Chapter 4 | Aaron

There was no such thing as everlasting contentment. Never. Perhaps mathematics had made it to that conclusion before most people themselves did. Graphs alternated between highs and lows; first came the slope to the maximum which would be filled with hardship and struggle and strains, then you'd make it up. Up; the top where you'd stand with pride puffing your chest and arrogance squaring your shoulders as you'd bask in the contentment and the elegance of the spotlight.

Except that it was right after that highest point that the sharp tumble down to the start would come. So, was the highest point really one's optimum, or was it just a state of pre-calamity?

Jannette was balanced precariously on that point now, teetering towards calamity with her head in her hands and her eyes skipping anxiously across the messy, disorganized papers strewn on the table in front of her.

It'd been a year since she'd left the house with Aaron.

She'd demanded divorce, and she'd accused David of physical abuse towards Aaron. She'd thought that law would stand by her side, that it'd back her up and protect her and her precious son from that monstrous man. But she was oh-so-wrong, oh so naively trusting on morals and obligations and ethics which apparently had diminished the moment a piece of paper, so worthless yet so valuable, conquered the world.

In court, suddenly, she had no evidence. Suddenly, young Aaron had been too nervous to speak because he was diagnosed with anxiety which he didn't have, surely not because his father had threatened him just five minutes before. Suddenly, the bruises on his arm were the remains of his clumsy feet that would constantly send him stumbling down the pristine floors, surely not the imprints of a certain callous hand on soft skin.

All the lies were just a part of a dirty game and Jannette had known it the moment she'd witnessed the raw injustice before her own eyes. She'd known that there'd been green papers exchanged covertly underneath the tables, handed from sly rich hands to yearning greedy ones. She'd known that those who represent the epitome of equality and justice were as weak as everyone else was in front of the innate hunger for wealth.

Jannette had stood at the end of court with her case lost amongst the mess of distorted morals and corruption. Her eyes had leered at the attorney with all the wrath of the world embedded within her gaze, then they'd swept to her ex-husband. She'd snorted at his wicked triumphant smile. Then, she'd approached him and said,

"You won. But trust me, God will get you back for this. You and everyone who played this dirty game."

They'd divorced like normal couples; not as if he'd been a complete douche to both Jannette and Aaron.

She'd taken Aaron and traveled. Traveled because she'd failed to throw David in prison and keep him away from Aaron, traveled because she sought safety in the distance. And for a year, she'd managed to balance herself along a thin thread, working hard day and night to pay for the house she'd rented and for Aaron's school. This had been her highest point; maintaining Aaron's life there. Because her son was what her happiness meant.

Highest point or pre-calamity? Either way, the downfall came soon. All at once.

It started when the company Jannette worked in as an accountant went bankrupt. All the employees were abruptly sent out and the entire company crumpled down underneath the destroying weight of the debts, dragging them all down along. Like that she lost her job; the only source of income and the wooden stick which had kept her moving with balance along the frayed thread under her.

Things progressively started getting worse from then. The small amount of money she'd saved started dissolving month by month on the rent of the house and the daily needs. By the fourth month, she'd failed to find another job and she found herself empty-handed with thin pockets and non-bugling wallets.

She couldn't afford the house anymore. Couldn't even afford paying for Aaron's next year of school which was just around the corner. Jannette had fought till last breath, taking loans and begging for jobs but she knew this mechanism wouldn't keep her on her feet long.

And now, staring down at the newest predicament in her life on paper, she realized it was over. With the amount of debts on her, she'd become travel banned. The people she'd rented the house from were now threatening to kick her out any moment because she hadn't been able to pay. She could be thrown in prison at any point.

Jannette didn't care about herself. She'd live in a tent just to survive but she wouldn't let Aaron undergo this tragedy. She wouldn't let him miss a year in school and waste his life like that because of her.

So she'd made a decision. She'd mustered a temporary solution for this mess which she didn't approve of but she had no other way to depend on.

"Mom?" six-year-old Aaron called out as he stood rocking on the balls of his feet unsurely beside Jannette's chair. He was just a child but his own mood had plummeted to the floor ever since he'd noticed her constantly so stressed. "What's wrong?"

Jannette turned her head away from the papers and looked at Aaron. Her son. Her life. So young and innocent to have that deep tragedy woven through his expectant gaze. He didn't even know yet. He didn't even know what she had planned. Wasn't even aware that today everything would go back to stage one.

