Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 14
Every secret has a price…
Title: Phosphorescent Lights
Summary: A photographer with no memories whose goal in life is to seek out what he has lost; a businessman who swore revenge for the death of his lover while desperately trying to escape his fixated reality. Two entirely different men with entirely different lives bound together by the threads of destiny. But little do the two know that they are bounded together by more than just simple destiny…
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairings: Akame (primary), Ryoda (secondary) mentions of Jinda, Pin, Ryopi, Kokame, Kamaki
Other Characters: Jin, Kame, Ueda, Yamashita, Ryo, Koki, slight appearances from Taguchi, Nakamaru, Shige, Ayase, Tegoshi
Content: Romance, drama, AU [Alternate Universe]
Author: Nerd-san
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Johnny Entertainment
…are they willing to pay it?
Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 14
Yamashita frowned and set down his phone a good distance away from himself and into his pocket. He couldn’t help but to anxiously look over his shoulders in a slight fear before turning back.
It had been a week since he had confessed everything to Ryo, and in more ways than not, he felt a lot lighter. But confessing to Ryo hadn’t been the gist of his problem.
About a month ago where Yamashita had went over to Jin’s large estate home, Kitagawa had unceremoniously called him into his room when the latter had not been present.
Yamashita had warned Jin that it was not a good idea to go over and spend the night at Jin’s, much less when his step-father was home, but Jin refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.
At first, Kitagawa had told him that he would do away with him right there and then if he had continued to see his son. Yamashita had replied by informing the man that he’d sooner die than live in a world without his lover.
Angry at the turn of events, the president decided to turn the tables and use Yamashita’s weakness as his strength. When he had threatened him with Jin’s life - the distraught Yamashita remained at a loss.
He left with unbalanced ends before his boyfriend had even returned. He avoided Jin for a week but eventually even the latter had his suspicions. The only way to end the madness was to end his life. But he couldn’t do it at home. Instead, he flew to Okinawa.
But that hadn’t worked out. Instead he had found a reason to continue living. His meeting with the stranger had been, and Yamashita knew, the best thing that could have ever happened to him.
So on this cold winter afternoon, he sheepishly stood in front of the vast company his two friends took to working at. He cringed a little at the workers who gave him crude looks as they walked by, but all in all, ignored them.
Yamashita was going out with Akanishi Jin, heir to the Akanishi fortune - of course he was going to be stared at.
And more than that, everyone had known that the president himself had forbid the relationship. Yamashita knew that he was not welcome. But that didn’t stop him or Jin.
He casually leaned against one of the trees near the entrance as he waited for Jin. Most of the days Jin rushed out to greet Yamashita and in turn it would be Jin who was waiting.
Oddly enough, today it was the opposite. Yamashita smiled at the phone bulging from his pocket. He had just called Ryo out as well to celebrate. The three hadn’t seen each other in a while.
Yamashita didn’t know much about it asides from what he had heard from Jin and Ryo, but apparently there had been a big bug going on about how A. Jewelry was being sued for a defective product that had been in production for almost five years now. It seemed stupid, in Yamashita’s view.
But, he decided, that was probably in his own bias opinion.
Yamashita loved phosphorescent objects; the way they glowed was intriguing to the man. It was as if he was lost in a sea of beaming lights. Once, he had tried to tell Jin this - in all seriousness of course - but all the latter did was laugh.
Apparently the makers of the product had forgotten to mention that what they were making was a radioactive product, but that was what made it glow.
A pair of earrings.
Yamashita wanted one. He had even asked Jin for a pair. But Jin refused to buy anything from that place. Albeit reluctantly, Yamashita had agreed.
Turning away any stray thoughts, Yamashita saw Jin’s figure in the distance and instantly, he broke out into a large smile. He waved, his winter jacket nearly slipping back against his arm due to the unneeded high levitation.
“Jin-Jin!” He laughed and waved at the same time, resisting the urge to run up to the man and simply hug him. But they were in front of work; actions like that were strictly forbidden.
Jin noticed the figure and began to advance towards him with hurried steps. “Pi!” He called back and from behind, Yamashita noticed a few workers stopping to stare at the sight.
He flushed a little at the thought of being viewed as some sort of lab rat and turned away before Jin could come any closer. The presence of work was most felt not when inside the actual building itself, but around the parameters.
