With Much Forgiveness, Anyone Can Go From Foe To Friend.

With much forgiveness, anyone can go from foe to friend.

Frustrated tears cooled the warm face of the young girl seated by herself outside in the warm summer afternoon. No matter what, this day felt especially bad and her thoughts wouldn’t stop for anything no matter what she did to halt them.

However, the world would have it where she could have no privacy and was soon approached by someone else.

“Cassie?”

She rubbed her face quickly and turned to look at the voice that called her. “Jessica? Why are you here?”

Her eyes looked off. “You’re annoying ass brother wouldn’t leave me alone. He didn’t know where you were so I… figured you’d be here.”

Cassie’s head shook. “How did you know I would be here?”

“Because, dummy, this is where you and… him would hang out isn’t it?”

Thankful she hadn’t mentioned the name, Cassie still felt a twinge in her chest and turned her head away. “I guess so…”

The pair remained in a stiff silence and Jessica made no effort to say anything. Cassie didn’t move and remained sitting on the ground with her knees pulled up to her face. Eventually, Jessica sat down beside her and let out a sigh.

“Can I ask, why you’re out here?”

Cassie just shrugged. “I wanted to be alone.”

“Because?”

“Just because.”

Jessica rolled her eyes knowing they weren’t going to get anywhere. She didn’t know if things were right for her to say considering their relationship up to this point, but she felt a bit like she could say one thing.

Now, it was a matter of if she wanted to say it or not.

Jessica sat on that thought for a while and eventually Cassie shifted to stand up.

“I’m sorry Ren bothered you. I think I’m just gonna head home now.”

Jessica said nothing as Cassie started to walked off. She didn’t get very far before Jessica got to her feet as well and caught Cassie by her arm.

“Hey just… you don’t have to leave.”

Cassie didn’t look back.

“Just, let me say something okay?” Jessica’s grip only tightened and soon she let out a slight groan before speaking. “Were you crying over Aki?” Feeling her arm tense, Jessica assumed she was right.

“I wasn’t crying,” Cassie said with her head turned away.

“Come on already, I know you were crying and I know it had to be because of him.”

Cassie continued to shake her head and she started to yank her arm trying to break away from Jessica.

“Look, I miss him too, and it wasn’t like I had any reason to; but you can’t sit here and cry about him. It’s over and time to move on.”

More violently this time, Cassie pulled her arm and used her free hand to pull as well. “Let go of me!”

“No, just… if you don’t have anyone to talk to, then you can talk to me.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Why can’t you? What’s the issue with just telling me something I already know?”

Cassie, with a frustrated tone, said, “because you’ve always acted like you know everything! Even when you would bully me because of some boy.” Jessica’s grip loosened and Cassie was able to pull her arm back to her side.

Trying to ignore the first part, Jessica moved on. “So, he was just some boy to you?”

Cassie sighed. “No, he wasn’t just some boy and you fucking know that.” Cassie ran a hand through her hair. “I just used to think it was so ridiculous that you were actually bullying me because of a crush you had on a guy who was dating someone else.”

Jessica wrapped her arms around her waist. “Yeah, I know it was stupid.” She paused. “But, you can’t blame me. I had no other choice, especially when… I had no chance.”

“So you were aware Aki would never like you, yet you still bullied me to no end?” Cassie scoffed. “I’m not sure how I should feel about that. This whole conversation is making me feel that way."

Jessica kept her eyes away from Cassie’s figure and as the silence fell over them, she could only hear her thoughts trying to answer that exact question. Eventually, Jessica managed to find some words and looked back at Cassie who was scowling at this point.

“I know I should say something like sorry to you, but that would be a lie. I don’t feel sorry for what happened, I feel like I should make it up to you instead.”

“Huh?”

“Like, I know what I did to you. Saying sorry isn’t going to make up for the years I made fun of you, the rumors I spread about you, or even the spiteful things I did to break up you and Aki. So, I feel like maybe I should make it up instead of saying sorry.”

Cassie stared at the girl in front of her. Without very many words, Cassie felt a little off about what she was saying. Not because she didn’t want to hear it, but because it didn’t make sense where this was coming from.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Cassie said, “why would you even want to do that? Why not just leave me be?”

Jessica let out a small breath. “Because, I think you and me are the only two people in the world who knows how the other feels.”

“I’m… not getting it.”

“Come on, you and I are both too smart to play dumb here. You were crying, no matter if you say otherwise or not, and I know exactly how you feel because I also liked Aki.”

Cassie bit her lip listening to Jessica’s words. “Even if that was true, what happened between me and Aki isn’t something I’ll remember forever. I’ll move on because no one cares about just a stupid relationship anyways.”

“I know you don’t feel that way. I don’t know what kind of shit you went through to think that no one would care, but only an asshole would say that to your face.” Jessica paused. “Someone who really cared about you would feel every little sliver of pain you feel no matter how dumb you think it is.”

That seemed to strike a cord in Cassie and her breath caught in her throat. “Wha-what are you saying that for?”

“Because Aki is an extremely nice person who—believe it or not—comforted me as well. I know he said those things to you because he used to say them to me. The only difference being that he was just sympathetic to me.” Jessica’s head dropped. “I can admit now that, yes, I was jealous of what you and him had. So, to see that you lost what I was trying so desperately to get… I know how you’re feeling, Cassie.”

“Like I haven’t heard that a million times. Listen, I don’t need any comforting. Like I said, I’ll move on eventually.”

“And I’m sure you will, but I need you to understand that you don’t have to be by yourself right now. I told you—I know exactly what you’re feeling.” Jessica’s head came up and there, Cassie saw something she never thought she would.

