"Sis, you're being unreasonable."
Dylan sulked. Despair really took hold of his happy, go-lucky attitude. "But… I really like her…"
Raymond understood. He patted and rubbed out Dylan's back like a good person would when they find someone suffering from nausea puking over the toilet. Granted, Raymond never actually had to do that, but if it ever happened, he would.
"There's plenty of other fish in the sea." Provided that he had the right bait, the durable fishing rod need to pull her in, and the bucket of water to make sure she was content with. "I know that sounds like something a brainless dweeb would say, but there is an element of truth to it."
Hopefully, he was doing this correctly. Most of the time when men came to him asking for advice—not just girl advice—he would tell them in an indirect way to scram because he didn't want to deal with other people's petty drama. Raymond cannot be relied on for comfort.
"I guess the signs were there." Dylan confessed. "I just didn't want to see it."
This poor dude. Then again, he should've expected it. People who play Yu-Gi-Oh were people who were low on their marketability to, at best, the opposite sex and high on social anxiety.
"Don't fret; I'm sure there are dozens of girls that can appreciate a strategic and…" Hard to praise a man he barely knew for a day. "Such a good man!"
With the increasing number of women who complain about how hard it was to find such man, Dylan should be a perfect candidate. Reynalda always hated that kind of women though, said that they wasted their years on uncommitting men and only choosing the nice ones after they've couldn't run wild anymore. He would like to think she was only saying that due to the Christian household they grew up in, but she would always complain this to him like he's some kind of vent toy after she herself was a vent toy for her friends.
"For real!?" Dylan's eyes sparkled for like the tenth time now. Did this man have an unlimited amount of optimism?
"Yeah…" Raymond patted on Dylan's back again. "Statistically, it's inevitable."
"Thanks man," Dylan got up. "I really needed that."
"No problem."
"Ready for our next duel, Novak?" Dylan was thankfully back on track.
"Already?" No breaks in-between? Raymond shrugged. "Guess so."
Though there was no choir of trumpets sounding in the background, nor was there any rose-tinted glasses placed on the bridge of Raymond's nose. Dylan's face wasn't brazened, his presence didn't command others, nor did it freeze anyone into attention. He did not, could not be any less non-threatening in his way of standing all the way down to the stance of his feet. He had no allure, nor did he have any charm. There was no kind of any love between them.
Though all of these things, Raymond found himself drawn closer to Dylan.
Again, not any love; not every answer had to be love, much to the protest of the mentally-ill dreamers. No, it was more akin to a soldier saluting to another right in the middle of a battlefield, despite the clear inclinations that Dylan had never fought in his life. Their cards were their swords, their decks were their souls, minds were shields, and the mere statement that they were standing against hordes of other soldiers fighting for the hand of the prize instead of retreating were their pride.
Two men against a whole army; nothing was more uniting.
"Come on," Dylan held out a fist, stopping midway towards Raymond. "I'm pretty sure we're going to be last for our next game!"
Raymond returned the gesture. "Let's go duel!"
Reynalda couldn't find the strength to get up without her head swirling every counter of her skull. The fact that she used the word 'corners' for her skull proved exactly how out of her right mind she was.
The sound of footsteps outside her room was the only sound to keep her company. Of course, the phone on the desk would ring occasionally and Reynalda would eavesdrop on the nurses' conversation to ease her boredom. One would talk about how great her kids are, some other talked about how she suspected her lover was being unfaithful. Some just talk about irrelevant things such as how nice their shoes looked or how they lost weight.
The flag of her country blowing outside the window; a flag of the beautiful land of poutine and Tim Horton's, where babies were born with ice skates on and handsome Mounties wandered the frozen tundra with great white wolves at their feet. Flag colored in red and white, with a red maple leaf at the center.
In short, the same old same old.
The benefit of not working at all was the one of the greatest things she could enjoy. In the past, she had attended high school from half an hour past eight in the morning to half an hour past two in the evening. Then she had to work from the time she got off from school as a waitress until seven at night.
And how glad she was to get away from the creeps checking her out whenever they thought she wasn't looking.
Every morning she gets up around six to prepare breakfast for Raymond and sometimes Mom if she could get up early in the morning. Reynalda still had school to go to at the time, so she could only hold one job; Mom held two, and sometimes odd jobs. It was so bad that she had racoon eyes and back pains. There were days when Raymond and Reynalda had to take turns carrying her around because she could barely walk.
Eventually, she had to be put in the hospital where she spent the rest of her days crippled in bed. Reynalda would visit every day to make sure she didn't feel as isolated as a prisoner on death row. Raymond didn't visit as much; that was the nicest way of putting it. He would always go out and do… things… to bring the money they needed to survive. He would always come back home like he was as crippled as Mom was.
He seriously thought that neither of them noticed.
And he never stopped.