“What’s the matter?” Jin blurted incoherently, grabbing onto the latter’s shoulders to hold him in place. Ryo had told him that he needed to better care for the man and for himself and to stay alert at all times.
Jin assumed Ryo was saying this merely because he was Ryo. He liked to tease Ryo and accuse him of paranoia. But looking at Yamashita’s stricken face and lightly trembling hands, Jin decided to keep his guard up.
Yamashita shook his head and waved away the question with an uncertain hand. There was a man staring at them. “Nothing. It’s nothing Jin, let’s go. Ryo’s waiting.” Jin nodded in agreement as the two began to head off in the general direction of the parking lot.
Looking across his shoulders again, Yamashita felt the hard stare of the same man beating away at his back. They held eye-contact for a second before Yamashita broke it abruptly.
He felt the cold sweat forming in the shape of beads at the tip of his forehead, but still he told the obliviously happy Jin nothing. He merely squeezed Jin’s hand tighter as they headed off towards his car.
Yamashita looked back again. The man was gone.
A shiver was sent up his spine and hurriedly, he tugged at Jin’s sleeve. Jin turned back questioningly at his boyfriend. “What’s wrong?” he asked, stopping.
“I think someone’s following us.” Yamashita muttered under his breath, not wanting his words to be caught in the wind. He looked back helplessly at the Jin who only laughed at the absurd comment.
“People are always staring and following us, Pi.” Jin said, walking again only this time also dragging along the reluctant man. “They probably just want the dirt on that phosphorescent case. The earrings thing? Looks like a pair was actually sold.”
Jin ignored the vertical alarm in Yamashita’s voice altogether and only continued on about work, about the case and what was being done against it.
“Jin?” Yamashita spoke up again once they neared his black sports car. Jin was already heading towards the passenger’s seat, waiting impatiently for his boyfriend to open the door. “Can we take your car today?”
Curious, Jin asked why. The latter shrugged and began to walk towards the car on his left - Jin’s flame-red convertible he and Ryo had bought the man for his birthday.
He wanted to tell Jin about Kitagawa’s threat, but the words later died in his voice box as he saw the man again, getting into a car of his own. Jin and Yamashita always - as in always - drove in Yamashita’s car with the man driving and Jin in the passenger’s seat.
Conceivably, he was purely being paranoid, but Yamashita decided that it would have been much better for him and Jin to switch positions. He had taken Kitagawa’s words to heart for the past month and today was going to be no exception.
“My car?” Jin asked, stunned. It wasn’t that he didn’t like driving, but he had much rather preferred goofing around and pestering the usually solemn Yamashita from his seat. “O-Okay?”
The drive was unusually silent as Yamashita made sure to do up his seatbelt and pestered Jin about doing the same. Jin, unused to the nagging, crossed his arms firmly across the wheel as he drove - which Yamashita had also scolded.
“Jin! Be more careful. And god damn it wear your seatbelt!” he growled, turning his gaze to the front mirror and looking back at the cars behind them. He had long lost track of which had been the man’s, but it had easily slipped into the afternoon.
They recklessly drove around for a couple of hours, stopping by random stores to pick up meaningless articles of clothing or unneeded food, but Yamashita didn’t mind.
He was still a little edgy about the man, but glimpsing in the rearview mirror now, there was no trace of him. He lightened up and even almost laughed at his own paranoia. He was being too fearful.
“You should come over again next week; you haven’t been over in a while.” Jin said suddenly, keeping his eyes on the road. Yamashita remembered the last time going over to Jin’s. It was what had almost cost him his life and more importantly to him, Jin’s.
“Busy.” He stated plainly - an obvious lie.
Jin didn’t budge. “Why not?” He pestered.
Unable to answer that, Yamashita embarrassedly fidgeted with the seatbelt in his hands, twisting it this way and that before muttering, “Come over to my house tonight.”
Jin laughed and stepped on the gas as he neared the red stop light. “Pi’s being naughty~!” he giggled, turning to kiss his boyfriend.
“J-Jin! Eyes on the damn road.” Yamashita whined, pushing his boyfriend away. Jin pouted as his cell phone went off and he let it ring. By the eighth ring, however, he handed the phone over to the latter to answer.
“Ryo,” he mouthed and gave the man the electronic.
