A Flower Has Bloomed (My Forged Wedding Fanfic)

7 - Accepting Our Truths

(music above to accompany your reading)

Haruna sat in her desk grading papers after her class had left. It was an early dismissal day. She was halfway done with grading some homework before she noticed one of the girl's answers to a question.

The question was 'What would you like to become when you grow up?'.

It was a silly question, especially when aimed at teenagers instead of elementary school children. Haruna's students felt grown up already, with clear and realistic goals in their future.

The answer of this particular student, was something that hit close to home, for Haruna, at least.

'When I grow up, I want to be a lawyer.; It read in neat english handwriting. There was nothing wrong with the answer, it was grammatically correct along with the rest of her classmate's... but it reminded Haruna of what she was aiming for prior to taking in Harue.

She looked up from it and sighed loudly. Not a disappointed sigh, but more like a sigh out of the feeling of nostalgia. Four long years of law school and endless studying. She was close to achieving her goal, and had even decided upon something silly, like tattooing 'one step at a time' on her arm on graduation day, a quote of her mother's that she carried with her at heart through thick and thin.

She suddenly felt a wave of memories of situations when she said this special phrase to herself.

'We have to leave your father. We need to start all over. Somewhere away from here.': 'We can start over little by little, one step at a time, rebuilding our family overtime, repairing what's broken.'

'I've decided I'm going to become a lawyer, it's going to be a while before I can get to the finish line, but I can do it.': 'I can do it. Just one step at a time.'

'I'm leaving you.' : 'It's fine, I will recover from this, one step at a time.'

'I will take care of him.' : 'I'll leave everything behind and start over again one step at a time.'

"One step at a time..." She whispered under her breath, what was her goal now? Was it to raise Harue properly? To become a better teacher? The excitement and ambition she felt before was all she lived for, the struggle and the challenges she faced were the thrills of her life.

Because without the bad, you can't savor the good as much.

He life was quiet and peaceful now, and as much as she was grateful for that, she couldn't help but wonder what else was in store for her.

As that thought came to her mind, the door to her classroom opened, revealing someone who she would've never expected to stand before her in this setting.

"Mr. Utsunomiya?" She stands from her seat, surprised.

He showed up a with a medium sized white paper bag in his hand. He bowed before coming in and flashed Haruna a sheepish smile. "Good afternoon. I'm sorry I showed up here all of the sudden." He bows a again, only this time deeper.

"Ah, it's no problem." she smiles back at him, reaching her hands out for him to stop bowing. "How can I help you?" Haruna stood with her heels pressing together in awkwardness.

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Haruka knew that it wasn't the best idea he had, but something in his heart told him that he needed to see her, even just a little. It was strange, and impulsive but he couldn't help it. He thought about her for a second and the next he was already on his way to the train station, and on the way he questioned himself so many times whether or not it was a good idea. After finally finding himself in front of the school gates, he was feeling regret, but it was already too late, the trip had been made.