hey friends, i hope everyone recovered just fine after last chapter

anyways, i just want to let you guys know that i have an Epilogue coming up for this story so stay tuned but for now, enjoy this fresh new chapter.

Don't forget to drop a REVIEW :)

also, you guys have been an awesome bunch of readers, honestly, i love you guys and i really appreciate not only your reviews but also the support you've given this story from the start. Thanks so much, particularly those who followed Jon and Annie since the very beginning.

Jon stood outside the funeral home, dressed in black with his eyes still red. He refused to go there and listen to her family and friends who had travelled from different parts of the country to speak about her and commemorate the life Annie had lived. He was a shattered man whose dreams and hopes have been destroyed. He told her that he was going to marry her in the parish down the road from her place but he ended up going there alone to pick up the pastor for her funeral service instead.

He hated kismet, that force of nature Annie would talk about in the past. It should go and fuck itself. What has Annie done to die so young and early? What has he done to deserve being left high and dry? He dug for his comfort stick on his pocket, pulling out his pack of cigarette and a lighter. He's not going to go there and watch everyone say goodbye to her because as cowardly as it was, he's not ready to say goodbye. In fact, he could still feel her presence lingering around him. Right now, he could almost see her crinkle her nose in secret displeasure while he smoked to relieve his frustrations. She had been taken away from him so prematurely. Why does she have to leave when he finally admitted to her and to himself that he'd been wrong about love because he fell for her, truly and madly in love?

"Jon," hearing Jeff's familiar voice calling him, Jon turned around with his cigarette between his lips. Annie's grandfather stood before him, dressed in black just like Jon currently was and an expression of grief and exhaustion was present in his ageing face. Quietly, the elder man approaching him and the approaching footsteps and voices informed Jon that the service was finally over. "They're going to take her ashes to California to be with her family but I think it's only appropriate that you get to keep some, so you'll know she's always with you," Jeff informed the younger man as he reached for the pocket of his suit. Jon was very surprised when Jeff handed him a cremation necklace, it has a sun pendant that contained some of Annie's ashes. "It was one of her requests before she passed away, she bought the necklace herself and had explicitly informed me before to fill it with her ashes when she passes and to give it to you, she knew you were going to feel lonely and alone," with a small smile on his face, the elder man informed Jon.

Speechless, Jon held the necklace in his trembling hand. The pendant that contained her ashes was a sun, Jon smiled at the idea, she was and still is his sunshine after all. "Thank you, Jeff," looking up at the elder man, it was all Jon could manage to say, the older man shrugged.

"Live your life Jon and make her proud when you head to Florida," patting his shoulder, Jeff informed the younger male. "Also, I think you deserve it more than anybody else to get to keep this," he added, pulling out a piece of torn paper and handing it to Jon, "that's her whole entire life in that paper," smiled the elder man and with one last pat on Jon's back, Jeff left him be.

After the service, Sami had dropped Jon off home with little words exchange between them, even Rob was quiet and he's usually the talkative one. Jon arrived at his apartment where everything was in boxes and his things for Florida were packed away in a bag, all ready for his new life. With a can of beer in hand and a cigarette between his lips, Jon sat himself down on the couch. He could still smell Annie there, her scent lingering and keeping him company. He'd worn the cremation necklace around his neck the moment it had been given to him, it brought a feeling of comfort for his shattered self.

Quietly, he pulled out the piece of paper from his pocket. He didn't dare to open it up after the service and anticipated his time alone to open it. Her whole entire life was in the piece of paper, according to Jeff. Jon wondered what the elder man meant as he unfolded it carefully.

'Annie's Bucket List,' in her neat cursive writing, it said, written in bright red and below it was the list that Annie spent the past seven years of her life completing. Jon's blue eyes skimmed through it, reading:

Leave home with only one bag

Hitchhike to go to Slab City

Run naked on the side of a busy road for ten whole minutes (done with Trina)

Go sandboarding

Grow hair out

Kayak in the Colorado River

Go hiking

See a rodeo in Kansas

Ride a horse

Enter a pie-eating contest in Indiana (won third place)

Learn how to play the harmonica

Explore a cave

Ride a hot air balloon

Watch a massive bird migration

Snorkel a shipwreck

Ski while dressed in nothing but my bikini

Learn to start a campfire and cook food using it

Read all of Jane Austen's books

Try to survive two months without money (done for a whole year instead)

Tell your family you're never coming home but don't tell them you'll miss them, even if you will

Make a family member happy (Grampa Jeff)

Perform in front of a crowd

Fall deeply, madly and truly in love (Jonathan Good)

Make Jon believe in love

Jon looked at the last one on the list, 'Make Jon believe in love,' it was the only thing that hasn't been marked off. With a smile on his face, he got up from his seat and searched his apartment for a pen. When he did, he drew a line across the last one, completing Annie's bucket list. She lived a great life, a life full of fun, adventures and whatnot. Jon felt proud to have helped her accomplish her list and somehow, he no longer felt blue. He knew that his loss will remain at the back of his mind, there will always be a hole in his heart but with the knowledge he has now that Annie lived her life to the fullest like she wanted, he felt happy for her.

Chuckling to himself, he could almost see her smiling at him and hear her voice tell him how proud she was of him. Who would've known that one punch in his face could change his life, all because of one woman? It's hard to let her go and it will take time and right now, Jon felt optimistic. If Annie managed to live her life to the fullest with the little time she had, why not him too?

stay tuned for the EPILOGUE!

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