Yamashita nodded and picked up. “Hello?” He grinned a little at Ryo’s naturally authoritative voice. “No, I’m fine Ryo.” Yamashita answered again, tucking the small phone between his shoulder and neck, giggling away at his friend’s worry.
“Yes, I’m with Jin. Sorry to keep you waiting. Just hold on a little longer, Ryo, we’re almost there. Yes, yes, I’ll tell him. No, Kitagawa-san hasn’t tried-”
Yamashita’s eyes widened. There it was. That same car. It was carelessly passing by the red traffic light now, emitting honks from other cars. It was making its way towards the passenger’s seat of the car, Yamashita knew. Because that was where Jin always sat.
Jin didn’t notice this, however and instead began to slow down the car because of the color of the traffic symbol. Yamashita, shocked, couldn’t bring himself up to hear Ryo’s worried words on the other end of the phone call.
“CAREFUL!”
Jin looked at what Yamashita was staring at.
But it was too late - another car had bounteously rammed into their own. He felt it speeding out of control; things were passing by so fast that Jin couldn’t even begin to put names on the various objects they were hurdling against.
Jin desperately tried to turn the wheel but the impact had been too great. He felt the car flipping and his heart had launched in itself.
Jin screamed.
Surprisingly, Yamashita didn’t; he only dropped the phone from his hands and closed his eyes in a silenced shock.
He wanted to scream for Jin, for Jin to remain safe, but he felt the blood rushing to his head. The car spun out of direction and as did the other, and they had both hurdled over the boundaries of the road and offside towards a rockier region.
There was a large, deafening thump and then, finally, absolute silence.
Jin felt out of his right of mind, hanging upside down with only his seatbelt to hold him in place. He remained closed-eyed for a while; he wasn’t even sure how many minutes had passed, before taking in what had happened slowly. Very slowly.
He wanted to close his eyes and have them remained closed, but a sudden shout brought him out from his dream. “PI!” Jin was sure that he had finally lost it. He was hearing voices. “PI!” there it was again. “PI!!!”
Thinking amiss, Jin finally realized that the voice was Ryo’s and that it was coming from the fallen cell. He coughed out red and undid his belt, turning towards his boyfriend. “Pi?” he asked hoarsely, feeling the blood trickling down the side of his face. “Pi? Pi? Pi?!”
Jin gently touched the man’s paling face. He looked as he always did, peacefully calm without a trace of worry albeit hanging upside down along with Jin. “Pi?” Jin asked again, touching the side of the man’s face. He looked down at his hand. Red.
“Pi…Pi!” Yamashita was bleeding. But then again so was Jin. Although, by judging whose side of the car had been more affected it had been, by a long shot, Yamashita’s. Jin felt himself crying, mercilessly shaking the still figurine. “Hang on! Hang on, damn it Pi!”
“I’ll…I’ll find help. I’ll find…” Jin promised weakly as he opened the smashed door and coughed out more blood, searching desperately for someone - anyone. The car had been run down a ditch; he noted wearily, the lack of blood in his system finally taking effect.
Jin fainted halfway to the open road.
◦●○◦
“Help!” Jin cried out hoarsely as he shot his eyes open.
The dream had felt so realistic that Jin could almost feel himself bleeding again. He looked down at his shaking, pale hands and began to take in the awkwardly white scenery around him.
Looking to his side there were nothing more than foreign objects that Jin could not place. Slowly, his mind began to work away to fit the pieces of what had been lost.
The last thing he had remembered was being in an alleyway after meeting with Ryo. Kame had been there too; hell even Koki managed to somehow weasel his way into the situation. Jin continued in his attempt to replay the episode.
There was a gun; yes, Jin was certain of that. Was he the one holding it? He closed his eyes in a desperate remembrance. Yes, he confirmed, he was the one holding it. But what else had happened? There was a shot, Jin was certain.
He sat up in the bed that wasn’t his own and threw away the covers. His head ached terribly and softly, Jin placed a hand on his forehead in hopes of lessening the steam radiating from it. He grabbed his jacket on the nightstand beside him and began to walk out of the room.
Fragments and bits of that night swiveled into Jin’s head as he quietly began to piece together the missing parts.
In his haste, Ryo had slung a hand over his shoulder and pressed down on the trigger with Jin’s hand. Trying to remember the rest seemed a task impossible and Jin’s head only began to hurt all the more.
