482Chapter Thirty-Two: Completion
It happened after an uneventful dinner.
That night, the family gathered to eat as usual. Everyone said their graces, ate their hearty meals, exchanged conversations and laughter, and spoke as if they had not spoken for years. It was heartwarming, really. In such a short period of time, they'd all become a real family. But essentially, she knew deep down that good things would eventually come to an end.
When Matthew went off to his playroom after being bored out of his mind by the conversations between the adults, Terra could see her mother visibly swallowing. Then, as if with great effort, she managed to clear her throat.
"I actually have something to say."
Terra took a deep breath and braced herself.
Well, here goes.
Mrs. Seymour set her napkin aside and her change in demeanor became apparent. "What's going on?" she said, sounding rather anxious.
"Did something happened?" Mr. Seymour added.
Terra covertly scanned Ocean; even though he was still wearing his usual indifferent expression, she noticed that his back had slightly straightened as if something had finally caught his attention. She felt her throat getting drier by the second and couldn't help but feel her palms getting inevitably sweatier as she waited for her mother to end the suspense.
Her eyes heavy with affection, her mother continued on. "Anna, Max, I don't know how I can ever thank you for your generosity. You took us in when I didn't know where else to go. The both of us would've been lost without you."
If her eyes weren't bristling with tears before, Mrs. Seymour was certainly tearing up then. "Pet, you know I will always be there for you."
Terra's mother nodded, wiping away some of her escaped tears. "Mm. I know that. And that's why I can't be so selfish anymore. Terra and I have been thinking about it for some time now. And we've come to a decision."
"Decision?" Mr. Seymour prodded when Petra was quiet.
It was obvious to the naked eyes that her mother was struggling with the words. Tears wouldn't stop flowing from her eyes, and Terra knew, as much as her mother did, that this was a decision that displayed great courage and growth on their parts. It was something they had to do – something they were glad to do – but that didn't mean that it was difficult.
"Ma and I are moving out," Terra finally said. She smiled and shrugged. "It's nothing fancy – our new place. And we're certainly –", she paused momentarily and looked over at Ocean, "– going to miss everyone. But it's something we just have to do."
Mrs. Seymour sounded heartbroken. "What?"
"Petra," her husband stepped in, "You must know that there is no need for you to do that. If you think you're being a nuisance to us, well, you're terribly mistaken. This house has never been livelier without you guys."
Terra's mother smiled as she shook her head. "Max, I know. I know that you care about us a lot and we would've loved to stay on but I think it's time for us to start fresh. We found refuge here under your shelter and I think, at some point, we were so ensconced in this little world of yours that we hardly even thought of leaving."
Everyone was quiet while Petra paused in her thoughts.
"But I guess, life must move on."
There was a form of finality in the words that Terra's mother had spoken. It was almost as if her last sentence was a royal order, solid and undeniable. Terra briefly glanced over at everyone else and they all seemed to be taking their time to process all that'd been said.
At the end, it was the man of the house who spoke first.
"I'm happy for you, Petra."
Soon, even Mrs. Seymour started congratulating them for taking the big step in their lives. Minutes later, they were conversing about the prospective house and all the arrangements of the moving dates. The familiar warmth that always enshrouded the dining table was back again.
Seeing her mother happily chatting with her friends, Terra felt a sense of relief. Like a rock being lifted from her shoulders. She worried for her. With all that'd happened to her before, the last thing she needed was a difficult moment with one of her best childhood friends.
Even so, she found herself not really being able to enjoy the rest of conversation. She blinked a couple of times, and wondered why Ocean was being so aloof and taciturn.
Not that he wasn't aloof and taciturn to begin with but his indifference to her news made her fidgety. She was going to miss him the most about the house – no more nightly tyrants, no more sudden acts of sweetness. She was sure that he'd miss her too seeing as how he couldn't seem to keep his hands to himself the past week. But somehow, at that moment, he just wasn't displaying his feelings well for her to confirm anything.
