Year: 9
Season: Winter
Ib: Age 17
Garry paced back and forth at the family restaurant he had told Ib about a week prior, just a few days after her seventeenth birthday. After meeting his father almost nine months ago, Garry had eventually told Ib about the run in after it had occurred, after she noticed a difference in his disposition. He sighed, thinking back to it, regretting how he had acted during that time.
XxXxXxX
9 month ago
It was currently Saturday, a week since she last saw Garry. Their planned meeting from last week on Sunday didn't happen, because he called and said he had gotten sick. Even when she practically pleaded him to let her come take care of him, or at least make sure he was doing fine, he started to yell at her, something which shocked her so badly that she didn't want to do anything either, and called Rin to call off the meeting and stayed in her room, brooding about what had occurred.
Now however, she was regaining her willpower, and while she was in the hallway walking towards her club, she sent the man a text:
Ib: You there, Garry?
Ib: Garry?
Ib: I know you don't work today.
Ib: Hello?
She closed her phone after sending a few more texts, getting more aggressive with each one, but she finally put it away in her purse.
"Ib, are you ok?" Rin asked, coming up to her, "We have a meeting today in the club. We should go."
"Something feels wrong…" Ib said, looking towards her blonde friend, "Garry hasn't responded to anything in a week."
Rin bit her bottom lip, "I was thinking the same," She admitted, "He hasn't responded to any texts I sent him either after I heard that he was sick."
"Do you think he's ok?"
"I don't know." Rin replied, "He'll probably send you a text later."
"Last week when I called him he yelled at me," Ib muttered, looking down. Rin blinked her eyes in shock at that, "He has never done that to me, so it must be serious."
"He yelled at you?" Rin asked.
Ib nodded, "That's why I didn't want to meet last week." She admitted, feeling ashamed, "It surprised me so much that I just felt like doing nothing all day…"
Rin groaned, "That's why… I was wondering about that."
"I think I'm going to go check on him." Ib said after a moment, "Can you cover for me?"
"Yeah, I can." Rin sighed, "but be sure to bring an umbrella, I think it's going to rain soon."
Ib looked out the window, and noticed the dark clouds forming, "I didn't bring an umbrella," She said with a forced laugh.
Rin shook her head at that, "Just hurry then, I don't want you to be soaked."
"Alright," Ib nodded, "Thank you for covering for me."
Rin nodded, "It's what a friend is for."
Ib gave her friend a quick hug, and ran the other way down the hallway, pass all the other kids leaving the school, pushing a few aside even in her mad dash. She then turned down the street and ran towards Garry's house as fast as her feet could take her. She nearly ran into several more people on the way there, but she was making good time.
The weather, however, didn't seem to care about her timing at all, and decided about halfway through her sprint to begin pouring. She continued to run, despite the water drenching her clothing, she just held her purse close to her body, and continued onward.
When she reached Garry's door, she knocked as hard as she could, creating a large and resounding bang across the wood, "Garry!" She called out.
She waited a little bit, but got no answer.
She knocked again, "I know you're in there!"
No answer.
She started to shiver from the cold rain, and her thoughts started to wander – was this pointless? What if he wasn't home? What if-
"You're so reckless, Ib."
Her heart fluttered as she turned around and saw Garry standing there with an umbrella, and his keys in his hands, "I went to get some food." He lifted up his plastic bag.
"I decided to go for a swim." She said sardonically.
"So I see." Garry said, walking by her and opening the door, "Come in."
She nodded gratefully, and stepped inside, feeling immensely better once the rain stopped coming down on her.
"You're here awfully early." Garry said, coming to her with a towel in hand.
"You know Saturdays are half days." She replied, attempting to dry her hair.
"And you know you have your painting club to go to today." Garry shot back.
"touché." Ib replied, "Um… Do you have any clean clothes I can wear while these dry out? I don't want to catch a cold."
He sighed, "I don't have any clothes your size."
"A big shirt and some pants will be fine." She pressed.
"Alright, wait here a bit." He said, standing up and going into his room. He came out a minute later with a large white shirt and a pair of pants which were too large for her, as he said they would be, "Go into the bathroom," He said, "And feel free to take a bath. Once you have your clothes off, just throw them out into the hallway, and I'll toss em into the dryer."
She nodded, "Thank you." Despite how distant he was acting, at least he was still helping her.