Kame, he thought restlessly, holding onto the wall for support, I need to see Kame.
He stumbled across the hallway when he had finally bumped into a young nurse. Hushed, he had asked for a patient of the name Kamenashi Kazuya and willingly, she directed him towards his room.
“So he is here.” Jin coughed, standing in front of the door. Had this meant that he and Ryo had shot Kame? Jin shook his head; he refused to believe such crude things.
His fingers trembled as Jin opened it a crack and peeked inside, half expecting it to be empty - that Kame had already left in his anger and was waiting at home to scold him.
When Jin walked into the hospital room, his mind stopped functioning in its own way. Something wouldn’t allow him to believe that the shrunken figure on the bed was Kame - his Kame.
He didn’t feel as if he had the right to be here, hobbling towards the bed and sitting flatly against the chair beside it.
Kame. How many times had he hurt Kame? Countless times, Jin decided. But at the same time, he had also made Kame happy. “‘Thank you’ or would ‘I’m sorry’ be more appropriate?”
Jin addressed no one in particular before laughing at himself for saying such an obscure thing. “Oh geez, what am I saying? I’m not leaving.”
Jin watched the time passing by on the clock engraved to the wall with a small frown. “Has time always been this slow? Or is it just because you’re not talking to me?” He asked Kame, who remained motionless in the bed.
Jin panicked at his fiancé’s unresponsiveness as he began to sullenly shake the figure. “Kame, stop ignoring me!” he pleaded.
“Kame…how long have we known each other?” Jin cried out, but still there was no response. That hadn’t stopped Jin from continuing to mercilessly shake the figure, but it had stopped his heart from beating for a minute. Was this because he shot Kame?
Still, Jin refused to believe he could be capable of such a thing. “Kame! In these five weeks I’ve felt much more than I could ever in my life.”
The shaking slowed down as Jin began to cry. “In some ways, I think Ryo was right. We might or might not work out; I’m not sure. But I am sure of this: I love you, Kame. Past, present, future, I want to share them all with you.”
Kame’s face was pale and stationary and instantly, Jin thought back to Yamashita. “Kame yesterday was just another one of my tantrums! You have to believe me! I’d never kill you!”
Still nothing. “Kame, damn it, wake up! Yell at me for being stupid! Anything!” He felt himself crying but Jin refused to acknowledge it. He stopped trying to get the man to respond and instead threw his head across Kame’s chest. “Anything! Kame!”
“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing in here?!”
Normally, Jin’s head would instantly shoot up at the voice and turn to reply, but instead, he kept it in place on top of Kame’s steadily rising and falling chest. Koki waltzed into the room with a tray of food in hand but directly put it aside and walked up to Jin.
“You’re an asshole!” Koki shouted. “An asshole, damn it!”
He then fiercely grabbed onto Jin’s collar, shoving the man to the side before sending a flying fist in his direction. Jin didn’t have enough reaction time or thought before he felt his face bruising generously.
The blow collided with Jin’s weary face and clumsily, the man stumbled backwards. Still in his daze, Jin didn’t even notice Koki take a hold of him once more, sending another punch towards him.
“He’ll probably forget everything again thanks to you! I trusted you! I trusted you with him and you turned out to be nothing but a traitor! You’re a traitor! You work for A. Jewelry too, huh?!”
“I let you…I let you love him in my place because that was what Kame wanted. But look what you’ve done to him now!” Frustrated, Koki let go of Jin and ran an agitated hand through his short hair. “You don’t…you don’t have a right to see him!”
“Kame…” Jin muttered between his bruised lips, looking helplessly at the immobile man. “He won’t remember?”
“No.”
Jin didn’t know how to hide himself at times like these. He didn’t know what to think, what to do, or what he was supposed to feel. Regret? Anger? Frustration? Instead of picking one of the three, he chose them all.
Jin looked back at Koki in distress, hoping upon hoping that he was kidding. The colorful memories he painted with Kame…the pictures they took…were they all for naught?
His upper lip was cut and his lower lip was bleeding, but still Jin managed to find his way out of the room. He needed to clear his head. Suffocating thoughts were all that plagued the businessman. And in his haste, he bumped into two familiar silhouettes.
He didn’t know why, but probably because of the familiarity of the two men, because they made Jin feel at home, he let himself go.
“Jin…” the first man asked, worried at his damaged face.
