When We Crossed Paths

Chapter Twenty Five: Honesty

Asahi told me everything.

His dad was overreacting (in my opinion, anyway). He hardly looked in Asahi's direction and when he did, it was nasty. His dad was saying Asahi had humiliated him. Embarrassed him. It was so hard not to scoff. I mean...what a ridiculous thing to say. I still can't quite understand it. His dad would gain nothing from the union. It wasn't like Akamori was the heiress to a vast fortune (as far as I was aware). Still wouldn't excuse how he was treating Asahi but at least that would make sense.

And what about Akamori? What was she saying? What were her parents saying? Was she being two-faced? Telling me she wanted Asahi to be happy but saying something else to her parents. Those were some of the thoughts going through my head.

I held Asahi for an unknown period of time. I seriously think we were lying there for over an hour. Perhaps longer. He was completely broken. A mere shell. He was losing everything. He lost volleyball, he was no longer receiving pocket money, he was only allowed out for school, he wasn't allowed to get a job.

He was being crushed.

Apparently I was an exception. His mum had supposedly convinced his dad to still allow me to come over. They trusted me. I almost felt guilty. I couldn't help but feel partly responsible. I caused this. I'm still convinced by that. That feeling will never go away.

Speaking of which...I wandered about his mum. What was she thinking? Did she agree with his dad? He never mentioned his mum. Was she just standing by and letting this happen? I hated this. I hated all of it.

I had no idea what to do. What do you do? When something like this is happening to someone you love, how do you fix it? Can you fix it? Just a complete mindblank.

"Please don't leave me..." Asahi cried.

"I promise! I'd never leave you!" I replied.

Now, even that was scary. The fact he even said that was worrying.

"Look at me!" I said lightly pulling away from our hug. "We'll get through this. We'll find a way. I promise!"

"I love you!" He mumbled.

"I love you too!" I replied kissing him lightly.

He smiled weakly and slowly stood up.

"Right...I think I'm ok now..." He said offering his hand.

"Really?" I responded with a sense of suspicion.

"Well...no but, for the moment. I'm ok." He replied lightly pulling me to my feet. "This has helped. A lot."

"I'm glad!" I said.

"I promise I won't keep these things to myself. I'll be honest. I promise." He declared, still feeling ashamed of himself.

"I'm glad. I'm really glad. I hated not being able to help. I hated that I was in the dark. I felt like you didn't trust me." I admitted.

"No, it's not that I don't trust you. I just...I've always kept my personal issues to myself. I always keep my friends at arms length with this stuff. I just don't like feeling that I'm being a burdon on people. And I just didn't want you to feel trapped. I don't know...it's stupid but...I thought that you'd think it was too much and feel like you were stuck with me. I didn't want you to feel unhappy." He explained.

"Well, to be honest, I was unhappy because I knew you were lying to me about what was happening. I was unhappy that you were treating me that way." I replied.

"I know I know. It was stupid now that I think about it. It was the wrong way to go about it. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was doing what was best. I was wrong, and I hurt the one person I care about the most. I'm sorry."

I just looked at him. When I first met him all those years ago, he was this tall, beautiful boy, so full of confidence, but completely humble.

Now, when I looked at him, his confidence was completely gone, he actually looked a little shorter, he was broken, he was a mere shell of his former self. My feelings never changed, but...I still had the worry that he wouldn't recover from this.

Would he ever return to his normal self?

I was doubtful. Not while his dad was being like this, and I knew that his dad would never let this go. This would forever be a sticking point in their relationship.

While he was living here, Asahi would never recover.

I was sure of that.