Streaming down her face, were tears that appeared just as cooling as Cassie’s did. Jessica started to choke over her words, but she spoke through it. Through her sobs and coughs, she managed to keep talking.

“I know it hurts… I know you feel like Aki was the only good thing to ever happen to you… I know you want to hug him again, you just want him to tell you everything will be alright.” Her hands went to her face. “Because he always made it seem like things really would be okay.”

Hearing that and seeing Jessica’s strong outburst, Cassie felt the tears she tried to hide come back. Her head dropped into her hands and once again, she started to cry. Jessica moved closer to Cassie and grabbed her, pulling her into a tight embrace. The girls held each other as if letting go would kill them and, in this moment, it felt like it would.

It felt like their hearts were both hurting and this hug was the beginning to mending them. Their hearts that fought for so long to maintain an image that hurt them more than protected them was starting to melt away. This embrace felt like something they both had been missing in the months their hearts were given back to them.

Jessica managed to calm herself and leaned over to see Cassie’s face. She was still crying, but was obviously holding it back by her frame shaking in Jessica’s grasp. Thinking not to bring it up, Jessica spoke about something else instead.

“By the way, Ren didn’t tell me you were here.”

“H-he didn’t?”

“No. I got worried about you when you left school today. I figured something might have been bothering you since you never really opened up about it.” Jessica paused and allowed the quiet to wash over them. “So, are you really okay?”

For a while, Cassie didn’t say anything or even move. Eventually, she said, “no…” Her voice was broken.

“Is there anything that’d help?”

Cassie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never had to deal with something like this before.” Her voice was becoming shallow.

“Okay, that’s fine.” Jessica paused. “I wouldn’t know what to do either, but how about we take it slow? You can talk to me if you want and if not, we’ll spend the summer doing whatever you want.”

Cassie said nothing to this, but it was obvious she was grateful as her shaking calmed significantly. She then gave a slow nod.

“Okay…”

Jessica felt relieved at those words. “Alright, but I really think you should at least let your brother know about this. He can be with you much more than I can.”

Cassie barely got out any of her words, but she finally mustered out a whisper of, “thank you…”

Jessica smiled. “You’re welcome.”

You know something I've wanted to say for a long time, but never could?

Why do people think a culture defines your feelings?

I was looking at some aesthetic Studio Ghibli posts and had like a flashback to when I missed seeing both Ponyo and The Secret World of Arrietty in theaters because my mom figured it was just some kids movie and I could catch it when they showed on TV.

Aside from the fact those movies never showed on cable ever, I realized everyone I know sees animation as childish.

Obviously, that extends to everyone else in the world and what I don't understand is the logic that if Japanese audiences can emote to an animation, why would any other country or group of people be different?

This also goes for any country that experiences something different from what your used to, but still emotes to it.

At the end of the day, we're all humans and share the same emotions no matter our cultural upbringing.

I think this makes me realize why I care to defend my "childish" hobbies as much as I do because I understand that it's not just a cartoon for kids to mindlessly consume, it's art in a form unexpected from what's the norm.

Here's an idea I really wanna write but never will.

A noble vampire who understands consent. Normally those old vamps who want the blood of a fair maiden use nefarious means to get their blood.

So imagine a vampire who doesn't need blood like water and maybe just needs one good drink a month.

Instead of desperately needing blood, they just need someone who donates to the blood bank. They have a normal relationship (as much as possible) and things are super sweet with a touch of iron.

My therapist just told me my problem is that I need to write more fanfiction.

Alright, so this is pretty much a set up from past me to actually do this.

So, recently, I've been extremely lonely and have been trying to find a way to fill that void. It went from me trying to play some mmorpgs to find friends, to giving up and just accepting company in 2D men by playing some visual novels.

I played Under Maintenance and am working on getting all the endings in A Date With Death and while I loved both those games, they brought me back to my roots of writing romance.

Since it's February and I'm single I was thinking about relationships and got these two idea.

1

I've never written a rom com before and after playing Under Maintenance I wanted to try my hand at one and got a super cute idea.

The concept is an struggling writer who works at a bookstore who starts to pull the attention of her boss after spit taking at one of his jokes at a company party. His interest in her soon spirals and he sees how miserable she is at work. He then gives her a week to quit or he'll fire her himself.

Wanting a break from her entire life, an upcoming holiday is the perfect time to try and relax. While going to see her family at her hometown, she's met with someone else who also happens to have family there, no one other than her boss--the one who's about to fire her.

I decided to make this a little Nano, but lord knows I'm gonna give up and miss my deadline. So, to try and make things possoble for me, I actually started on Jan 23 and got a decent 12k words already.

It you're interested, wish me luck in actually finishing it and I'll likely have some stuff to post about after this next thing I have planned.

2

Again, this is a set up from past me, but also in my bout of loneliness, I started to think about how much I hate the culture that only people you're romantically involved with can show you love and appreciation for your time and pressence. Personally, I would love to celbrate Valentine's day with friends, just to show them how much I care for them.

My rambling aside, this made me want to showcase something related to this and while I had another idea, I scrapped it for this one!

For every day in February, I'm going to post a short story about the many relationships in my stories.

My MC Cassie has TONS of relationships, so I figured it'd be best to show it by giving little in-universe stories about the romantic, platonic, and familial love she experiences with everyone I've brought to life.

This is just my small way of sharing all kinds of love and to show how we don't just have to me romantic to love each other.

So, hopefully, I won't flake on myself and I'll have some of it done by this time this post is up.

But, if you're interested, I hope you enjoy reading and I also want you to know that love comes in all shapes ad sizes so don't feel like you can't have what everyone else does, you just have to find it in your own way ☺

🍂

Is this part important to the plot?

No, but it is important to me.