Garry simply grunted as he sat down on the couch, and looked down at the floor blankly. He didn't look up at her; he didn't even smile once the entire time. She knew something was really wrong, and she intended to find out what.
In the bathroom, she took off her wet clothes, and blushed as she tried her best to hide her underwear before opening the door throwing them out, and shutting it really fast, feeling very shy. She heard Garry's footsteps, and knew that he was coming to pick them up. Feeling better, Ib took the clothes she was given, and folded them neatly and put them on the sink, and she opened the screen door to the room containing the actual bath. After checking to make sure the water was warm, she slipped in, and let out a content sigh as her cold body met the soothing warmth of the water.
She tried to be quick about it, scrubbing her hair, and cleaning herself, and leaving the bathroom to confront Garry. She threw the shirt over her head, and felt a bit annoyed when one of her shoulders was exposed from the neck of the shirt. Trying not to mind it, she pulled the sweatpants on, and as she expected, they were loose. Very loose – to the point where if she didn't hold them up, they would most definitely fall.
Still feeling a bit exposed, despite her cover, she hesitantly opened the door, steeling her resolve to face Garry, and see what his deal was.
"Garry? I'm finished." She called out, walking slowly into the living room, holding her pants up all the while.
"Good." He sighed, "Your clothes should be dry in another ten minutes or so, then you can leave."
"But it's still raining."
"I'll let you have my umbrella."
She took a seat next to him, "Why are you acting like this?"
He grunted, doing his best to not look her way, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Ok, that annoyed her, "Oh yeah, one of the nicest people I know is acting like an asshole." She snapped, "I'm sure nothing is wrong."
Garry looked at her in surprise, then a smile slipped onto his face, "Yeah… I guess you're right. Sorry."
"Don't apologize." She said sternly, "Tell me what is wrong."
"What's wrong…" He sighed, "I don't really want to talk about it."
She crossed her arms, "Well, you're going to have to now, cause I'm not leaving."
He let out a deep sigh, "I see."
"So what's wrong?" She asked again.
"Ib, do you think I should leave? Go back home where I came from?"
She frowned, "What? No! Why would I want you to?"
"I should've figured you'd say that."
"Where did that come from?" Her heart had quite a shock with that question, and now she was wondering if he was leaving her. She could feel the waterworks already beginning to get into gear, but she kept them at bay, not wanting to cry in front of him, especially when she didn't know all the details.
"My dad came to see me last week," He finally admitted, "He was talking to me about coming home, and wanting to make up what he did to me."
"I- I see." Ib said shakily.
"He said all my friends missed me and wondered where I was the whole time, and that my girlfriend from back then was heartbroken when I left."
"You have a girlfriend?!" Ib cried, her heart again beating hard.
"No," He sighed, "It has been nine years since I last saw her, I'm positive she has moved on, as I have."
Ib nodded, feeling slightly guilty due to how satisfied she was with his answer.
"A- are you going?"
He shrugged, "I initially told him no, that I refused to leave. I had friends who were here, I had a job, and my life here is pretty good."
"But why are you acting this way then?"
"Because he laughed in my face, and told me what I always knew: All my friends just amounted to a bunch of high school students."
"So what?" Ib said, "We all like you Garry, we've known you for years now and don't care that you're older than us."
Garry sighed, "It's a social stigma, you know. I should be with people my own age, and so should you."
Ib then realized the next thing he was going to say, "So he brought me up then?"
Garry nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. He knew that you were interested in me, and he knew about the fact that I said we needed to wait until you were older to make any decisions. He just gave me this look, it's like, argh, it pissed me off. It was pity, and he wanted to know if I actually cared for you in the romantic sense. I told him that I didn't see you that way, but I don't think he believed me."
"Do you only see me as a friend?" She asked.
"I don't need this right now Ib," He said evading the question.
"I think that what's eating you up is that – that you do feel something for me." She said, her heart skipping a beat.
He laughed bitterly at that, "You think so, huh."
"Am I wrong?"
He was silent for a bit, "Maybe not."
"Then what's the issue?" She asked, despite the fact that her heart was beating in her ears, and the only thing she wanted to do was go around the room screaming and cheering.
"I am twenty-seven," He said, looking at her, "I'm eleven years older than you, and when I saw you wearing what you were wearing, it was the first time you've ever made me feel anything towards you… The problem is what my dad brings up, your age, it's always your age. You're sixteen; a man my age shouldn't be thinking thoughts like this."
