I'm terribly sorry for ANOTHER late update. I had lot of studying and catching up to do after returning to academics. Once I've caught up enough, I promise to update more frequently.

Destiny and Fate Ch 22

Though the ground retained the rainy moisture and small puddles on the cracks of the concrete, the sky was rid of the depressing, dark clouds. The golden rays of the sun permeated the stratosphere and provided an unknown, forgotten sensation of happiness. Time transformed the sun into half of a circle as it sank down below the horizon. The air molecules and light wavelength harmonized and created gorgeous scenery in the sky. Mixture of orange, yellow, and red spread on the blue canvas, resulting a beautiful sunset that this city had not wtinessed for what seemed like an eternity.

"Wow, the sunset looks really amazing."

Takeru exclaimed upon seeing the rare spectacle that nature presented. After hearing his statement, Hikari turned to view the scenery as well. She did not follow up Takeru's comment since she was dazed by the absolute splendor of the vanishing sun and the sky surrounding it. Her mind went blank while watching the crimson sky gradually turn darker.

"Hikari, your food will get cold."

"Huh? Oh.."

She snapped out of her daze and resumed eating the meal on her plate.

"This is a good place for dinner. The food and view is amazing."

Takeru spoke as he examined the environment outside the restaurant balcony. The building lights started to come on as the night drew closer. It displayed hectic, yet marvelous performance of colorful light rays.

"Stop staring at things and finish your food."

Hikari spoke to snap Takeru out from his constant nature viewing.

"Right. Thanks for reminding me."

He said with a light smile. The two finished their dinner relatively quick and exited the restaurant. Then, they resumed marching through the new city street, blessed with warm light. The city was shining with more vitality and people who are enjoying the beautiful day. As the outside world was added with more citizens, Hikari and Takeru drew significant amount of attraction. The reason for this was the two's appearances. It was no exaggeration that Hikari is an exceptionally lovely, gorgeous girl with ethereal body one might see from a super model. Her beauty was adored by both males and females alike. In addendum, there was also Takeru. Towering stature, regal golden hair, sparkling blue eyes, and handsome complexion captivated the focus of many girls in the street they were walking through.

"Wow, look at them. They're both so good looking."

"That girl is so hot!"

"I wonder what it's like to have a boyfriend like that."

Whispers of admiration and adoring flooded out of people's mouth. After overhearing compliments from bystanders, Takeru spoke to his beautiful partner.

"I hope you don't get tired from all that attention I'm drawing."

"There you go again with your excessive confidence and self-esteem."

"I'm just speaking the truth. Everyone's looking at me."

He said with a playful smile on his face.

"Sure, of course they are."

She replied to his playful sentence with sarcasm filled statement.

"You know it."

He said it with an innocent, bright smile. She glimpsed at his expression, then, faced away, afraid to lose herself in his pleasant smiling expression. Remaining faced away, she inquired the destination of their outing.

"Where are we even going anyway?"

"Is there somewhere you'd like to go?"

He questioned back at her.

"Not really."

"Hmm. Then, I want to go to this one place."

"Where is that?"

"The city park."

Hikari flinched upon hearing the place Takeru desired to go to. She began recalling the incident that occurred at the park recently. She remembered the aching heart when she could not raise the courage to speak sincerely about her emotion towards him. It pained her and disturbed her mind yet again. However, this negative mind vanished when her memory offered her another scene which she and Takeru caressed each other's lips passionately. Her senses recollected the warm, intoxicating sensation of Takeru's lips, both her and his racing heartbeat, and the comfort of being embraced by his long, large arms. She even remembered the exhilarating feeling that dazed her body which made Hikari caused her cheeks to redden fiercely. She, then, quickly turned her gaze away from him and spoke.

"Fine. Let's go then."

Despite her effort to appear emotionless and unaffected, Takeru comprehended the reason behind her abrupt switch of vision focus. After smiling silently to himself, he escorted his lady to his desired destination. On their way, they were once more showered by compliments and attentions of the passing citizens. Occasionally, they also received words of disdain and jealousy due to the prejudicial, unfair physical magnificence the two were gifted with. They paid little attention and reached the green field of the city park. Unaware and uncertain of Takeru's purpose in visiting the park, Hikari grew a curiosity within her mind. She queried the blonde man of his objective.

"What made you want to come here?"

"I just wanted to see how it would look like with some sun and life around it."

"Oh.."

Upon solving her curiosity, she too began observe the nature the park provided. She admired the splendor of the new scenery which the growing dusk emphasized through usage of fading light waves. Their enjoyment was short lived, for a familiar voice shattered the two's focus.

"Hikari.."

Upon hearing the soft, almost frail voice, the owner of the name turned to face the one who summoned her attention.

"Oh..it's you.."

The receiving end of Hikari's weak voice was the auburn haired fiancée of Taichi.

"Good evening, Takeru."

She greeted Hikari's pale companion right after.

"Hello, Sora-san."

Following the greeting was a numbing silence between the three. First to shake off the abyssal stillness was none other than Takeru.

"How did you find us?"

"I was just taking a walk around here when I saw you guys."

"Was there something you needed?"

Hikari abruptly intervened into the conversation with a dull voice. Sora answered with yet still brittle, delicate tone.

"I was going to ask you if you fixed things with Taichi…"

"I did."

"I see.."

