Has it really been two months since I started writing this? Wow. xD This is kind of like a two part chapter thing again, since I think it would be too boring/much all for just one chapter. xD And besides, you can speculate in between! ;D
I just want to say thank you for those who continually review ( I LOVE the fact that you do. it makes me so happy. :'c ) and for those new reviewers which I've been getting! :D And just a general thanks to everyone who is following this, basically. X3
Anyways, on with the chapter! xD
Disclaimer (Since I've been forgetting to put one): I don't own Harvest Moon, so stfu.
The walk which followed the confession was a silent one, the two lovers grasping each other's hands tightly while they snuggled into their collars desperate for some warmth. They had been outside for a while, after all, the sea breeze stinging their cheeks and exposed skin with its frosty spray. Molly felt this especially and making a mental note, she told herself to not take Kathy's fashion judgement over her own in the middle of winter again.
As they reached the beginning of the path leading to her house, Molly felt a shiver run down her as a particularly cold swirl of wind passed by. Looking up out of her collar to determine how far away they were, and whether it would be a good idea to just run the rest of the distance, she frowned as she saw the catch to her mailbox lifted up, signalling that something had been delivered.
"Is something wrong?"
Looking up at Chase, Molly smiled slightly inside at the hint of concern in his voice. "I never normally get mail during the day..." she muttered, sighing as she thought of the possibilities of what it could be – bills, overdue loan dates, requests, all of the usual type of things which irked her.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, probably just some more bills or something."
"Gee, thanks. That makes me feel a lot better knowing that I have to fork out even more money to this place, as if I haven't done enough for it already."
Smirking at her reaction, Chase let go of her hand, repositioning it along with the rest of his arm around her waist as they approached her mail, shuddering when he felt the cold hit it after being nestled in another for so long.
"Well, might as well see how much I have to pay now rather than later" Molly began, ignoring the sting of the icy metal as she opened it, "Least I can get over a panic attack before I have to walk back to the Town Hall that way..." reaching in, she grabbed the letter which appeared to not be a bill at all. Instead, it was littered with stamps of approval and ink markings showing it had been delivered by airmail, notably from somewhere a while away.
For a moment she traced the neatly printed handwriting on the front with her pale finger, vaguely remembering a time in which she used to see it often. Flipping it over, she began to carefully try to peel of the seal without ripping the letter, something which was made difficult when you were as cold as she was.
She fumbled about with it for a few more seconds, cursing as the sharp edge of the paper glided across her finger as she finally made her way into it. Skimming down to the bottom of the page, her eyes widened in shock as she saw who the sender was. She handed Chase the now empty envelope, ignoring his confused looks due to her composure, his soft whispers of 'what's wrong?' falling on deaf ears. Shakily, she smoothed out the paper, and began reading the letter from the top:
Dear Molly,
I hope this letter finds you, I sent several to the wrong address, not realising that you had moved home again. It took me a while to actually track down someone who knew it themselves - thankfully Uncle Jack knew it when I finally contacted him. Remember how he always used to know everything? He would always know when we were in trouble as children, and when I was putting the blame on you when I was really the guilty culprit. It's sad to see how far our family has grown apart, I'm not even sure if you're married or not yet! Hell, you could even have children for all I know. That's why, Molly, I really wanted to find you. And now that I have, I'm going to be coming to visit you. By the time you get this letter, I should have the route planned out, the boat tickets paid for, and everything set in place for my journey. I regret being mean to you when we parted, Molly. It's haunted me ever since we left each other, which is why I want to try and rekindle out relationship- there's not much left of our family, after all. I obviously don't expect to be welcomed with open arms, but to be given a chance is all that I really want.
Please Molly, I've improved since we last met, and I promise I won't hurt you again.
With all my love,
Your twin sister Angela.
After reading the letter Molly stood still for a few minutes, staring at the name of her sister printed at the bottom. Surely she should be happy that she was going to see her sister again after so many years, right? But for some reason, she couldn't help but feel scared – Angela didn't exactly have the greatest reputation, after all.
Biting her lip, the young farmer scrunched up the letter in her palm and ran into her house, slamming the door open hard enough that it woke the sleeping Kathy inside.
"M...Molly?" She meekly said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she sat up on the couch. "What happened? If Chase upset you then he's..." trailing off as Molly locked herself in the bathroom, Kathy sighed as she turned her gaze to the figure standing at the door. "What did you do to her you asshole?" There was a hint of anger in her voice, which only rose as Chase calmly walked through the door, closing it softly behind him.
"Well?" she insisted as she stood up, placing her hands on her hips for emphasis.
"Do you really think I would do anything to upset her?" Chase sighed at his response, throwing the empty envelope onto the table.
Walking over to the same place, Kathy carefully picked the object up and inspected it, before turning to Chase again; "Who's it from? Is this what's made her get like this?" She asked, waving the piece of paper in front of her as she looked at him, her brows knitted together in a frown.
"I have no clue...she just read the letter, stood shock still for a minute, then ran in here."