She tried to gauge his reaction for a little while more but when she finally admitted that her efforts were futile, she stood up. From the corners of her eyes, she saw that that got his attention, so she decided to pick up all the empty plates and bring them to the kitchen.
"I'm just going to wash these," she said to the adults before she walked off.
She hoped that Ocean would follow suit. Maybe he just wasn't comfortable saying anything or showing any feelings with his parents and her mother around. Maybe if they were alone, he'd let her know how he felt.
Was it a good thing though? To know how he felt about the news?
She turned the faucet on and left it running. She fixated her gaze on the running water and imagined all the possible scenarios that could take place here. He could be angry. Well, he should be at least a little bit angry. After all, she didn't talk to him about this decision at all and just sprung this on him all of a sudden. Considering that their relationship had just about been stable for only a week, and she was suddenly suggesting staying apart – which was a concept that was utterly foreign to them – she could understand it if he was upset.
But she had to do it. She had to make that choice by herself. She didn't want to factor Ocean into the equation for she feared that it would collude her from the bigger picture. Leaving the mansion was a big step for both her and her mother. This place had become their blanket of security, a shelter that they could always turn to whenever they faced an impasse. It was their safe space, their comfort zone.
And moving out meant they were leaving it.
It also meant leaving behind all the unhappiness that'd taken place. Until just recently, her father's death had always been the pain between the two of them. Their mother-daughter relationship had suffered terribly from it at one point too. When the truth was unveiled and the twists of the story became known to Terra, she'd even lost herself momentarily.
But all was well. Now, the only thing left to do was for them to pick themselves up and start getting their lives back into place.
She was going to miss Ocean immensely – that, she knew. But surely, he must understand why she had to do this. If he was going to be upset – which she thought he definitely would be – it would probably only last for a while.
She just needed to pacify him a little and he'd be all okay.
When she started to hear footsteps approaching, she inhaled deeply and turned off the faucet. As if she was mentally preparing herself for what was to come, she blinked several times. Then, when the footsteps stopped, she began.
"I know you must be surprised but –"
She paused.
"Ocean?"
She felt his body behind her, his arms around her waist. He pressed his right cheek against her left cheek and he was pulling her against him so tightly that she felt like his body completely engulfed her. Confused, she tried to turn her head so that she could see his face but he kissed her cheek before she could do that.
He inhaled. "Damn."
She felt a wave of heat hitting her cheeks. His body was pressed so hard against her that she could literally feel everything that was 'damning' in his lower body.
She placed her hands on top of his and squeezed them gently. "Hey," she said softly. She turned and found herself looking at his face. Their gazes locked for a brief moment and then, he leaned in to kiss her.
The kiss felt urgent yet it was tender in its nature. His tongue sliding against her, she'd be lying if she said she didn't just want to throw her arms around him and beg him for more intensity. But she held back and they broke the kiss.
Breathless yet coy, his raspy voice whispered into her ear, "You were saying?"
It was a pleasant feeling, his breath against her skin. But she knew too many girls who'd left their problems unsolved because of their sexual desires and she refused to be one of them. So, she pushed his arms down from her waist before she turned around to face him.
His eyes immediately lightened up when he saw her face. He lifted his hands to her cheeks and brushed them with his thumbs.
"I like this view way better."
Again, she pushed his hands back down in spite of her racing heart. Then, with somewhat mixed feelings, she asked him, not knowing what to expect.
"Aren't you angry?"
"Angry?" he said, his expression clearly amused. "Why?"
Then, she didn't know why she didn't think of it but it just occurred to her that he might've missed the whole conversation. God knew that he sometimes zoned out and lived in the little world in his head. He admitted that it was how he tolerated Rose's antics once when they were talking.
So, she bore her eyes into his as if that would put some weight into what she was trying to convey to him, and cupped his face. "I'm. Moving. Out."
"The sun comes up from the East."