"Nothing, baby," she murmured assuringly, though her shaky voice signified the polar opposite of her words.

Aaron didn't look convinced. He climbed onto the chair beside her, leaning his torso towards his mom and curling his thin arms around her. He looked up at her and smiled with his little cherry lips sealed and his teeth shrouded, then rested his head against her collarbone. His smile didn't reach his eyes. Jannette felt his wistful sigh ram gently against her skin, like he knew that there was something wrong. The gesture made her eyes sting. Her own child found time to comfort her but she'd failed at protecting him.

Jannette let him stay for as long as he wanted, because she knew he'd lose the privilege in just a few hours.

The phone buzzed, but neither moved. Jannette gave it a quick glance. It was her brother messaging her, the one who'd be here soon enough to take Aaron. She needed to pack before he'd make it but she didn't find it in her to pull Aaron away. Not when she noticed his eyelids fluttering slowly and his breath gradually getting more relaxed.

"Aaron, I have a surprise for you." She gently pulled him away so he was facing her. Aaron gave her a questioning look through tired, bleary eyes. This was what she'd been dreading. She'd purposely postponed telling him what she'd planned because she knew he was stubborn and he wouldn't buy a lie, that he'd keep pressing and questioning until he'd figure it out. "We're gonna travel today."

Aaron didn't react much, just a few clueless blinks. "Where to?"

"Uh... to Disneyland? Yeah, there."

This time Aaron shifted unsurely. Any child would immediately rejoice at the news but he always seemed to be an exception. "It's okay, mom. You don't have to take me to Disneyland. I just want to be with you here," he said with the utmost of innocence gleaming in his eyes. He thought she was doing it to make him happy and he wanted her to understand that Disneyland didn't dictate glory for him. If anything, her presence beside him was everything he ever needed. "I'm happy like this, here."

And he was, really. Aaron generally never complained about anything. Never threw a tantrum in a toy-section whilst childishly stomping his feet and greedily pointing at some minuscule plastic dino. He didn't have such demanding behavior. All he needed was to hold Jannette's hand tight and his happiness levels would hit rooftop. All he needed and yearned for was peace, safety, and he feared the slightest alter could send him back to the hell-loop. He was always appreciative.

Maybe he was just humble and acceptant like that but maybe it was the aftermath of experiencing the terror of living with his father that made him feel content with whatever given as long as he was away from him. He could still remember every crash of David's hand on his cheek and feel the bruising, ghostly lock of his fingers around his arm. Escaping this hellish reality had been the biggest relief and the most thing he'd ever wished for. So now, he didn't care about toys. Didn't care about what he should at this young age.

Aaron was only six but he'd already lost the sense of vivaciousness he should have as a child.

"You're gonna like it. Come on, let's go pack, okay?" She completely disregarded his reaction to the matter and gently pushed him down until he was on his feet.

"But-"

"Shh. Don't argue." Her voice was strained, barely filtering past the constriction in her throat. "Who doesn't wanna visit Disneyland?"

Aaron accepted her hand and moved along to his bedroom but the expression on his face was unconvinced. "Me."

He clambered over the edge of his bed and sprawled down on his stomach, one hand cupping his cheek and holding his face up whilst his mom opened the closet and began packing his stuff. His eyes remained trained on her, carefully observing the smallest details; the slight shake to her hand as it grappled for the clothes and the constant twitch in her nostrils as if she were suppressing sniffles. Aaron started doubting. Doubting the truth, doubting Disneyland.

Then, when she absently tucked a loose strand of her chestnut hair which had been shading her face behind her ear, the wide expanse of her cheek was revealed and so were the droplets that hung in gleams along the edge of her watery eye.

Aaron sat up, slightly alarmed. His brows dropped into a contemplative frown. He would've worried a lot more but this seemed to have become the normal lately. She'd been like that for a while; sometimes crying, always stressed and panicked. But now, with this and the sudden—unconvincing, for him—Disneyland affair, Aaron was almost certain there was something terribly wrong.

"Mom? You're not happy about Disneyland either. Do we have to go?"