"Hmm..." Studying the handwriting on the now manhandled envelope, Kathy racked her brain as she remembered seeing the writing somewhere before.
"Hey, Chase, can you..." cutting herself off with a gasp as she recalled where she had previously saw the handwriting, Kathy quickly hurried over to the line of birthday cards and messages which Molly had received, each one lining the edge of her window sills nicely. Picking through each of them until she found her match, Kathy's look of confusion turned into a sad one as she made her way back over to the bathroom door, gently rattling the handle to gain Molly's attention.
"Mol..." she gently said, shushing an even more bewildered Chase as he tried to interrupt, "You have to come out honey, you're not going to make the situation any easier for yourself if you stay locked up in there."
Waiting patiently in the silence for a few moments, Kathy smiled slightly as she heard some incoherent murmurings coming from the other side of the door, before a lock clicked open and the door opened itself slightly.
"Come here." Pulling the door open fully, Kathy took Molly's hand and dragged her over to the couch, ignoring her pleas of just letting her stay locked up in the bathroom for the next two weeks.
"You come here, too." She called over her shoulder to Chase, who had just proceeded to stand in the middle of the room out of not knowing what the hell was going on. Reaching forward to grab the box of tissues which also adorned the small coffee table (For use during the films of the 'oh I won't get upset at this but end up crying anyways' variety) Kathy pulled out several and shoved them in the lap of her friend, not wanting to cause any nosebleeds if she tried to lean over and clear up Molly's face herself. (They only had a small supply, after all.)
Seating himself down in the chair opposite, Chase looked at Molly who was wiping her eyes with said tissues, sniffling slightly as she began to get over her crying. His face also forming a sad frown like Kathy, he tried to think of a time in which he had ever seen her as upset as she was now, and failed. Heck, even when her very first and most prized chicken died of an unknown illness she still smiled throughout her crying, claiming that 'she was no longer in pain, so she shouldn't be crying over it'. But now, whatever it was she had read was making her pretty little face become one showing a look of worry and nervousness.
He didn't want to see her like this again.
It was hard for him as well, in a way, not knowing what was going on so he couldn't help her. Switching his gaze over to Kathy, he gave a hopeful look, telling her to find out what was wrong so that he- they- could help her anyway which they could.
Nodding, Kathy put her arm around Molly's shoulders and pulled her into an embrace, taking her used tissues and attempting to throw them in the bin near where they were sitting, only to miss and cause the girl to giggle instead.
"So what did she say in the letter, Mol? Must have been pretty bad to get you this worked up over it." The slightly older girl began as she smiled at Molly's giggle, the small sound indicating her slightly increasing mood.
"Angela...she says she's coming to visit, Kathy. And not giving me a choice of whether she does or not. It's not like I'd be able to stop her anyways..." burying her face in the top of Kathy's shirt, she smiled as she felt the woman's hand softly stroke her hair.
"Visit? But she hasn't even sent you a letter in years, until yesterday when you received a random birthday message from her."
"I know..." lifting her head up for some air, Molly sat up and reopened the letter, handing it over to Kathy for her to read herself. "But she said she has only just found my address. It makes sense, since I've moved a lot since we lost contact."
"But...isn't it a good thing that you're finally going to see your sister which you haven't seen in years again?" Chase finally chimed in, confused as to why Molly was so upset over her sister's imminent visit. "I mean, you told me yourself that you had no other close family left."
Shaking her head, Molly smiled slightly at his simple logic, but at the same time kicking herself on the inside for never telling him any of this before. He means just as much to her as Kathy does, after all.
"It's not as simple as that." Kathy understandably mentioned, handing back the letter to Molly. "Let's just say Angela isn't the nicest sister out there. From what I heard, she's given Molly a hard time in the past. Not the sort of sister you'd expect to have after losing both of your parents."
Opening his mouth to say something, Chase closed it again as he couldn't think of what to say. That last line had hit him. Hard. Ever since the night Molly had told him about losing her parents, he'd classed her as lucky for having a sister to grieve with - unlike him who was stuck in an orphanage which nothing but bullies and other children who had completely shut out the world to keep him company. But now, hearing that line from Kathy made him completely rethink his previous thoughts and emotions, knowing that Molly was pretty much in the same position as he was made him angry. Angry at knowing that she had a sister which could have helped her, to make things less hard on her. That's what sisters were supposed to do, right? The idea that this 'Angela' had caused her even more pain made him feel a type of rage which he hadn't felt before.
One thing was definitely for sure, he was not going to make things easy for Angela when she arrived.
Aww I love Angela so much, I feel bad for making her the bad guy. :c (But I love Maya more so...sorry Angela! I just couldn't bring myself to make Maya bad, which would have been more logical, I guess.)
So...I had two different endings for this chapter, and I couldn't decide on which one to use. . 'Part two' so to speak, will explain more about Angela since I'm hoping that your curious about what she's like and what she did to Molly now. xD (Ohhh and the second ending which I was thinking off will be put to use in another later chapter.)
I'm not going to harass you about it, but reviews do make this feel appreciated/liked. :c