"What?" she said.
"What, I thought we were stating facts. That was the first thing that came into my mind. Sorry, was I supposed to state an incident?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, feeling rather irked by his levity. "Do you find all of this very funny?"
She thought the sternness in her voice would've stopped his nonsense but to her surprise, he actually laughed out loud. And when he didn't stop within seconds, she took umbrage of the whole situation. Forcefully, she pushed him away from her. She thought that might stop his laughter but it didn't and she became more aggravated.
"Wait, wait," he said between breaths as he held on to her wrist when she tried to stalk off. "Sorry, give me a sec here, babe."
"Don't patronize me. Let me go."
He cocked his brow, obviously finding the reversal of roles to his amusement. "Are you angry?"
"No. So, let me go, you condescending piece of ass."
A lazy smile formed on his lips, and he tried to slip his hands back onto her waist but she slapped them off. He chuckled, and then, rested one hand on her head.
God, how she hated his height sometimes.
"Calm down, silly."
"Don't tell me to –"
He kissed her nose.
"I'm not about to –"
He kissed her cheek.
"You're –"
He kissed her lips.
Really, she should've been born taller.
And just like that, she was silenced. She tried to fight it off but who was she kidding? The moment she felt his lips moving against hers, her knees already starting buckling. Within moments, his hands were back on her waist and hers were thrown around his neck.
When they pulled apart, she sighed.
"You win," she said begrudgingly.
His grin was so boyish, her heart almost diffused into liquid. "Thought you might give in."
"That doesn't mean I'm not angry," she quickly stood to her ground. "You're not taking things very seriously and I'm upset about that."
For a moment, he looked at her with a bemusement. Then, he tilted his head as if contemplating what to say. "Mm, let me get this straight."
She waited expectantly.
"What you're saying is that I should be angry?"
At that time, she was so exasperated that her brain probably lost its filter. Without thinking, she blurted out, "Yes." But even as she said the word, she could hear just how nonsensical it was. So, when he didn't reply, she rolled her eyes and gestured with her hand. "That's not what I meant. I just… well, you should be a little upset, at least."
"Why?" he said. "Because you're finally happy?"
Sometimes, she wondered if it were these moments in life that she lived for. Ocean may not talk a lot and amongst others, he may appear quiet. But when he spoke – well, those moments were the moments that counted.
She opened her mouth at first, fully intending to launch into an argument with him except she realized that there was no arguing his wisdom. She'd been worried that he'd get angry because her decision might change the dynamics of their relationship or he might get offended that she didn't think to tell him about it first. But she didn't consider the fact that he'd known all of what she'd been through and he'd be happy for her because…
Well, because she was finally happy.
Even as she thought about it then, she still couldn't quite believe it.
She was finally happy.
She'd been in such a constant state of pain for so long that she'd forgotten how it actually felt like to be happy. For starters, she didn't even notice that what she'd been feeling this past week – the feeling of freedom, the feeling of blissfulness – was, fundamentally, pure happiness.
"I'm happy." Her voice reverberated in uncertainty even though she meant it as a statement.
"Yes, you are."
She looked up at him, eyes beaming. And then, rather than saying it for him to know, she was saying it for her to believe it.
"I'm happy," she muttered. "I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy!"
A broad grin was plastered on Ocean's face as he stared at her jumping up and down in her position. He then cupped her face.
"Yes you are, yes you are, yes you are!"
The both of them started laughing. The intoxicating feeling of happiness and excitement about her future were far more than enough to send her launching towards Ocean to kiss him once more. She could taste his surprise when her lips first touched his but after the initial daze, he gladly reciprocate. Again, they found themselves in a compromising position in the kitchen and Terra thanked God that their parents were far away from them and too immerse in their conversations that she bet could've gone on forever if they didn't need to sleep.
After a while, they pulled apart.
"My room or yours?" he said, breathless.
Despite wanting to suggest his room, she reeled her desires back in and shook her head. "Neither," she said. "Your parents don't know about us yet."
He laughed as if he'd just heard the most absurd thing. "From experience, I know that women talk. Considering your mom knows… I really doubt that my mom doesn't. Besides, we couldn't have been more obvious if we tried."
She shook her head even though she was acceded. Of course her mother would've told his mother but that wasn't the point. She needed to set her priorities straight.
"I need to wash these dishes."
He groaned. "You sure you –"
"Maybe you should take a shower," she said hastily, her mind rather incoherent as she turned on the faucet again which was probably a wrong move on her side as all the running water was making her lose her mind. "I mean, since you're free and all, go take a shower."
She could hear him chuckle behind her. "Oh baby. You know that sounds more like an invitation than you think, right?"
She blushed. "You're teasing me," she said as she endeavored to focus on the task in front of her.
"On the contrary, I think you're doing a fine job of that on me instead," he said. Then, to both her bemusement and amusement, she heard him sigh.
"Alright, let's not play anymore. We can't afford this."
Suddenly intrigued by the way he phrased his words, she put down one of the plates that she'd just soaped and turned her head slightly so that she could see his face.
She lifted a brow. "What do you mean?"
"When you're done with the dishes, come meet me outside by the backyard, okay?"
She rolled her eyes and gruffly said, "Ocean, I told you –"
"Stop, woman," he interjected. "Don't go there. I'm not thinking about all that. At least, I wasn't. Ah, God, you're such a tease."
"Seriously, what're you –"
"Terra!"
Both Terra and Ocean turned to look at where the call came from, and her eyes widened in alacrity the moment she caught sight of her mother. Ocean had stopped her mid-sentence several times that night and while she wasn't so much bothered by it before, she certainly was thrown off balance by the interjection this time.
Her mother was sashaying into the kitchen, her smile as broad as her face could take. She gestured behind her, and like an overexcited mother who couldn't contain her joy, she announced, "Look who decided to drop by!"
Behind her stood two very familiar faces.
Terra stood in shock, and for the second time that night, she felt her throat getting dry and her palms rapidly getting sweaty again. She looked over to Ocean who didn't seem nonplussed at all at the scene unfolding in front of them.
In fact, he looked too calm.
"Hello," he said to them. In his well-known Gatsby voice, he continued to greet their guests, "Ms. Von Peter, Mr. Parker. I believe you have some unfinished business with my girl here."
As he pulled out a chair for her at the garden where they were all seated around a round table, she hissed at him.
"I'm about to kill you."
Ocean chuckled softly and kissed the top of her head before taking a seat next to her.
Honestly, she didn't know what was worse – the fact that this was orchestrated by Ocean and sprung on her or the fact that the awkwardness between them was so dire that it was painful to even watch them together.
She noticed that Mercedes didn't even spare her a glance as she walked in. Both Mercedes and Tony looked like they were out of their elements despite having been to the mansion the many times that they had. She guessed they must realize their recent period of absence too because they were looking at every corner of the garden as if they had not seen the place before.
Or they might just be doing so because they didn't really want to look at her.
The situation was so bad, she wondered why they came.
She glared at Ocean because it was the only thing that she could do at the table, and when she did, she saw something in his eyes that told her this might be the reason he wasn't upset that she'd sprung the whole 'moving-out' thing on him.
An eye for an eye.
Because she was happy, her ass.
She hissed inaudibly. "Well-played."
He winked.
Sonofabitch.
It went on like that for a while. Nobody spoke, everyone moved around in their seats and they listened to the crickets cricking while admiring the pretty flowers Mrs. Seymour had obviously spent a fortune on. Terra thought the night was just going to go on this way but eventually, and not very well to her complete surprise, Tony broke the ice.
"Hi."
His voice came so abruptly that Terra jolted a little out of reflex. It wasn't that it was unexpected for Tony to be the peacemaker amongst them but the deafening silence had gone on for such a long time, she'd forgotten what noise sounded like.
God, what was she blabbering about?
Catching her obvious display of anxiety, Tony gave her a small smile. "Relax," he said as he tried to lift the mood. "You're more nervous than when we first met."
She chuckled nervously, not knowing what to say. Of course she was more nervous than ever – but the first time she met them could hardly be the benchmark for nervousness because she was so at ease with them even from the very beginning. That was what made their friendship special.
Their friendship.
Could she ever salvage it?
Tony could only do so much to break the ice when no one else wanted to continue on so, after he spoke, the silence naturally came back. After a while, she guessed Ocean must've known that this was going out of his expectation so he took matters into hand, and became the emcee of the evening.
"That was a great start," he said, and gave Tony a pat. "Now, if we could all just continue using words, that'd be even better."
Still, no one spoke.
Ocean laughed but his anxiety echoed clearly. Then, because he ran out of ideas, he suddenly slapped Tony on his back and the blow came out so forcefully that Tony jerked forward and choked.
Terra jumped in her seat and turned quickly towards him. "Are you okay?" she said, concern building in her expression. She cast the briefest of glare to Ocean as if to chide him for his action but he just shrugged.
Tony hit his chest a couple of times like he was trying to get his lungs to work properly or something. Then, he coughed before he looked up at Terra and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm fine."
As Terra stared at him, she suddenly noticed how the chair was too small for him. He literally looked like an adult sitting on a baby-chair. She clearly remembered that the chair didn't use to be so small when he'd last come around.
And before she knew it, she'd blurted it out.
"Aren't you getting bigger?"
Her question drew everyone's attention. They all stared at her, completely dumbfounded by the odd choice of question she'd made. Then, realizing that she must've sounded stupid, she tried to offer a follow-up to her question.
She coughed. "Err, well…" she looked at him again and noticed how his arms got a lot more muscular and she lost track of her words again.
She was in awe. "Wow. Look at your arms."
Tony's jaws went slack for just a few seconds when she said that. But just as abrupt as her comment was, his sudden burst of laughter wasn't all different either.
To be frank, Terra was just being her candor self when she'd said that. It caught her by so much surprise to realize that Tony had buffed up so much in the short time that they'd not met. Maybe their friendship was on hiatus for far longer than she thought if he'd somehow managed to grow that much bigger.
But whatever it was, as she listened to Tony laughing right then, she guessed everything else didn't really matter. Long or short, they were there with her now. Instinctively, she turned to look at Mercedes and was relieved when she found her smiling too.
For the first time since that incident, they weren't at each other's throat and were, instead, smiling and laughing together as if they enjoyed each other's company.
Tony glanced over at Mercedes. "I told you she'd notice it."
Mercedes stuck her tongue out at Tony but didn't deny what he said. It gave Terra a sense of joy knowing that her friends spoke about her and didn't just put her at the back of their minds. It also brought her some form of comfort seeing her two friends in their usual petulant banters.
They were falling back into their old patterns.
Tony beamed like a proud child. "She keeps saying she doesn't see the difference but I think it's because she has a thing against me," he said and then, directed his speech at Mercedes, "I told you she'd notice. Hallelujah for that. For a while there, Mer, you really had me thinking that I should just quit this."
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "You should. I think you're getting fatter."
Terra straightened her back. Hearing Mercedes' voice after such a long time made her nervous. She twiddled her thumbs as she tried to think fast of a reply so that she could butt into the conversation before it ended.
What should she say? God, why was her brain failing her?
Tony snorted. "Please, you just sound jealous now."
"I didn't think you need to go in the first place," Mercedes said.
Tony's expression displayed disbelief. "You complained about how I wasn't fit!"
"Fit has multiple meanings and I didn't mean this," she said and gestured at his body.
"Oh really," he said dryly. "What did you mean then?"
"I simply meant you weren't healthy."
"Whaaaat?" he screeched. "That's not true. I eat more healthily than you do."
"Burgers and donuts? Great, let's tell everyone about your secret to staying healthy – I'm sure you're going to be a hit."
"Hey, you're no better," he said accusatorily. "It's not like you eat salad and exercise twenty-four seven."
"That's because I'm not stupid!"
Tony threw his hands up. "God, you're insufferable! Why do you even care?"
"Because I just do!"
As the entire exchange went on, she watched her friends like a hawk. From Mercedes to Tony, and then Tony to Mercedes, she missed nothing in between. The moment they started yelling at each other, she already found herself smiling inwardly – their odd display of affection for one another made her remember a lot more things in the past. In fact, it made her remember all their little fights and squabbles…
And Terra just burst out laughing.
Tony and Mercedes stopped arguing and everyone turned to look at her. If her whole point of laughing was to stop them, she should've stopped by then but she didn't.
Or more like, she couldn't.
She didn't know why she was laughing but she just did. She continued to laugh, and laugh and then, she did even more laughing. Tears started rolling down her cheek because she was laughing so much and at a certain point, she must've begun to worry Ocean because he suddenly put his arms around her and tried to make her sit upright.
"You're going to get constipated if you sit like that any longer."
Of all the moments to choose to crack a wise joke, Ocean just had to do it then. If anything, he gave her a reason to laugh even harder.
She could hear her laughter loud and clear but after a while, she started hearing the others laugh too. Laughter was obviously contagious because by the time she found the strength in her to stop laughing long enough to get a clear look of her surrounding, she noticed that everyone else was in their own fits of laughter too.
Mercedes and Tony were nudging each other happily, Ocean was leaning back in his chair – looking considerably more relaxed than he did before – as he chuckled. She could see them being painted in a picturesque drawing from afar; they looked like a group of friends just enjoying one another's companionship.
The thing about it, though, was that sometime ago, they didn't just look like it. They were just a group of friends who enjoyed having each other around.
Suddenly, Terra's laughter died out. Her vision started to get foggy and her heart was racing. Her lips quivered as her hands began to tremble. Ocean was the first to notice her being that way, and he bent forward as he whispered.
"Hey, hey," he cooed. "What's wrong?"
Tony and Mercedes caught sight of the commotion as well and stopped whatever they were doing. Mercedes sat closer to Terra, concern etched on her forehead. Terra's heart dropped when she saw Mercedes trying to reach her arm out to her but ultimately deciding against it.
And that just triggered the waterworks.
"I'm sorry," she said, tears clearly rolling down now. She knew how crazy she must've looked – laughing hard one second and crying the next – but she really couldn't help it. "I'm one ball of mess but – but I love you guys and I'm so sorry."
Women would always be women. Mercedes began to shed tears too when she saw Terra crying. "Oh Terra," she said and at that point, dropped all her pretense and worries. She pulled her chair closer to Terra's so that she could reach out and hug her.
Both girls hugged as they sobbed against one another's shoulder. She didn't know when but Tony had walked over to them sometime after and put his arms around them both. The three of them curled up together like cats and Tony patted the girls on their backs as they sobbed. When they were finally done letting their hearts out, the girls leaned back on their seats while Tony knelt on one knee between them.
Terra couldn't help chuckling when she saw Tony and Mercedes' faces. "I'm glad you still love each other as much as before," she said, wiping the remnants of her tears away from her cheeks.
The thing was, when she said those words, she fully expected her two friends to defend themselves by making a joke about how they hated each other as they usually would but to her bemusement, they didn't. So, when she didn't hear a reply from them, she looked up and that was when Tony held her hand and squeezed it.
"We still love you as much as before too."
The second he said those words, Terra's heart began to beat wildly. She blinked several times, almost as if she was allowing Tony to take back those words but when he just smiled at her, her eyes darted around them before it landed on Mercedes.
She gazed at Mercedes, trying to gauge her feelings. She didn't know what she was searching for but perhaps, she needed a signal from Mercedes to confirm that everything was as Tony said. After all, Mercedes took the entire thing harder than Tony did so Terra was more worried about her than she was about Tony.
If anything, Terra just needed something from Mercedes to show her that everything was going to be okay.
And so, when Mercedes smiled at her, Terra had never felt more relieved.
Mercedes launched into a string of apologies after that. "I'm so sorry, Terra. I was selfish and I was terrible. I know I don't deserve to be forgiven after hitting you but I –"
"What nonsense are you spitting?" Terra said and let out an incredulous huff. "I should be the one saying all those things."
"You must've been so angry at us," Mercedes said.
Those words truly felt oddly familiar that night and she was sure Ocean was secretly smiling right then but she kept her amusement to herself.
"No. How could I be angry at you two?"
"But you quit your job!"
Terra pulled back from their embrace and looked at Mercedes in the eye. "What? No, no. I did quit but not because I was angry at you guys."
A week ago, she'd decided to quit her job after that day at the Monroe's. A lot had happened for her so she'd decided to focus more on rebuilding her relationship with her mother and her life so she quit. Besides, she'd also been missing work so often due to her own problems that she felt guilty for it. Kyla had been encouraging when she broke the news to her and told Terra that the doors would always be open for her. But she really didn't think that Tony and Mercedes would've thought that it was their fault she quitted.
It was a case of miscommunication all over again and the hell with her if she kept her friends in the dark any longer.
She closed her eyes, knowing what she had to do. "Look guys, I'm going to tell you everything," she said.
"Wait, you don't have to," Mercedes quickly added. "We've decided that it's not important anymore whether we know or not. You, of all people, suffered much more than we did and we don't need to be assholes and make you suffer anymore."
Terra's expression softened and her heart melt at their thoughtfulness. She put her hands on Mercedes' shoulder and said determinedly, "Well, it's important to me. I want to tell you guys."
At first, Mercedes looked slightly hesitant but after what seemed to be a moment of deliberation between Mercedes and Tony as they exchanged looks, they smiled at her.
"Then, we're all ears," Tony said.
There was when it all began. She spoke of the things that'd taken place – of her father, her move here, the real reason why she'd been staying with Ocean's family. She told them about the recent events and how she'd found out about it. Most of the time, they looked blown away by the bits and pieces of the story and sometimes, they even looked sad. They offered their condolences when they could, stroked her back whenever they sensed she was feeling bad but they listened well at all the time, and for every time that she spoke about Ocean, they always smiled.
"You know," Mercedes said towards the end, "we owe Ocean a thank-you."
"Yeah," Tony acceded. "Frankly, Mer was so ashamed to meet you that she – ow!"
Terra giggled as she watched Mercedes elbow Tony for being too chatty. The two of them then bickered for a bit before noticing that Terra was just looking at them. Then, Tony pulled the two of them into a three-way hug and sighed contentedly.
"I'm glad we're back together."
At that moment, she remembered what Ocean had said before about her being happy. Truly, when she'd said that she was happy, she really was. She was contented with everything that had happened and was excited about the way things were progressing.
But as she hugged her friends…
She suddenly felt complete.
She looked over at Ocean who had his elbow propped on the table. He was resting his chin on his hand and looking at them lazily with a smile carved on his face. Unexpectedly, he then winked at her and blew her a kiss.
Nope. She was wrong.
Now, she was complete.
A/N: I've finally completed the last chapter and all that's left is the epilogue! Don't worry, I will be uploading it shortly after I refine it some more (even though I have to go to work tomorrow morning, I'm going to finish this off if it's the last thing I do). I'm almost embarrassed to say that it's been a long time and for the first time since I wrote this story, I won't be replying to your reviews in my chapter upload. But I will reply your review in emails if you (I hope) are still reading this.
Thank you for your support! I will upload the END hopefully in an hour.