Didn't Think It Would Come To This [SLOW UPDATES]

Chapter 16

Anya's POV:

I could not sleep the entire night and ended up waking earlier than everyone. I had stayed up the entire night thinking of his feeble apology for what anyone would have assumed was for distracting me but which, me a telepath knew was for everything. I felt hopeful that we could be friends again and that filled my heart with joy. I had hated the Damian who bullied me but I also missed the Damian who had been my friend. This was a new start if only he would just say it clearly already!

Since I had woken up earlier than usual I decided to prepare breakfast for everyone before getting ready for school, in order to mark this occasion. I was not a great cook and my skills were limited but I could make simple stuff since Papa had made sure to teach me how to cook two years after I had first been adopted. However, just as I wore an apron to get started the doorbell rang and without taking off my apron I ran to answer the door. "Coming Becky!" no one else really visited us so I was a hundred percent sure that it was Becky but as soon as I peeked through the peephole, I was left dumbstruck.

The person at the door was not Becky but Damian and he was holding a bouquet of lilies. Was he here to apologise? Fingers trembling with a flurry of emotions. I shakily opened the door and found myself looking straight at a trembling Damian who did not notice me opening the door until I coughed to catch his attention. As soon as he heard me coughing he jerked his head upwards and looked me in the eye for a few seconds before looking down again, filled with guilt.

"Damian, what are you doing here?" As soon as he heard my question he thrust the lilies into my hands and ran off but I was having none of that and with the bouquet in hand ran after him. I wanted to try again because being his friend had been wonderful but I could not do so without getting an apology for everything he had done to me.

We ran and ran for hours and I could always just see him but could never catch up to him and that was perhaps the most irritating part about it all. Soon enough we both reached Hyde park where I was forced to stop and rest. All I could do was stand there panting while I watched him get smaller and smaller until he finally disappeared. It was hopeless now. He must have made it home by now.

Was the only way to start over accepting his half assed apology and approaching him myself? Were we never meant to become friends? He had apologised but it wasn't enough for me which sounds very entitled but I could not move on and try again if I didn't receive this apology. I hated that about me at the moment but the wounds ran too deep. I guess we were never meant to be friends again after all. Sure he might try to apologise at school but I was fed up of waiting.

Just as I had come to the decision to give up and head home, I heard him, "Anya wait!" Too tired of him never actually verbally apologising and listening to him curse himself in his head I did not stop and continued walking the other way. That is until he stopped me by holding my hand from behind me, causing me to finally turn around and after shaking his hand off, cross my arms in irritation.

"What is it now Desmond?" to my question he gulped and started, "Anya-" but as usual he never completed his sentence and I said with a voice as hard as steel, "If you have nothing to say, I must excuse myself. I would like to make breakfast for my family." After saying this I tried to walk away but was once again stopped by Damian who had somehow overtaken me and blocked my way with his body.

"Let me go Desmond." I implored to which he simply shook his head and said, "Not only do I have to tell you something but you have something of mine Anya and I cannot leave without it."

"I don't have anything of yours and don't want to listen to you. NOW LET ME GO!" I commanded but he did not budge. He simply pointed to my right hand and said, "You are holding the lilies I bought this morning." and sure enough I was.

"Is that all?! Fine here you go." and with that I angrily thrust the bouquet into his hands, he took the bouquet but he did not move an inch and I was at my wits end. "What do you want now Damian? I'm getting late." After I said that he took a deep breath, stepped back and bowed his head while offering the bouquet again. I was confused but just as I was about to enquire about his strange behaviour he said, "Anya I am extremely sorry for everything I put you through all these years. I blamed you and punished you for something you had no control over but even if you did play a part I had no right to treat you that way because my father brought his arrest upon himself. I still don't know why but...it doesn't matter! I harmed both of us with this behaviour, this behaviour caused me to lose a wonderful friend and caused you terrible pain. I understand if you don't want to forgive me because what I did was unforgivable but I would still like to start over if it's fine with you. If it isn't I will back off. So Anya, what do you say?"

The apology sounded so genuine, not an ounce of it was faked and I could feel that he truly understood the gravity of everything he had done to me. I could also feel that he did not expect forgiveness. That apology was more than anything I had expected and finally I felt at peace. I was ready to start over and so I took the bouquet and walked towards a nearby bench.

Once I reached the bench I placed the flowers on the bench and turned towards him. He had followed me and was now looking at me with defeat, convinced that I had rejected his apology since he, unlike me, could not read minds. My silence isn't helping matters either and I didn't want it to. I wanted to give him a last payback and my prolonged silence was that.

For what seemed like hours to him but a few seconds for me I broke the silence, "Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Anya Forger. What's yours?" he did not register my words at first but when he did I could see the overwhelming happiness on his face and I laughed, "don't keep staring at me! What's your name?" After wiping a few stray tears of happiness he said, "Ah sorry, hello Anya my name is Damian Desmond. I hope we can be good friends."

This was the moment that changed our lives forever. We didn't know it then but this day, this moment would forever hold a special significance in our lives. Out of all the moments we ever spent together this would be the most precious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry Christmas guys ;P