"I intentionally wanted you to think like that," She said, "I wanted you to think I was beautiful, and that you wanted to be with me."
"And that's why I'm wondering if I should just leave."
"What?" She asked her heart stopping.
"Because it makes me feel uncomfortable, I feel dirty just thinking about you in that way. I knew you when you were only a little kid."
"But I've never hidden the fact that I wanted to be with you," She said, "Well, maybe when I was a kid, but looking back on it, it was pretty obvious, and I don't see what the big deal is! In less than two years I will be eighteen, and you won't need to worry about the law. We can be together then, and who cares what other people think? So you're dating someone a decade younger than you, who freaking cares?"
"It's unfair to you," He finally said, "I will be a decade older than you always, when you're just reaching your twenties, I will already be thirty, and it will be like that for as long as you live." He groaned, rubbing his head in frustration, "Ib, just forget about me and get some guy your own age to be with you, I hate having these thoughts."
"You…" She muttered, balling her fist, and smacking him in the head hard, "You just admitted for the first time in my life that you like me in that way, and that you saw me as a woman, and you're telling me to go away?" Her teeth gritted and she stood her full height looking down at him, "Give me one good reason to not kick your ass right now." Her voice dangerously quiet.
"I- Ib?"
"I want a reason now!" She shouted stomping her foot, tears finally coming free, "I love you, I loved you back then, and I love you now. I don't care about how old you are! I. Do. Not. Care. Why won't you understand that? When you admitted to having any feeling for me, my heart felt like it was going to fly away, I've never felt so happy." She wiped her eyes, "But you want to ruin that, because you have some weird misconception that it's unfair to me? It's not unfair! The only unfair thing here is that you're not giving me a chance! Damn it Garry!" She shouted, her voice getting hoarse when she called his name.
"I – I'm…" Garry muttered, looking down to the floor, "I…"
"That's what I thought." She said, punching at his chest as hard as she could, and then she punched him again, and again, and again. She finally collapsed on top of him, crying into his shirt.
"Hey, Ib." He whispered, "Your pants fell off."
"NOT the time, Garry." She growled.
He smiled genuinely for the first time that day, "About what you've said… You're right." He sighed, "I remember something like this happening a few years ago too. I made you cry, and I felt horrible then, it was one of my biggest regrets." He looked down at her, "And it looks like I've committed it again." He rubbed the back of her head, "I'm sorry."
She didn't say anything, only holding him tightly against herself.
"He said he wanted to meet you, by the way."
"When?" She asked, still not moving from her position.
"I don't know." Garry admitted, "He said he was very busy, so it will be a while."
"Are you going to introduce him to me?"
"If that's all right with you," He sighed, "I need to face this, and I want you to be with me when I do it."
She nodded, Garry feeling it in his chest, "Yeah, I want to be there too."
"Well, that's good." He sighed, "I'm sorry, again."
"So…" She looked up at him, a sly smile on her face despite the tear stains, "You were attracted to me last Saturday! Do you want me to wear things like that more often? Especially since now I know we'll get together when I'm eighteen?"
"I'd prefer not." Garry said, feeling a cold sweat on the back of his neck.
"Is this fine then?" She said, showing off the fact that she was only wearing a shirt to cover herself and nothing else.
"You know… I think the dryer is done now." He looked away, "I'm going to go check on it."
XxXxXxX
Present time
Garry remembered that clearly enough, Ib had gotten rather feisty, and ever since then she kept trying to get him to advance on her, sometimes she'd wear clothing like she had back then, sometimes she would just sit as close to him as possible, and latch onto him. Other times she would suggest things that sounded innocent, but when he realized what she was trying to do, he would quickly back off.
It was almost a game at this point. A game she liked to call, 'When Will Garry Lose Control'.
Ib made it no secret that she wouldn't mind if he touched her in anyway, she also made it no secret how much she loved him. In public, with her friends, when it's just the two of them… She was pretty persistent. He knew she wasn't serious with most of her advances, she just liked to see him squirm.
"That brat." He muttered, thinking on it.
"Who's the brat?"
Garry turned towards the girl in question, "Ah, you're here before my father, that's good."
She nodded, "How do I look?" She struck a pose for him with a mischievous smile.