"It doesn't matter if I'm happy or not, Aaron." She swallowed past the lump in her throat and causally continued folding his clothes. "We're going so you can be happy." Her teeth gnawed at her bottom lip harshly as if punishing it for allowing those lies to spill. The questionable Disneyland Aaron was going to could have been the exact opposite, the reflection in a parallel world. Happiness replaced by agony. Comfort replaced by distance.

Aaron relaxed back against the mattress. The frown across his brows persisted, only this time accentuated with a thoughtful purse to his lips that made him look like a young theorist musing for new notions. His lashes fluttered a few time before he bothered to speak, each word low and unsure, "So, you're gonna be sad to make me happy." He shook his head as if dismissing the idea, then peeked at his mom. "I don't like that. It makes me happy if you're happy, mom. I don't want Disneyland. I don't want anything."

Completely ignoring him, she zipped up the suitcase and wiped off her cheeks, then gestured Aaron over. Reluctance was starkly visible through his slow movements as he forced himself down the mattress and trudged to her. He stood, stoic and miserable, as she helped him into a jacket and carefully combed his awry black locks back into order with her dainty fingers.

Jannette lastly adjusted the hood of his jacket, in the process subconsciously looking down at his delicate face. He seemed confused and unsettled more than hurt or saddened. Pale cheeks, pouty lips. The grey of his eyes like foggy clouded glass; she could see part of what was brewing in his mind but the other remained safely concealed. Still, she knew him enough to guess that he doubted. That he wasn't remotely convinced.

"You know that I love you, yeah?" She said, the edge of her mouth curving upwards but never enough to complete a smile. A tearful quiver to her lip cut it off. "And that all I ever do is for your welfare. It might not look that way, but you gotta trust me, o-okay?"

"I know," Aaron mumbled through lips that barely parted. He looked like was still doing his musings. Still unsure and figuring things out. "But can we-"

A knock on the front door that resonated all the way across the corridor to his bedroom cut him off. Aaron immediately glanced at the door, then back at his mom with an expression that was questioning.

Jannette forced a smile but somehow that symbol of happiness managed to accentuate the tragedy of her pale, sunken face further. "That's uncle Joe," she said. The first genuine grin on Aaron's part bloomed softly along his lips. Smile mirroring a smile, one faux and one authentic. "He- he's gonna travel with us." With you, she thought.

This time she could see the energy slowly filling Aaron as he raced before her, tugging her along as he made it to the front door. She stood reservedly aside as he reached for the handle and swung the door open without giving her a chance. His eyes sparkled, gold flecks the intensity of the sun at noon and grey hue warm and welcoming. This state wouldn't last long and she knew, so she observed sadly, taking in the upward twist of his lips and the lift of his marble cheeks.

"Hey, Aaron," Joe greeted, his voice low and dreadful. Much like Jannette's that day, only without the soft quivers. Aaron noticed that, but he chose to disregard it and flung himself forwards, arms going around his uncle's waist.

Aaron tipped his chin up so he could look at Joe. "Why didn't you visit for so long, Uncle Joe?"

"Been a little busy, but hey now I'm here, right?" Joe wanted to be as ecstatic but he didn't find it in him. He curled an arm around Aaron, his eyes flitting beyond him to settle on the tragic wreck which was his sister herself. They gave each other a knowing look. "Finished packing his stuff? We don't want to be late to the airport."

Jannette cleared her throat but that was vain in front of the massive lump lodged in there. "Yeah, we're done. It- it's all packed." Her voice was stained, and so were her words. So was her smile. Everything seemed to take more effort at that moment. "I'll get it, then you'll go."

"Wait." Aaron pulled away from Joe, turning back to Jannette. With a slight tilt to his head and a confused furrow to his brows, he said, "But you didn't pack yet, mom. You just packed my stuff. And you didn't even get dressed. You need to hurry."

"Uh.. yeah, we're too late to pack. There's no time for me to get dressed. So I guess I'll just go like that."

Aaron blinked like a clueless puppy for a moment but then the musings started bubbling again. "Mom? You want to travel with your pajamas? And without your stuff? Who travels without their stuff?"

"That's a lot of questions, Aaron. Not the time. We gotta hurry." She strode past him and disappeared through his bedroom door, only to come back seconds later with his suitcase rolling just behind. She set it by the door and looked at Joe. Her eyes glistened like stars twinkling somewhere inside, each flickering for the final time before withering to the agony of departure. "Ready. We can go."