Then, Sora redirected her focus to Takeru and spoke.

"..Has she told you about it?"

"Yes, she did."

"Oh…Then, what will you do now?"

"It's none of your business."

Hikari interrupted once more, only this time, with stronger tone in her voice.

"If you solved things with Taichi, then, there is no reason for Takeru to…"

"There is a reason!"

Further strength went into her tone as Hikari directly faced Sora to speak. Then, the orange haired girl replied with a perplexed mind.

"How can that be? If things are settled between you and Taichi.."

"I told him to stay with me."

"How could you do that?"

Now, Sora's voice began to grow stronger as well.

"How could you decide to be with Taichi and still tell Takeru stay by your side? That's just cruel."

Was it because of sympathy born from also suffering the malice of unrequited love? Sora grew furious upon hearing Hikari's seemingly selfish demands.

"You're letting him through the same pain as Takaishi…."

"Shut up!"

Her interruption shout petrified the surrounding environment. The devastating fury stirred fear in the animals nearby, causing them to flee the scene as if catastrophic disaster was imminent. Every creation froze as Hikari released her contained arctic wrath. Even Takeru was shocked. Despite surviving many bullet encounters and Hikari's rage, he had not experienced a chill this perilous rampage throughout his body until now.

"Don't you ever talk about him!"

Her talk of the deceased companion added fuels to the burning rage of Hikari.

"Stop talking as if you know everything! I asked him to stay! He could have refused, but chose to stay!"

Her wrathful speech ended and the atmosphere's intensity subsided faintly which permitted thoughts to be processed. After giving a brief moment to think, Sora carefully spoke to avoid upsetting Hikari further.

"Takeru, why would you do that..?"

She directed her focus to the man standing beside the still furious girl. He kept his silence, allowing Sora to continue on.

"I'm sorry for saying this…But there is no longer a purpose for you to be staying…"

"What gives you the rights to talk about his…."

Hikari halted her enraged sentence as Takeru spread his right arm in front of her, separating her from Sora. After stopping the outraged princess, he took a step towards Auburn haired girl and began speaking in a serious, low voice. As the words left his mouth, the sun sank beneath the horizon, inviting the moon and stars that provided feeble illumination of the environment.

"Sora-san, you have a point. Perhaps there is no use or reason for me to stay anymore."

"Then, why..?"

"I think you know the answer."

"…"

She took a moment of silence to think about Takeru's reasons for staying. Almost immediately, she discovered the motive for his stay.

"I understand that you think I shouldn't stay with Hikari after everything. But I won't."

"I see…"

"No matter what bad things occur, I won't leave her side. Even against all odds, I still want to help her feel the same emotion I have for her. Even if it takes forever, I'll wait because I love her."

A short brief moment of quiet, then, he continued.

"If you really love Taichi-san, please carry on and do your best to achieve happiness. I'm at full disadvantages and I still haven't given up."

His words deeply impaled Sora's aching heart. Through Takeru, she realized her truest feelings for her loved one and learned not lose hope despite what misfortunes life might strike. After all contemplations have reached stability, Sora delivered gratitude for helping her in a dire stage.

"Thank you, Takeru. I'm sorry to Hikari, but I really do love Taichi so much. I will fight on. I wish you for the best."

She held out her hand and the tall blonde man casted aside his serious complexion and accepted her hand shake with warm smile.

"I wish the same for you"

"Thank you. Good bye, Takeru, Hikari."

Upon reaching resolution, Sora bid farewell to both and left them alone in the empty city park. When Sora was far enough, Takeru faced back to Hikari, worrying about her feelings.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

"Glad you're not angry anymore."

Another smile, regal and happy one which he only presented to Hikari alone, appeared. She viewed him once, then, turned her head away. And in slow, somber voice, she spoke.

"…You don't have to stay if you really don't want to…"

"Didn't I just say that I want to stay?"

He replied, still smiling.

"…Why do you…you know…"

"Do I need to say again why?"

"…"

"Because I really love you."

Upon hearing him say those words, Hikari felt an overwhelming wave of warmth bathing her entire body and mind. The night was chilling, but she felt only the warmth due to her accelerating heartbeat. With no knowledge of what actions to take, she dashed away from Takeru.

"Takeru!"

She yelled out to him as she stopped running. Following her shout, she turned around to face him from a distance. What Takeru saw almost knocked his consciousness out. It seemed unreal, but there was the ethereal expression Takeru saw in the picture of Hikari and Taichi together. The cold hearted princess finally presented her beautiful, divine smile to the man who promised her his heart. Even through the shroud of darkness and dim-lit street light, her radiant smile permeated through with ease. The glowing stars and moon sparkled stronger and soothed the night of all negativity after they were bestowed with the celestial beauty that was forgotten and lost so many nights ago. Unbelievable, unexplainable sensations paralyzed Takeru's entire system like never before. His mind, on the contrary, was free and knew the exact thing he desired. He wished to let Hikari continue living with an angelic smile such as one he was granted today. Hikari now absolutely could not deny what she denied numerous times before in the past.

'I love you, Takeru'

But those words only echoed in her heart.

Apologies to many readers who waited for the update. I can't say sorry enough. I will update faster as soon as I catch up more with school. Immense thanks for all the patience, support, and understanding! Seeing people enjoy my writing is the main motive that keeps me going! THANK YOU!