She was fortunately covered up, since it was still somewhat cold out. She wore the red scarf he had gotten her years ago, and her coat was open, revealing the somewhat low cut shirt she had on, and with her posing by pushing her chest out, it was showing off some of her – he shook his head – and she was wearing tight jeans, showing off her legs really – Garry shook his head – Her hair was actually tied back for once into a ponytail, similar to what Rin usually does, and she had on a light layer of make-up. Overall she looked nice enough.
"You look fine." He simply said.
"Just fine?" She asked, "Your gaze was lingering a little longer than it should have for it just being 'fine."
"Are you trying to make people think I'm a pedophile?" He asked, glancing around at a few people walking by.
"I'm seventeen," She stated, "As far as they know, I look old enough to be eighteen, so it's ok. Even if they do ask, I'll just tell them to shut up and leave."
"That's fine and all, but don't do that stuff when father is here, he might not know that you're playing around."
"Who says I'm playing around?" She asked.
"Ib…" He said warningly.
She finally receded, "Ok, I'll stop playing around."
He let out a sigh, "Thank you."
"By the way," She said, "You look 'fine' too."
Garry was wearing a coat similar to the one had worn in the other word, except it wasn't torn or ragged; he opted to instead go for presentation over style, when meeting his father. He combed all of his hair out of his eyes, and he wore a clean shirt. His jeans were much more loose fitting than Ib's, and for that he was thankful.
"Thanks."
"When he is going to be here anyway?" She asked, leaning on the wall next to him.
"He should be here any minute, actually." He said, looking at his watch. He looked up at the road, and saw a car pull up and parallel park in front of them. "That would be him."
The man who stepped out of the car surprised her for a bit, he looked up, and smiled upon seeing the two of them, "Garry, and I assume this lovely young lady is Ib?"
Garry gave the man a curt nod, while Ib bowed politely to him.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She said.
The man chuckled, "I'm sure he's told you many lovely things about me."
"Plenty." She simply said, her flirty attitude from early completely disappeared.
"Hm." The man grunted, pulling out a cigar, "I'm sure."
"I rented a booth in here," Garry said, "We'll have privacy, so we can talk about anything."
"That's good." The man said, "Lead the way then."
Garry nodded, and gave a quick glance to Ib, who nodded back at him. Letting out a sigh, he entered the restaurant, and talked to a man up front for a brief moment, and then the man led the group into the back to a room with a simple square table near the floor, and a few mats where they could sit. Garry took a hold of Ib's hand, and led her and himself to one side of the table, where they sat on their knees, across from Garry's father.
"I'm used to chairs" Jack admitted, "Traditional Japanese was never my style."
Garry didn't say anything, and just waited for his father to get settled in. After a small bit, his father settled, and the trio sat looking at one another.
"So…" Garry said, coughing, trying to get rid of the awkward atmosphere, "Father. As you said earlier, this is Ib. She's my friend, and probably my future girlfriend."
"Probably?" Ib asked giving him a glare.
"Hey, I'm just covering all my bases." He assured her.
"Interesting," The old man rumbled, "Last time you claimed that she was a friend, and only a friend, as far as I recall. What changed your mind?"
"She can be very convincing when she's angry." He said, "After your visit last time, she came over and helped me out a bit."
"Hm." He grunted again, "I see."
Garry looked up to the door as it opened and a woman bowed as she entered, holding a pot and a few tea cups. She set the set down in the middle of the table, and bowed again before leaving the room. Garry reached out and took a cup, and poured the green tea in, before returning his look to his father.
"I still stand by what I said last time," Jack said, taking a puff of his cigar, "I want you home."
"And I still stand by what I said last time," Garry threw the words back in his face, "I'm not going."
"Getting yourself a young girlfriend is cute, Garry, but it's intolerable. I can't see why her parents would even let you near her, and I can't say I accept it earlier."
"Well, it's a good thing I don't care about your acceptance then." Garry said, glaring at his father.
"My mother and father are ok with it," Ib spoke up, "They think I should make my own choices, and if I choose to be with him, they will let me. They trust him to not do anything I wouldn't want him to do."
"That's not saying much when it comes to you…" Garry muttered under his breath, and Ib elbowed him in the side.
"Garry, when you left all those years ago, I fell into an even deeper depression. With you mother gone, and now you, I thought everyone had abandoned me. I started to remember the earlier times during those dark years, I remembered how you used to always come to me when you needed anything, you trusted me, your mother was there to provide support for me…" He sighed, and puffed out another large cloud of smoke, "I realized that I had messed up, badly."
