AN: This chapter had 3 years originally but now it's five years because that is the correct timeline in this story.
It has been 5 months since returning back to school after spending time with his mom and Robin. Barney started a new semester of his Junior year in college, and after spending a lot of his time partying and not studying like he should have he is taking this year to stop being lazy to study and make sure he's able to graduate on time next year year. So, friends, parties and other things will have to be put on the back burner until he graduates.
Meanwhile, back home Robin put all her focus on school starting college as well as working as an intern at a local news channel. This was her first brush with the journalism world and she loved it. As the last 5 months past she had put what happened with Barney in the back of her mind and hasn't thought about their kiss before he left back to school. But, it took a while after he left for her to completely forget about the kiss because before that she never thought she would see Barney again or that they would actually end up kissing when that part of their relationship was over after he left the first time 4 years ago. The truth is, that kiss meant a lot to her and to him too it made her realize all over again how much she still loved him and how much she missed him. Every time she kissed him she remembers all the times they had shared when they were together and it all came rushing back when he suddenly kissed her that day at the airport.
It has been 5 months since that kiss and 4 months since she stopped thinking about him all together. She did miss him like crazy every second of everyday but she knows she's never going to see him again so she told herself to stop thinking about him and move on because she will never have that special thing they had 4 years ago.
5 years later;
Ted and Barney had been hanging out at their local hangout called MacLaren's which they had been going to since moving to New York two years ago. It was the day that Marshall and Lily became engaged, they had started dating again after college and hadn't stopped dating since, they had fallen in love which is the reason why Barney was at Maclaren's today. Ted had wanted to go out and meet someone because he suddenly wanted to feel the way their friends did at that moment. He wanted to meet THE ONE so Barney helped him search the bar for someone for Ted to find the one. It had been an hour at the bar when Ted pointed out a girl a cross the room to Barney's surprise was the one girl he never thought he would see again. After, he di break the promise he made her the last time they saw each other.
"You see that girl over there?" Ted pointed to the girl across the room and she smiled at him.
"Yeah!" Was Barney's answer cause he couldn't believe his eyes when he realized that the girl who Ted's looking at is the one girl Barney has loved and never thought he would see her again.
Barney had wanted to say more about that girl Ted was staring at but he didn't because seeing Robin again was such a shock to him. As Ted looked at Robin all Robin saw was Barney, the love of her life standing on the other side of the bar looking at her just like she was looking at him. It shocked them both to see each other again after all this time. When they never thought they would see each other since the last time they saw each other.
So, Barney and Robin moved on after that kiss and wouldn't see each other for another five years in New York at a bar they never would have thought they would see each other in. After this time, the last time they saw each other. Barney graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Management and Robin would begin her second year in college before moving on to a new school which brought her to New York. She went to NYU the year after leaving her other college to further pursue her dream of becoming a news anchor. However, she didn't know she would end up in New York five years later to find the one person she tried desperately to get over and was over until this day when she saw him again. All those memories came back again and all she thought of at that moment in the bar was 'I can't believe it' and it was a shock more than she would've thought.
But, that was five years later. They, both had moved on but never forgot about each other. When, Barney finished school he, Marshall, Ted and Lily all moved to the city. He, had first lived with Ted and Marshall but eventually got his own place and Lily had been renting her own place as well. But, then once he moved out of that first apartment he started to make a lot of money working for the bank he now still works for and never left. Barney, had one serious relationship since Robin during college and after and that was with Shannon, until she dumped him for this suited up banker, just like he eventually became. But, after the initial shock of the breakup. Barney was fine, he moved on. He knew he would always love Robin more than anyone else anyway, so the break up was something he needed to figure out what else in life he wanted to do. So, a month after taking that banking job, it paid quite a lot already. He, gets a new apartment uptown on the Upper East Side and never looked back until the day he runs into Robin again... small world indeed.