Both adults knew that 'we' actually subtracted Jannette. The travel ban stood like a steel hurdle before her, forbidding her the privilege of being by her son.

Joe reached for Aaron's hand but surprisingly, Aaron pulled back and extended his arm towards his mom. He wanted to hold her hand, not because he didn't like his uncle but because at this point he felt like he needed to claim her. Make sure she went with him and didn't stay behind.

Joe frowned sadly. "He won't let you sta—"

"I'll just go with you to the car," Jannette mouthed to her brother. She encased Aaron's hand with her fingers and walked past the threshold, down the old, cracked cobblestone pathway towards the rickety car parked ahead.

Aaron went for the back door but Jannette pulled him back and opened the passenger one, urging him in—a gesture that had him raising his brows confusedly. He refused to move along and instead dug his heels into the ground. Joe brought the suitcase and placed it in the trunk, eyeing the two through his peripheral vision. He wondered, how long Jannette was planning to lie. Till last minute? Last second? But lies were bound to be exposed and innocent hearts like Aaron's were bound to be broken.

"Mom, you should go in here. I'll sit in the back."

"Just this time, Aaron. Come on." She tried to gently push him in but he was too damn stubborn.

"No. That's... not right. This doesn't make sense. I feel like you're not even go—"

"Shh. Stop talking, Aaron. I'm coming, just move."

"Jannette," Joe intervened. "We need to go."

"I know. I just- Aaron isn't cooperating right now. Come on, Aaron, please, just get in."

Aaron recoiled harshly this time, pausing for a second as if doing his last internal connections and musings. He'd been doubting but now the doubts transformed to stable certainty. "Mom, wait," he said. When he looked at her, all he could see was watery eyes and hollow cheeks, quivering lips and tragedy in the demanding frown of her face. He made the final conclusion. "You... you're not going! You're not even dressed and you didn't pack your stuff. And you're crying! Why would you cry if we're all going to Disneyland? Are we even going there? I don't get it!"

There was silence for a moment. Jannette knew she couldn't go further with the lies. She knelt down before him, bringing his hand up to her mouth for a quick peck. "Aaron, baby, listen," she started. She licked her dry lips nervously. Her eyes remained residing shamefully upon the soft skin of his fingers, carefully tracing each up to the nail before mustering enough courage to look at Aaron. "You're right. I'm not going. You're gonna go alone with Uncle Joe. I'm travel banned because I have so many debts on me. I don't have money. I can't even afford school for you anymore. I'm gonna get thrown in prison any moment. Trust me, trust me, I wish I can go with you, I wish."

Aaron stared for a moment, blank and empty. Then he blinked, and he allowed a sliver of space between his lips. "We're not going to Disneyland, right?" Not that he cared about Disneyland, he just understood where this was going, where he was going, but he didn't want to say it so quick. He felt it in the ache deep his bones, in the shaky unrhythmic beats of his heart. He saw the answer and the destination in the terror within Jannette's eyes.

Jannette bit her lip; tasted the salty water she didn't even realize had already traced over the dip of her mouth. "No, not Disneyland."

She didn't even need to explain it. Aaron understood. Back to David, back to his father, back to hell. Back to the pain and fear. The deja vu that consumed him in one fast reel could've ripped his sight along. Why was destiny so cruel? "No," he finally breathed. The air suddenly felt a lot thicker as it filled his lungs and the oxygen seemed insufficient no matter how much of it was around him. "I'm not going back. I don't want to go anywhere without you, mom, please."

"Please don't do that, Aaron. I have no other choice, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." She pulled him towards her chest and buried her face in his black locks for a final time. Her heart screamed in its cage, her soul caught aflame with the fires of pain and departure scorching all across her body. She couldn't see it but she felt the death grip his tiny fist had on the back of her sweater, clenching it hard and crumbling it with the urgency of a person drowning. Maybe he was drowning, in oceans of pain and memories and nightmares that haunted him even with his eyes open.

"I don't want to leave," Aaron cried softly with his mouth pressed against her shoulder and his eyes screwed shut. "I- I want you, mom. Come with me, or I'll just stay. Dad will hurt us again. I don't want that. Please mom, I'm begging you."

Jannette raised her head and looked past his hair at Joe. He won't let go of you, he mouthed to her. And she knew he was right. They couldn't back out now. There was nothing to be done. She pulled Aaron away from her chest and stood, though her knees quivered.