“Ryo!” Jin blurted out through his tears and flung himself onto the shorter man. “Ryo!” He grabbed onto him even tighter, feeling himself sliding down Ryo’s lean body. “He won’t remember me! He won’t…he won’t…”
Jin cried again and slid down to the floor. “RYO!”
Jin clutched onto the sleeves of Ryo’s pants as if his life was dependent upon them. Ryo did nothing but stand where he was, trying his best not to look down at his friend on the floor who was mercilessly searching for the right answers in the wrong places.
Ryo didn’t know what to say and only looked over at Ueda, who too, seemed to be at a loss. Ueda felt heavy as he bent down to level himself with Jin. At times like these words were not the easiest thing to say, but Ueda forced himself to say something, anything.
He grabbed a fist full of the CEO’s hair and gently ran his fingers through it, hoping that it would calm the man down.
“Jin…Jin, it’s better this way,” Ueda said slowly, rubbing Jin’s weary back with his hands. “It’s better this way. This way you can come back to Tokyo without any regrets.” He said in the softest voice he could muster.
Jin shook his head fiercely, aghast at Ueda’s casualness. He wanted to spit out a rude comment or remark that had become a routine when with Kame, but the words seemed to die in his throat.
“Kame…” he whimpered helplessly, “it’s all my fault…and Kame…Kame…” How many faults and wrongdoings did one have to go through in life before they were allowed to lead a life without having to turn back? Jin couldn’t even begin to imagine.
He struggled against Ueda’s loose hold. “No! No!” He pried himself from Ryo and began to his unsteady feet in agony.
He tried to walk into Kame’s room, but his feet were too heavy, too unbalanced to allow him to do so. When Jin fell, Ryo and Ueda had automatically assumed the man would break his fall, but he didn’t. He didn’t care. He let his face hit the arctic-hard floor.
“I want to marry him!” Jin yelled, angry at himself. At Kame. At everyone.
He felt anger towards himself for being the one who triggered Kame’s memory loss. He felt anger towards Kame for being so psychologically unstable, he felt anger towards Ryo who prodded the knowledge into his head. And through his anger, Jin cried.
He cried and then cried some more, praying that somehow this be his last love. He didn’t want to love again. But he wanted to be with Kame.
With their earrings, the two promised each other their lives, their futures. Jin promised to take Kame to Tokyo. He wanted to show him from the tops of the skies to the bottoms of the seas and absolutely everything in between.
“Let me go!” Jin screamed, fitful about having his two friends holding him from barging back into the room. They probably had the right to do so seeing as Jin wasn’t in my right of mind but Jin didn’t care.
He wanted to take Kame, even as the man was now and simply run away with him. Somewhere under the same sky, yet far, far away. If they could run away together maybe they could be happy. “Let me go, damn you!” Jin tried again to push Ryo away.
“Jin! He doesn’t even know who the hell you are!” The man attempted to reason with Jin. Jin didn’t listen. He only continued on in this struggle.
Surely it was possible for one to change their future, Jin thought. Maybe he couldn’t give back all of his blood and rid himself of A. Jewelry, but surely he could change his future. Nothing was for certain in this fucked up life. Jin could change his life.
“I don’t care! I’m staying with Kame! I’m not leaving…I’m not.” Jin began to falter with his aggression and began to feel weak in the arms of his friend. “I’m…not.”
Ryo sighed in frustration as he allowed his grip on Jin to fall. “You’ll only hurt yourself! What the hell’s the point of talking to someone who doesn’t even want to see you?”
He tried to explain the situation to Jin, but the man didn’t seem to care. “If familiarity hurts his head, don’t you think he’d have another mental relapse just seeing you?!”
Jin stopped for a minute - he had never considered that.
He then thought back to that day he held Kame’s hand…he wanted to tell him that he loved him. Yet, all he ended up saying were spiteful words, despite what he truly felt. Jin wanted to tell him ‘thank you’ for loving him or maybe a small ‘sorry’ for being so useless. And then kiss him.
He needed Kame. He promised to take him to Tokyo.
Ueda stepped in by placing a hand on the surprised Ryo’s shoulder and shaking his head. Ryo somehow understood and nodded, allowing Ueda to try and reason with the disheartened man. “Jin.” He spoke softly, “listen to me.”
