Chapter Eight: The old Man and his Angel

I think everyone remembers their first love. One can have many new loved ones and even better relationships that make you extremely happy. However, your first love has a very special place in your heart for the rest of your life. A lifetime memory that never abandons you no matter if it was a good or bad memory. In my case the memory of my first love accompanied me until the day I died and many times gave me strength to keep on going. In sad days, it gave me happiness and in a way protected me from falling in complete desperation. Now, in my second life I was sure it would also it was still a powerful source of emotions. Just like now!

- "Anggie…"- I said with a knot on my throat looking at the woman who after my mother, had marked my life so much.

She was a girl with brown and wavy hair which fell like a waterfall until her lower back. Her caramel eyes were big and possessed a natural shine which showed curiosity and cleverness which could illuminate even the darkest parts of your soul. Petty and sprang nose which gave her a cute aura and White teeth which seemed to have an eternal smile. She was not yet the breathtaking beauty she would be in the future, but there was a preview of that in her present cuteness.

- "Hello, are you awake now? Stop standing there and talk to me!" - she said pouting while I was still in shock- "Ah sheesh… let's go to class or the teacher will yell at us!"

Still pouting, she grabbed my hand and pulled me until the classroom where she let me go and pushed me so I can enter. All the time I was frozen in surprise and wondered how I let myself forget about this.

- "We'll talk in the break"- he whispered to me inside the classroom- "and don't forget you own me a juice!"

- "Of course"- I managed to say and she showed a radiant expression before hopping to her seat. I looked at her go while remembering how proactive and decisive she had always been.

I also returned to my desk and started to collect my thoughts. There was something definitely wrong with my memory. It was impossible for me to forget about Anggie. This was one more thing that I had definitely forgotten. There were many other things like for example, I remembered the events that led to the End, but I did not recall the dates or specific details about it. Maybe it was due to the regression, but there always existed the possibility of someone touching my memories. In the End there were ways to do that and even make a person believe he was someone he was not. Yesterday I made sure that my memories about my family were correct and that I was not simply a clone or that I was inside an augmented reality program.

- "At least I know I'm myself and this is not a virtual reality world"

How could I be so sure? There were ways to know and it was basic knowledge in the End. Nobody liked to be a prisoner in an illusion. Anyway, about the virtual reality thing, no matter how much the technology had advanced, there were still glitches and bugs which made it pretty obvious if it was real or not. Anyway, I went to a tangent and should return to Anggie theme. I immediately looked in my mind for memories about Anggie.

- "Let me see..."

Angelica Andrews had been after my mother the most important woman in my life. In my first life, I had met her in this same school a year prior when she had been the target of mockery and humiliation by the other girls. The reason? She had dared to opposed the leader of the girls in the school by defending an unpopular girl. Once she did that, they changed targets and she was now the objective. Worst part was that the girl she had defended, had joined the bullies and was now attacking her. However, instead of gotten depressed, she kept showing a smile and offering her help to anyone who needed it.

- "What a strong person…"- I remember thinking but I did not think anything else.

One day I had seen her in the break totally isolated from the rest of girls and eating alone. It was the first time I had seen her in low spirits and sad and for some reason it broke my heart. I supposed everyone had a limit and the isolation had finally gotten into her. I simply had the impulse and approached her.

- "Hi"- I told her with my lunchbox- "Can I sit here?"

- "Sure"- said she trying to smile without success.

Truth is I don't remember what talked about or if it was interesting. No, to be honest I must say I really pushed myself to talk and I was really weird and stumble a lot. Once the break ended, I ran away as fast as possible feeling really embarrassed.

- "Mmm… Cristian?"- Anggie called me before I went away and I was planning to change schools to avoid more embarrassment.

- "Yeah?"- I said resigning myself to be mocked at or asked to never talk to her again, but I found that she was smiling radiantly.

- "Thank you"- she said and that phrase hit me stronger than any insult would.

- "You… you're welcome..."- I said clumsily and ran away wth my face burning due to the embarrassment.

That was the first time I talked to Anggie and it started a beautiful friendship that marked me forever. Now I understand it was the first time I felt romantic love for someone. I had fallen for her in that moment, but of course my childish and innocent heart could not have understood that since I was just too young to understand what that feeling in my chest meant.

- "Did something happen?"- I remember my mother asking me when I returned home hat day. I suppose I was in the clouds

I could not sleep that day and the next day I went to school not expecting anything from her. Our seats were also separated so there was no way to see each other without turning around.

- "Hey there!"- a voice said during the break and I found the happy smile of Anggie who had come with her lunchbox- "Can I sit here?"

The roles had changed and this time she was the one who had started the conversation. A huge difference tough was that this time the conversation flowed naturally and we passed a good time. Anggie was a very social and talkative person, capable to engage in conversation for hours and knew how to lead the flow very well. In the future she would study International business and this ability only boosted her already natural talent. She told me that her sister had gone under surgery in emergency and did not know how to react since she did not know if she would end up well. She was recovered now.

- "Thank you for cheering me up"- she said- "I 'm sorry I was not a good company"

- "Ah… no, eh… it's fine… it was a bad moment…"- I said trying to soothe her and couldn't help remembering my clumsy attempt of cheering her up the previous day- "I'm sorry for not having been able to cheer you up better."

- "Hehe, you did… you helped me more than you imagine"- said smiling and patting my back.

Year later she told that it had been that conversation which had ignited the spark of love in her. She had thought I was approaching her to ask for some kind of help and to be honest she did not want to do anything since she did not have the strength but decided to hear me out. However, she noticed I did not want any help at all, but I was trying to cheer her up. She felt really happy that someone cared about her and so she was very happy.

- "It's ok… I'm here…"

After the beatings of Kori, I fell into a great depression and I changed a lot becoming a cowardly introvert. However, even then she always was by my side and healed my wounds slowly until I could be at least a shadow of my former self. We always played together, consoled each other and cried when the other felt bad. If I were more religious, I would propose her to get the title of Saint. She was always very patient and caring in a way that should not be possible. Was it strange that the feelings of friendship changed into love?

- "I have to move… sniff…" – she told me one day as she cried- "my father was transferred to another city…"

Her father was a doctor and he had been offered a very important position in the general hospital of another city with much better prospects professionally and economically. He had accepted immediately and obviously he had not taken in consideration our feelings. I cannot blame him of course, he was looking at the bigger picture and what it was better for his family in the long run.

- "What importance could he give to a friendship between 8 year-old kids who would probably be forgotten after some years?"

Anggie had cried and pleaded to stay but his father had nothing of it. In the end, she had ended up running away from home when she did not want to get separated from me. We hugged and cried the whole day while planning what to do. In the end, we hid in an abandoned house close to mine. In our innocence, we thought we could stay there forever. His family and mine looked for us and found us at night hugging each other as we slept due to the exhaustion and hunger.

- "No!!!! I don't want to.!!!!"

- "Let me gooo!!"

I must have been extremely dramatic seeing both of us little kids shouting and bailing as we called each other while trying to fight adults in a useless attempt to stop the separation. In the end, my mother talked to their parents and convinced them to let us see each other until the day they had to go. We swore to write ever month and see each other no matter what and I must happily say we did. Of course, it was many years later when she returned to enter university in our city. Losing her was pretty tough but it allowed me to be stronger.

- "You want her back?"- one day my mother told me when I was depressed and sad. I nodded and she looked at my eyes firmly- "then prepare yourself."

- "Huh?"

- "She will return for you"- she assured me taking my hands and caressing my face- "the question is… how will she find you? What kind of man would you be when she returns?"

She hugged me and she lit a fire which gave me more strength. The scene of her crying while begging God for strength only added even more fuel and like that I stopped being depressed and pathetic. Of course, I still had to live with the trauma that Kori left imprinted in me for years but I found that keeping myself busy helped me escape my fears and low self-esteem and so I dedicated to my studies and polish my skills as if my life depended on it and technically it did. Every single minute and chance I used. Of course this had also consequences, especially in my social skills.

- "Let's play…"

- "I don't have time, sorry…"

It was during this time that my brother and my previous friends started to get away from me since I had no time to play with them except for some times when we played online games mostly. However, I only had an idea in my mind and it was to be the best version of myself in order to be ready when she returned.

We wrote letters of course, but in that era, communication by letter was slow. Sometimes the letter needed a week to arrive, and maybe the other person did not pick it up and by the time she responded it was already one or two months later. Telephone was not a common thing unless of course you used public ones and it was too expensive. Even so we did our best to keep in touch all those years and every letter I received was fuel to keep my decisiveness burning.

- "We'll see each other one day"- she had wrote in one of her letter- "and when we do, we won't have to be separated again…"

One day I was in a park after finishing a group work. It was still early and it was very hot. I decided to eat a sandwich while resting.

- "Hi"- she said after a while in which we did not talk- - "can I sit here"

I made space when something in the voice rang a bell on my head. I saw the face of the person talking and immediately jumped back as I heard a beautiful laughter. When I rose my face, I saw her. Even though it had been so many years, it was impossible not to recognize her. She was the same, of course much more beautiful and mature but the shine on her eyes and the eternal smile were the same.