"Good." Garry muttered darkly.
"I will not lie, Garry. Hurting you is unforgivable, and it is my biggest regret in life."
"Hurt?" Ib asked.
Garry sighed, "Since you brought it up, father, I'll explain." He looked towards Ib, his dark expression softening for her a little, "eleven years ago, three year before I met you for the first time, dad came home drunk, as was usual of him, and when I confronted him about it, he got mad and started to yell at me. Normally, I would back off then and just let him go lie down and get it out of his system, but I got fed up with it this time, and shouted back."
The old man finished, "We then got into a fight, a bad one, broke most of the kitchen apart, and I injured his arm real bad."
"Real bad," Garry spat out, "Yeah, I can imagine you saying 'real bad' about breaking my arm."
"It was a wrong choice of words." The old man simply said.
"And you had a lot of money and influence," Garry said, his arms shaking in fury as he recalled the events, "You managed to get most of the heat off you, and put most of the blame on me. I was just doing something stupid, I fell down, and broke my arm!"
"I did do that." Jack again said.
"My time in the hospital was a blur." Garry mumbled, "But… the one thing I knew at that point was that I had to get away. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible."
"You ran away as soon as the cast was off."
"And I don't regret it."
"I remember for days, you friends coming to my house, asking where you were. The school work was piling up, and it was after a little while of that, that I truly realized that you had run away."
"Friends?" Garry muttered, "I had no friends back then. If they were real friends, they would've visited me when I was recovering in the hospital. When I went back to school, they acted like we were exactly the same as we were – they practically ignored the cast, other than to say it was cool, or to write their names on it."
"Garry…" Ib muttered, reaching out for his hand. He gripped hers hard, but she didn't say anything, knowing the emotional turmoil going on in his head.
"You look like you've grown up, but you're still a child." The old man finally said after a bit.
"What did you just say, Jack!" Garry said, letting go of Ib's hand and slamming his fists onto the table.
Jack shook his head from side to side, "All these years, and you still act the same as you did before. Do you really think your friends were going to have a pity party for you? They wanted to make you feel better when you got back, so they tried their best to ignore it. They were more mature than you were; you sat there festering in dark thoughts, while they tried to make you happy. You are merely a child."
"Stop right there!" Ib said, before Garry could explode again, "Garry is not a child! He has gone through so many things to save me, if he was a child, he would've left me to die! I remember him going through the dark halls, even though I felt him shaking; he kept trying to keep me positive and happy. There is no way Garry is the same from back then."
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, looking confused.
"Ib," Garry said, holding her hand again, "Thank you."
She nodded, "It's true."
He sighed and looked back up to his father, "I'm sorry, I was just lost in the memories of back then, and you are right, I was an immature brat then… and when I was recounting it earlier, it's true that I still feel resentment, but I do know that it's not their fault."
"What of your girlfriend? What was her name…?" The old man wondered aloud, "Rei?"
"Rei, yeah, that's her." He sighed.
"You just up and leave her, despite all your plans for the future together. You were childhood friends, and had a promising future together with her. From what I could see, the both of you loved each other very much, why leave her?"
"I'm sure you could see a lot from your position," Garry said darkly, but Ib gripped his hand tightly to make him stop pursuing that thought, "It's true that Rei and I did have plans, and thinking back on it… Leaving her was stupid, very stupid."
"It was."
Garry wanted to lash out, but he just held Ib's hand to try and abate his shaking, "But I'm sure she has moved on now. It took me a while, but I found someone who is dear to me. I was young and stupid then, I won't make the same mistake."
"Ib is the same age you were back then," The old man pointed out, "Surely you don't expect her to want to be with you forever? For all you know, it could just be a high school crush, and sooner or later, she'll find someone else she wants to be with, as you did before."
"Hold on," Ib said, placing her hand on Garry's chest, "I've got this one."
The old man raised an eyebrow at her as she turned to glare at him.
"It's funny that you mention age, because that is the one thing that Garry always talked to me about too, he was always saying that he is too old for me, or that I had a fleeting crush on him, or that I should find someone else. Well, it has been almost six years now, and I still love him. I intend to be with him for the rest of my life, and I can't imagine being with anyone else. I promise I will never leave his side, because throughout the years, he has never left my side. There is no other man who I would rather be with, so you keep your trap shut when I come to me."