Jin stopped moving and sat motionlessly on his knees, refusing to look at either of the two. Ueda spoke. “Earlier today we received a phone call from the company. The president has passed away.” He waited for Jin’s facial reaction. There was none. Ueda sighed.
“We’re not going to force you to come back, Jin, but you have to see that there’s no point in staying here anymore. You heard Tanaka-san; he won’t remember anything. You have a responsibility.”
Ueda gently combed his fingers through Jin’s silky hair once more and then stood up, joining sides with Ryo.
He grabbed onto Ryo’s sleeve and began to drag him away. “Ryo and I will be waiting at the airport. Here’s your ticket,” he gave Ryo a look, and understanding what the man wanted; Ryo took out the ticket from his pocket and passed it over to Ueda.
“The plane leaves in about an hour.” Ueda gently placed the permit on the floor beside Jin. “Please be there.”
◦●○◦
He blinked twice. And then twice more to make sure that the empty abyss of whiteness was real. “Where am I?” He shivered a little at the voice that emerged from his throat. Did he always sound like this?
Another moment was taken to look around and take in his surroundings. White. He turned to his right. More white. Was his life always this insipid? “Why am I here?” Again he spoke in that musically soothing voice that he wasn’t used to.
He tried to remember what he was doing there or more importantly how he had gotten there but nothing came to mind. The only thing he had to rely on was the churning feeling in his stomach that told him that someone somewhere needed him.
“I’m not supposed to be here!” He shouted desolately, hauling his covers to the side and hurrying to his feet.
A surprised doctor entered the room with a clipboard and upon seeing the patient agitated and ready to strip himself of his covers, dropped the clipboard and hurried over to the side of the bed, gently pushing the man back down. “Please sir, calm down.”
“No!” The man retorted, fighting the doctor’s grip. “I have somewhere to go!” He knew he did. He simply didn’t know where it was or for what reason but he knew that there was somewhere other than here he had to be.
“Sir, please just lie back down.”
“No!” He refused, pushing his way past the doctor with no avail. “No! There’s someone who needs me! Let me go!”
His squirms met with valiance resistance from the doctor and soon enough a couple of nurses entered the room, surprised at the unpleased sight. “Let me go damn it!”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that sir. You’re in a critical state right now.”
“Let me go!”
The doctor turned back to the two nurses who in turn nodded and hurried to his side. “Hold him down!”
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” He shrieked, he fought, kicked and screamed but yet the ones holding him down had greatly outweighed his efforts. “Someone needs me!” He yelled again, hoping for the strangers to understand. “Someone needs me!”
The doctor shook his head solemnly. “Sir, you don’t even know who it is that needs you.”
“I-I do!” He retorted, racking his brain for the name of the person. Or the place. “It’s…it’s…” Why wasn’t anything coming to him?
Sudden realization dawned upon him. The corners of his eyes began to floor themselves with unneeded tears and in his frustration he threw away his blandly white hospital sheets.
“God damn it why can’t I remember?!” He gripped the fallen hospital sheets in anger as he stood up.
His feet were a little shaky, possibly from the long extended period of not walking upon them, but he couldn’t remember how long he had been out. There was some sort of commotion going on outside of his room and Kame could see a stick of auburn-colored hair from the corner.
He shut his eyes together. Something was oddly familiar about that. The stand of hair was beginning to disappear, and finally, Kame broke through with his struggle with the doctors to off after the hair.
“Kame?” Koki asked from his side across the room, stunned at the man’s determination.
“That’s my life - a never-ending cycle of lost memories, forgotten feelings. It’s like I’m being reborn, again and again…”
“Well whenever it does; yes I’ll be here for you to remind you of your old self.”
Kame felt anger. He didn’t know why but the thought of that hair color annoyed him to no end. He bolted out of the room but before he could make it out into the hallway, Koki as well a few nurses held him back.
“No!” he struggled against their grasps, “he’s supposed to take me somewhere! He needs me!” He yelled again, desperately trying to peek out into the hall. And he managed to. It was only for a brief flash of a second, but he managed to see.
At the same time, outside the hospital and on the side of the beach, the wind lovingly stroked the tide marks of the ocean.
Perhaps there was a place where the wind met with water, just not in this time. True love could never be forgotten, and if it was meant to be, it would only be stored and set aside for a time.
◦●○◦
If you had to pick a number between 2 and 3, which one would it be? D: