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Part 36 - Apology

36. Apology

No more champagne//And the fireworks are through//Here we are, me and you//Feeling lost and feeling blue //Happy New Year, ABBA

—

Lene's POV

There was another idea that thrilled me beside angels. Go somewhere, fall in love, and start a new life there. It could be Sweden, or the U.S., or somewhere else in Asia, as long as I found someone.

Finally, I had the answer for that idea. I found Tonje. I loved who she used to be, and who she is now. Hopefully I could build a family with her, if she wanted.

When I woke up, I reached for Tonje under my comforter. But she wasn't there. Realizing it was dinner time already, I bolted out the door, panickingly looking for her. Fortunately, Tonje was there, in the kitchen, with mom and Oliver. I sighed in relief, I was too paranoid of her disappearance to stay conscious.

Tonje was silent for most of the time at our dinner table. She often glanced at Oliver nervously, I realized. Surely, she was thinking about how to apologize to him.

The other two weren't any better, though. Mom and Oliver were either upset over the news. I remembered how Oliver cried, rolling on the floor when he caught the news of his dad's death the day before. And clearly, begging for his forgiveness was nearly impossible.

I grabbed her hand under the table, slightly rubbing it till it was warmer in mine. Her ocean eyes scanned me, and she shyly smiled.

///

In our regular homeroom, Ms. Sara read and explained some new policies of our school. It seemed the Russ Bus this year would be led and supervised by somebody in charge. All of the students groaned.

"The good news is that we have generous sponsors, y'all," Sara said, winking at me, "see me after school, Lene." I nodded, but my mind drifted somewhere around Tonje, who was sitting behind me.

"I failed millions of apologizing simulations," Tonje frowned, embarrassed.

Well, those were just fake scenarios, but what if we failed for real? I used to think I'd rather stay with her like this and wait for a right moment when Oliver was older, he would be more understanding over William's incident. Thus, we might have more chances to get his forgiveness.

Apparently, however, a piece of Tonje would follow Oliver forever if we couldn't make a closure to this mission soon.

I saw Tonje changing recently, she was no longer a confident popular school girl I knew in Nissen. Her insecurities grew greater over time and she looked miserable as hell.

.

"Are you okay, Tonje?" Eva, her best friend, asked.

"Are you three okay? Tonje and Lene are worrying about something, right? And also you, Eva, you looked alerted," Clara asked, trying to show her affection over our atomic clique. She seemed more caring lately, I had no idea why.

"Family stuff," I said, trying not to reveal much about our private matters. But Eva and Clara knew about William's strange death in Sweden, they must have something in mind.

Clara, out of the blue, offered, "How about going skiing this Sunday to blow off some steam? I know a very good place to ski."

"Good idea," Eva said, also she didn't forget to pull Tonje with her, "Ton, go with us."

"Uh," Tonje hesitated.

I realized she couldn't focus recently, her mind was all around Oliver. So I should help, "Could Oliver join, too? My brother won't be annoying."