Mom couldn't stop him, Reynalda couldn't stop him, no one could stop him. He was a man on a mission, a man with a purpose. She tried to reason with him, both of them did; Health and well-being was far more valuable than all the money in the world. They both learned that the hard way, and Raymond absolute couldn't make the same mistakes they did.
He didn't listen, blinded by green. 'And what was the alternative?' he countered. She didn't know, but she did know that trying to kill himself was not an option. But what could've they have done? There was no way they could've gone to the police without ruining Raymond's life, and they couldn't physically hold him down. It would've taken a man sterner and more forceful than Raymond himself to stop him. Maybe had Dad just stayed…
Mom's condition worsened. Raymond became more and more distant as the inflow of money steadily increased, yet still not enough. He was convinced that he just needed one more job, one more beating around the ring. Every time, he convinced himself of this.
Raymond never got to say goodbye to Mom.
She spent her last moments laying on the same bed Reynalda was laying on, calling for Raymond to visit her before the inevitable happened, all while Reynalda held her hands together to comfort her. She had to watch Mom's strength slowing deteriorating while she kept on coughing and coughing. Her heart monitor beated slower and slower.
She cried as the time ticked by. Every second without seeing him was a second she grew sadder. She didn't say it, but her face sure did; it spilt every little thing she was thinking. It was like another man abandoned her. Like father, like son.
Eventually, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer.
"Where's… Raymond?"
"He'll be here, Mom. I promise."
He did arrive. Fifteen minutes after she passed.
Out of breath, knees wobbly, bruised face, and senses disoriented. He never got to hear the last wish she wanted to tell him.
And now he's disappeared again, out on some long 'errand' to potentially earn a 'king's ransom'. Those were his words. She could only pray to God that it'd be nothing illegal. But let's be honest: the chances of that being the case was not in favor of what she'd like it to be. There was only so much faith she could have on him before she gave up.
At least he had the decency to say goodbye this time. Not in the 'I'll see you in Heaven' kind of goodbye, which was kind of a relief. She worried that he gave up on her like she did on him.
Which begged the question: did she deserve such love?
"Miss?" The nurse came in, pulling back the curtain. She was more of an intern, working less than two months in the hospital. There were rumors going around about how she got to the position because she was able to seduce a doctor, a married man no less, who was twice her age. Rumors were of course just rumors, and Reynalda couldn't tolerate any slander. But it was one of the other nurses that started it, and she was pretty honest on many other things.
The nurse handed her an old-fashion phone, one shaped like a brick with an antenna. "Here's the phone you requested."
"Thank you." She took it from her hand. The nurse then just stood there, eyeing her up and down. Reynalda thought that at least she could pick up on the que to leave. "Can I have some privacy with this call?"
"Of course." The nurse quickly left, sure to due to her other duties.
The number Raymond left behind was still on the nightstand. She took the piece of paper and stared at it. The numbers itself were giving her tremendous anxiety; a voice so close to her ear, trying to arouse the hate inside of her. She shouldn't be doing to, after all that happened, she never thought that she would be the one to reach out instead of vice versa. Slowly pushing the dials, she held the phone close to her ear. It had been years since she had anything to do with him, heard anything about him, or seen any sight of him.
"You have reached the voicemail of 'Richard Ramsey', please leave a message after the beep."
"Dad?" She began. "It's me, Reynalda."
She gulped.
"Your daughter."
"Daddy, daddy~!"
"Hey~! How's my little girl doing?"
"I hope you really haven't forgotten about me."
"You'll always be the light in my life, Reynalda. Well, of course with your mother and brother."
"I'm guessing that Raymond already called you, didn't he? I hope he didn't do anything out of line." Reynalda guessed. Was it really guessing when Raymond didn't hide his hatred? She'd be more surprised if he didn't. "You know how he's always the more daring one. Remember that time when he dared himself that he'll outrun his childhood arch-rival by practicing on the treadmill at full speed?"
"He couldn't keep up for more than a minute." She laughed at the memory. "I had to pour some kind of honey over all the skin he scraped off. Don't you remember that?"
Please, tell her that he remembered.
"Dad, I'm just calling…" She paused. Her mind has gone blank as she tried to rack it. Oh dear, she forgotten what to say. She already had it mentally planned out beforehand, she even practiced what she was going to say, but now she suddenly forgot. Stage fright without the stage nor the audience, of that made any sense. She was sure she would recall the outlines of her points at least, but that drew out empty as well.
She had to improvise. Only seconds were left before he would theoretically hang up and think she was down talking and miss out on the rest of the message she wanted to convey.
"I'm just calling to let you know…" She breathed in and out, controlling her thoughts. "That I still consider you my Dad."
She wished it was a lie.
"Even with what you did to Mom…"
What he did to all of them. Look at what one man could do to his whole family. Suffering away in their daily lives while he was off to God-knows-where with his mistress-turned-second-wife. How could he? But…
"Dad… I don't think I'll ever see you again." She said. "I'm dying."