- "It's been a while…"- she said unsure of how to continue the conversation.

- "Too much time…"- I said getting closer as I smiled- "but here we are…"

- "Here we are…"- she said and she started to tear up as she smiled- "I missed you so much…"

I simply felt my world illuminate again and my happiness was simply overwhelming. I jumped at her and hugged her with all my strength trying to recover all the time we had lost. Anggie stayed and we were inseparable once again. I was still the introvert person I always was, but somehow managed to ask Anggie out and soon after graduating from college we decided to live together. I must say it was a mess ad many years after she still teased me about them, but she found it cute and accepted in both occasions.

- "Hey, you still dreaming? - she called me back from the memory world. The small Anggie was in front of me with a pouting face. I smiled at her.

- "Sorry, I was still thinking about Kori and his father"- these words softened her expression and then she took my hands with hers.

- "They are bad people"- she said looking at me with worry- "we'd better talk to our parents and tell them all the bad things they do"

I also pressed my hands with her and smiled. Then, I put my hand on her head and patted it softly.

- "I already did"- I said so she felt reassured- "That's why my uncle came to defend me. Don't worry, he will deal with it."

- "Really?"- she asked a little insecure.

- "You saw my uncle"- I said with a confident attitude- "did you see how Kori's father was scared? He's really good fighting those kinds of people."

- "I see…"- she said with a small smile. Even now she still worried about others too much.

- "By the way… I did not see you yesterday"- I said to completely change the topic and she stopped worrying- "did something happened?"

- "I had fever and mom decided it was better for me not to come"- she said and I listened attentively- "Lorena told me what happened to Kori and I worried a lot…"

It was the same in my past life. That day, she had not come and she had just found me in my house where I was crying and healing my wounds. She visited me every day until I had healed completely. After a few years I heard that my family had engaged in a war against Firendis Family. The situation escalated very quickly and by the end of it both sides had taken a lot of damage and it was a factor that definitely determined the future ending of both families. Firendis father had lost the elections and had sent his son to the military where he became a "better" person and was able to help him with the family business. He ended up dying in a hit and run shooting some years afterwards. Many rumors said that it had been Kori the one who had ordered his own father's elimination but by then we were already in different places.

- "If only we had been more intelligent about this…"- my uncle had changed a lot since this event and maybe it was one of the reasons he decided to change sides since the family lost a lot of resources in this war.

To be honest, I was aware that my uncle hated me since I was the reason the family lost so much and it was something he did not stop from mentioning every time my mother wanted to ask him something.

- "I will have to deal with this problem soon…"- I thought to myself since eve thought the situation of Kori and me had changed, the wear between our families definitely would be the same if it escalated as it did the first time- "Anyway, I suppose I have to think about that later."

- Well, now that you are here I suppose I need to pay you- I said.

- "Pay me?"- she said with confused eyes

- "Yeah, you won last time and I owned you a juice, remember?"- I said and her expression changed immediately- "Of course if you have decided ot forgive me in you great heart, then…"

- "Don't you dream about it!"- she shouted as she jumped in her seat- "You owe me not one but three!

- "Greedy girl"- I said but then I remembered that it was that trait which had gotten her very far in her future career- "I'll buy two and nothing more!"

I started to go to the store and bought her two juices promising that I would give the the remaining one next day.

- "Ok, but you must not forget!"- she said as she started playing with the cans of juice I passed to her.

- "I doubt you will let me"- I said while sitting down and she grinned evilly.

- "It's good that you know!"- she said as she took ut a deck of cards and placed it on the space in front of us- "unless of course you win and recover your juices!"

I seriously never understood her knack for juice, but it was something she continued to like even as we lived together. We started to play cards, a hobbie we kept doing even as we were adults. I seriously missed this… Nothing like playing, bantering and teasing your significant other to keep the relationship alive.

- "I win!"- she jumped gladly when I let her win of course, but I must say she was really good at this even now.

I loved her smile and laughter and I would have loved that happy period of time would have continued forever. In the end though, not always is a "they lived happily ever after," Furthermore, I doubt any relationship ended up with those words. Time, after all, can destroy even the most beautiful things.

- See you tomorrow, Cristian- she said as we ended up separating some blocks apart from her house as we had as a custom.

- See you tomorrow, Anggie- I said while smiling- tomorrow I will definitely defeat you

- "You can try…- she said with a smug face- "Meanwhile don't forget to bring what you owe me."

And like that she went running and hopping like a small rabbit. I stayed there watching her go as a wave of nostalgia and pain filled my chest. As I saw her disappeared, I also started to walk in direction to my house. The memories rushed as a drowning river which showed me once again how badly the things had ended.