"We have to, Aaron. We have to." She pushed him forwards but he adamantly refused, hanging onto her leg tightly with no ounce of intention to cooperate at this point. "Aaron," she encouraged. Her voice shook more than her hands did, more than Aaron's body wholly did against her. Small shoulders quivering in sync with sobs, soft fingers clenching at her clothes; why should a child ever experience the desperation of remaining beside their mom? She wished she didn't need to desert him like that. She wished she could tear her organs to afford maintaining his life. "Aaron, please."

Joe approached and bent down so he could level better with Aaron. He reached for his small hand but like similar charges repulsing, Aaron flinched away from his touch and moved a wide step aside. Joe looked up at Jannette. "I knew this was a bad idea, Jannette. This is all wrong. He's not gonna agree."

"What should I have done? Kept him here in your house? Can you afford paying for everything he needs, Joe? Can you afford his school and everyday shit? You're barely managing for your own family, goddammit! You could barely pay for his ticket tonight. Do you think I would've done this if there's any other solution? I could be thrown in prison any moment, Joe! You know what'll happen then? They'll send Aaron back to David. Same thing!"

Jannette breathed out long and heavy as soon as she'd finished. She rubbed her face with her shaky hand, then gestured Joe at Aaron, silently pleading him to just do it. Joe held her gaze for a moment, and his expression screamed, I'm sorry all this has to happen. When he came to guide Aaron to the car, it was as vain as the previous times; pointless prodding and cajoling and constant defiance on Aaron's part.

"I don't want to go!"

Jannette let out a doleful whimper. "Just carry him to the car."

Joe still didn't want to be harsh with him. "I won't—"

"Just do it! He won't agree, not today, not tomorrow and not in a million years. Can't you just carry a six-year-old!"

It took a second for Joe to finally move, perhaps he'd been contemplating if he could do that or not. Then he strode closer, this time without preamble, slinging an arm behind Aaron's knees and the other around his back and scooping him up bridle style. Aaron screamed; loud and brash, pained and tragic. The sound that bursted out from the depth of his throat came like the slice of a sharp knife along Jannette and Joe's eardrums. Joe felt Aaron's small fist slam repeatedly against his back, his feet swinging frantically back and forth but failing to forbid anything as he was carried towards the car.

"This is awful," Joe said aloud as he waited for Jannette to open the passenger door. He felt like he was kidnapping his own nephew and all the urgent thrashing and screaming was nipping at his soul like some sort of torture. And it was torture, if he considered that he was the one taking a son away from his mom back to his monstrous dad. He'd protect him as long as he was there but when he'd have to leave, what would happen?

"No shit, Joe, no shit! He's my son, it's killing me too!"

Joe quickly set Aaron in the seat, pinning him against the backrest with a hand on his shoulder. It was a struggle to buckle him up, but he managed, after receiving a punch to the jaw and a kick in the waist. Joe closed the door, turning to Jannette and resting back against it with the heaves of someone who'd just finished workout. "Aaron can be a handful sometimes," he said. They could still hear him crying and thrashing in the car; the pleas of a child to remain by his mom. Their hearts were in pieces, each sharp and jagged because separation was a machete like no other. "How am I supposed to get him in the plane if he's thrashing so much?"

"He won't. Trust me he'll stop doing that at one point. He'll just cry silently. I know my son. I know that he doesn't express much."

Joes observed her for a second, then stepped in for a quick hug. "Honestly, I don't know if we're doing the right thing. But I promise I'll try to protect him as long as I'm there." He pulled back and smiled before finally stalking over to the driver's seat.

Jannette stepped closer to Aaron's window. She pressed her hand against the cool glass, and watched as he immediately tried to reach for it. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. The uneven, breathy rise and falls to her words made it hard for Aaron to understand. But he managed to read the movement of her lips. "I'm gonna get you back as soon as I stand on my feet again, Aaron. Trust me, I'm gonna fix this mess. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm gonna fix it."

The engine roared. Jannette pressed a hand to her mouth, the other clenching the hem of her clothes. Her eyes squeezed shut but the tears couldn't be held back. She turned before she could watch the car start forward, her heart a thousand pieces across the tar of the road and a carpet for rubber tires to race upon.