"I won't let anything bad to happen to you, Reynalda."
"The doctors said that at this stage, I would have an unlikely chance of survival. And it'll only get worse."
The time was ticking. The night was getting closer and Reynalda felt sleepier as she continued to hold onto the phone. She better wrap things up before she accidentally falls asleep without realizing it and dropping the phone. With an antique like this, it was bound to break.
"So, I wanted to get this to you at least." She paused. "If I don't make it."
"Dad, look! A shooting star!"
"Quick! Make a wish before it disappears!"
"You didn't say goodbye to Mom."
"So, what did you wish for, Reynalda?"
"At least say goodbye to me."
"God to bless us."
"I… I love you… Dad."
"Are you sure you want to delete the message?"
Richard's phone read out as it gave her the option. Mrs. Ramsey pressed down on the dial.
"Message deleted."
This was the third or fourth time she's found these voice mails in her husband's phone. She was fairly certain to know if he heard the previous ones or not, mostly because these calls came when Richard was at home, either in the dining room eating dinner with their lovely children or getting himself ready in the shower. He would always separate from it by leaving it in another room so he wouldn't be distracted. Something the kids could learn a thing or two about.
This one was different. Usually it was the ramblings of an angry little boy, demanding things that didn't belong to him, nor did he deserve it. A powerless boy, trying to imitate how much of a man Richard was. In the end, a shadow would still be a shadow; nothing would change.
This time was a soft-spoken girl, far better than the boy.
But it still didn't matter.
He didn't need to concern himself with his old family. Past was the past, Richard willing left it behind for her. She revel at the thought, as strong as the day they were married. Richard sacrificed it all for her, that she was worth more than them. He belonged to a new family now, not that joke one where love was torn by some woman who didn't know how to please a great man such as him, how to satisfy his needs.
A better family.
The sentence brought her a fond smile as she took in the surrounding. This was her house, her home. One she had made with the man of her life, and the home she had raised the kids from childhood to where they were now. It could be tough sometimes, especially when the kids wanted to have a bit of peace and quiet.
Or when she and Richard wanted to have some time to themselves.
Speaking of, they should be sleeping by now. Walking towards the slightly opened door with the lights poking out, she spied on her boys, who were still awake and definitely not in their bunk beds. They were sitting on the floor, with playmats set up between them and trading cards all over the place. Pajamas were on, she could give them credit on that.
"I xyz summon Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!" Her eldest son bellowed, slapping the card as hard as he could against the mat. For dramatic effect, no doubt.
Silly card games were one of the things she would never understand. It was literally a piece of cardboard with art and text on it. That was it. She would never understand why Richard encourage this kind of behavior; it was clearly an addiction. Then again, it was his own products. She wouldn't be that unsupportive.
Normally, she would intervene and tell them to go to sleep. But she didn't feel like it. They could have their games all they want. In fact, it might be even better to have them distracted instead of lying in bed, trying to sleep, which inevitable attune their ears to even the slightest of noise. Tonight, was special.
As she made her way inside the master bedroom, she found Richard laying there, unclothed. He was waiting for her with his hands fingering her to come closer. They were big and strong enough to cover her screams and moans like all the times before. As if two sons and three daughters were not evident enough.
And what a specimen he was.
She locked the door behind her. She stripped, revealing a not-so-concealing lingerie as she bit her lips in anticipation.
She'd make sure he'd never remember his past. His place was here, by her side. There was nothing inherently wrong with keeping him to herself, just like there was nothing inherently wrong with being jealous.
Love was the answer. Love was the thing that made all things good.
I'm going to cut it off right here because this is NOT a smut. Shame on you if you actually thought there would be such a scene in here! This is a Christian fanfiction!
I know this chapter is 3k less words than the previous two chapters, it's because I'm going to celebrate Christmas with my family and wanted to get this out before that time, which now is Christmas Eve. Honestly, I think I should lower the standard to this amount instead. There's only so much I could write. I am not a writing genius.
I might come back and edit on this if I have the time. We'll see.
Disclaimer about the first part: I can neither confirm nor deny if women are really like that; I just put it there as a filler of a conversation on what guys would likely talk about. There was a generic list like sports, life, food, girls, etc. Girls were chosen because that's probably the most likely conversation that would happen at this stage. Yu-Gi-Oh is not exactly spectator-friendly (despite what the anime would like to have you believe) so sports was crossed out. Life is something old friends would talk about, and they're anything but. The current food that was just snacks, so I doubt they would talk about that. By process of elimination, girls were left.
If you think it's misogynistic, then you would be right. Kind of. This is from Raymond's perspective after all. Men who grew up without fathers are much more likely to be that way.
If you think I'm being misogynistic, lighten up; at worse, it's only a eye-rolling, albeit cringe, mistake in fanfiction.
12/24/2018