"And," Garry added on, "If she did ever leave me, so be it." He smiled sadly a bit, "She is still young, so I wouldn't hold it against her."
"You are so infuriating when you talk like that." She said, "I won't leave you, get that through your thick skull!"
The old man laughed at that, "Like an old married couple."
Ib and Garry both blushed at that, but still kept their hands clasped together.
"Well," Garry said, "I won't be leaving, no matter what you say."
"I can see that quite clearly." Jack sighed.
"So, what are you going to do?" Ib asked.
"I will allow Garry to do as he wishes. He has proven to me that he knows what he's doing, and I trust you Ib." He nodded towards her, "It's true that most of his friends have moved on, including Rei, the only reason I want him home is to try and reconcile with him, but… Perhaps that is not possible now." He stood up, "I won't bother you any longer."
"No, wait." Garry said, "You can't just leave it at that."
"I don't see any other way."
"You claim to want to reconcile, but you give up at the first opportunity?"
"I don't want to ruin your life, Garry. I can see that you're quite happy as you are. If it means that I leave your life for good, so be it."
"But…" Garry's grip Ib noted was shaking, "I… I- I... I don't think…" He closed his mouth.
"What is it, Garry?" His father asked, his voice kind for the first time that day, he was still standing, but he had stopped heading to the door.
"I don't know if I will ever… Ever be able to forgive you for what you've done." He said, looking down into his tea, "But… I remember a time when we used to get along, when mother was still alive."
"Yes. I remember those times fondly."
Garry nodded, "I…" He let out a sigh, "I need to let go of the past."
"What are you implying?" His father asked.
"Maybe we could meet again…" He said.
There was a long moment of silence, which was finally broken by his father, "I… I would like that. Bring Ib along too, I would like to learn more about my 'possible' future daughter in law."
"Yeah…" Garry said, looking away.
"Then I'll take my leave. I will leave it up to you to call me whenever you feel appropriate."
"Goodbye… Dad." He whispered the last part, unsure if his father even heard it.
Ib and Garry sat side by side in the room, with a pot of still warm tea in front of them. Ib picked up her tea cup for the first time that day and poured herself a cup, to drink.
"That honestly went better than I expected." He mumbled.
"From what I could tell, he did seem to care for you." Ib said, getting out of the more formal sitting position and crossing her legs instead.
"Thank you for being here, Ib. I don't know if I could've gotten through that without yelling at him the whole time if you weren't here." He said smiling at her, "I'm lucky to have you around."
"And you'll be lucky for the rest of your life." She said, leaning on him, "As long as you'll let me be with you."
"In one more year." He responded, pushing her back, "Don't tempt me."
"But a year is so long…" She groaned, "I've already had to wait four years, can't you just give me a break?"
"No."
"You're such a prude."
"I would call it more like trying not to be a pedophile."
"I bet any other guy would've kissed me right now, at least."
Garry shrugged, "It's honestly pretty funny to watch you squirm."
"Ugh, I should rename the game to 'how long can I last before I don't care what you say'." She grumbled, drinking some tea.
"Hey, Ib?"
She turned to look at him, "What is i-"
He leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on her lips, "There. That's for helping me today."
"Wha- You! You didn't give me time to prepare! You can't just surprise me like that; I can't savor the moment if you do it so suddenly!"
"No redo." He said as he got up, "So when do you think I should meet my father again?"
She shrugged, still disappointed, "Whenever you think is best."
"I want a little bit of time to cool down, that was a little too intense for me."
"I'll agree to that." She nodded.
The two left the restaurant shortly after, and when Garry went to pay, he learned that his father had already paid for the room and drinks. Garry left with Ib right next to him, and he wondered about how much has changed. How Ib had changed from the reserved, shy little girl to the more outgoing woman she was now, how he had changed from Ib's own influence to take on the challenges from his own past, and how things have improved greatly after he had truly got to know her.
He didn't realize it then, but what he said to her was really true, he was very lucky to know a girl like her. Their meeting may have led to one of the worst nightmares of his life, but it also brought with it one of his greatest treasures, and he was going to keep it close and safe for as long as he could.
XxXxXxX
Notes:
One more small chapter after this, and then after that small chapter I will have a really big finale chapter.