Aaron twisted back so he could see her. "Mom! Mom, don't leave me, please!" He shouted out, but the glass blocked out his voice and refused to carry it along the air to Jannette. Each plea went as unnoticed and ignored as the begs of an innocent convicted of false crime.

Joe felt the windshield begin to gather fog, but when he wiped it off and still couldn't see better, he realized the fault was in his glazed teary eyes. "Aaron, I'm gonna be there, okay? I'll protect you," he helplessly consoled, one hand reaching out to rub his knee.

Aaron slapped his hand away viciously then returned to the state of misery. A tear hung by the bridge of his nose and dropped down, trickling along his lip. "I don't want you, I want mom," he sobbed. He leant back against the seat and folded into himself against the outer world, crying and mourning by himself because it seemed like no one really cared of what he ever wanted. He'd never asked for anything and now that he finally did, no one bothered to fulfill. "All I'm asking for is mom, uncle. I'll never ask for anything else. Please, let me back."

"I wish, Aaron. I wish."

Aaron's downfall was going to last years.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Joe breathed out tiredly and lolled his head back against the backrest of the seat, then turned just enough to glance at Aaron. He'd fallen asleep, his glazed cheeks maps of dried crusty tears and sorrow and agony that led to the pain in his heart. Aaron had calmed down when he realized no one was going to listen to him; the thrashing had settled but not for a single moment did the tears stop. From the airport to the plane and back to the car; constant reserved crying and gradual physical exhaustion.

Now they were parked right in front of David's house. Aaron's old house.

Joe debated whether he should wake him up or not. Gently, he raked a hand through his hair and watched as he stirred ever so slightly. When he refused to wake up, Joe decided to let him be and opened the door, stepping out into the the chilly air of past memories and haunting aura of unsafeness.

Not even a knock or two and the door was already swung open. David stood, tall and broad, at the threshold with his lips pulled up into a shaming grin. He'd been expecting them. They'd told him they needed to send Aaron back and he'd agreed, much to everyone's surprise.

David disgusted Joe on unearthly levels. "God, I want to throw up already," he mumbled to himself but his words went safely unheard. "I'm not gonna greet or anything. Straight to the point. I told you what happened. We're only gonna leave him here until she fixes the mess—"

"In short," David cut him off. "You're pieces of shit with no money and you can't afford shit for Aaron. Stupid Jannette. I knew it. I knew she would send him back. I won. I got Aaron. He's really gonna enjoy life with me. Now, where's my precious son?"

David made to push past Joe but the latter put a hand on his chest and harshly shoved him back.

"Don't even think about it. He's staying with me as long as I'm here, I'll leave him with you when I have to travel back."

"Whatever you say, enjoy it while you have him. He's gonna be with me soon, eh?" David stalked determinedly towards the car. He stood by the passenger seat, staring through the glass at the oblivious boy, asleep with pouty pink lips and puffy eyes. He opened the door before Joe could stop him and reached down until his fingers could trail along his soft jaw. "Ah, how cute. He's grown so much in just a year."

David turned to Joe. He smiled, wicked and ugly with the seething shadows of greed lurking beneath his skin. "Jannette, Jannette." He snorted. "She should've just left him with me in the first place."

"Don't try to hurt Aaron. Don't do it. Trust me, you won't me happy."

"Hush, you idiot. And you have the audacity to command after all this? I'm gonna pay for his school and for everything he needs, you should thank me. But the other things..." David glanced at Aaron, then back at Joe. "You can't blame me for. Can you? This brat chose his mom over me, so now, we gotta teach him to love his dad."

Joe snarled. "You bastard. He's your son, how can you hurt him?"

David stared for a moment. Then, he waved a hand in a friendly manner and chuckled heartily. "Ah, Joe. As stupid as your sister. I was just joking. Of course I won't hurt Aaron. I would never!"

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Soo thoughts? Do you agree with what Jannette did? Thoughts about Joe? And young Aaron?

Also TIME LAPSES. Yes. You're gonna see a lot of them. Why? Because it'll be super boring if we go day by day. I'm sure you all want to read the important events, not pointless day to day stuff. I've seen writers do this for prequels, so I decided to go for that style too since it fits here. Basically, next chapter for Leo there could be a huge time lapse too! I just wanted to say this so you guys don't feel confused <33 I hope you're alright with it?

Thank you so much for reading/voting/commenting <33 all the support keeps me going and keeps me inspired. I love you so much <3