Almost, But Not Quite [Damien Haas]

19. Miss Bennet | Mr. Protocol

Hey, guys! You doing good there?

Thank you guys so much for the awesome:
- 800+ reads here!
- 400+ reads on See You at Seven!
- 3.3k+ reads on A Wrench in the Gears!
- 200+ reads on The Three Laws of Motion!
Yaaaaay!

So I can't believe this is the second to the last chapter, and also the last chapter I'm writing in Damien's perspective. We're gonna miss our boi.

Again, after ABNQ, I'll be working on T3LOM, where you can read more Damien WITH Shayne and Ian. This is gonna be fun, and up there's pretty much the entire schedule for the month. It's gonna be a long month, yep.

Let's start, shall we? Damien's POV and see ya!

-/-/-

Here's a pretty basic fact: the Internet is vast. There are all sorts of stuff you can find on the Internet, such as online medicine, online law sessions, online products, online fandoms. But I believe that the best thing you can find on this enormous web of networks and connections is not food or perhaps careers; it is a friend.

When you lose a friend from the Internet, not only does it sting in the first time you lose them, you will remember that sting for the rest of your life. You will find new friends on the Internet and in real life, you'll do all sorts of incredible things, and you'll even have a family of your own maybe, but once something brings you back to remembering that one Internet friend you'll never see again, the sting will haunt your bones and it will stay in your veins as long as your blood flows through them.

I totally understand why Miss Bennet did that, because the connection did feel a little odd at some point. I told her I was in love with Jade, yet I couldn't stop talking to her. And she was in love with someone else, so she had to decide which of us she had to keep loving probably. It was a good decision to stick to real life love, because if the 28th thing ever pushed through and we absolutely did not like each other in person, it would have ended terribly. But both of us knew we were good people, that we could still be friends despite loving other people. It was just difficult, and as I didn't want other people to do things that make them feel difficult, I respected her decision.

A week has passed since then. I felt extremely terrible, but I tried not showing signs of it at work. Just keep being active, keep smiling, keep doing 100% your best. It was all going so well until Friday came along where I had to go to Mrs. Kim's shop to buy some cat food. When I arrive, Mrs. Kim greets me with an embrace. "Damien, it's been a while!"

"Hey, Mrs. Kim!" I exclaim, returning her embrace. "Wow, you and Jade really cleaned this place up, it looks amazing. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help last Christmas, my Mom wanted me to stay for two days at her place."

"It's alright, dear," she replies. "She gave me a good idea actually to make this place, in her words, a little more hip."

I look around the place. Pictures of different pet owners were on the wall with all of their pets with them. I even spot a picture of Jade and I holding Eleanor and Chidi together. That was just a few days after she moved into Los Angeles. I stare at it for a long time.

Jade has been unbelievably busy since the last time I spoke with her, which was last week. In the mornings, I'd see her dashing out of her apartment with textbooks and hard drives in her hands. Mark said she'd return just before lunch time to get stuff she needs for work, and in the evening, she would return after hosting the evening news to get some books again for some evening classes. She worked incredibly hard, and I didn't want to disturb her for a while, but even though it had only been a week and she was four inches away from me, damn. I missed her so much.

"How are you doing?" Mrs. Kim asks me as she takes out some cat food. "Jade actually came here the other day, and it looks like she's extremely occupied."