Chapter 7

It’s been a rough couple of days since Candice had told me about my possible new fate, we have been travelling a lot to make it to our destination. My head has been spinning nonstop with intrusive thoughts that are both negative and positive. What will happen if I am undeserving? Do I go back to travelling the world with Candice? Or will things be different somehow?  We finally made our last stop in Tokyo, Japan. At least the plane didn’t fall this time. Looking around, I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I have never in my life seen such beauty until now, how did I not know it was this breath-taking? Under normal circumstances, I would be taking Candice out on a date, maybe watch the stars on a deserted rooftop, go for a refreshing walk around the city enjoying too many scoops of ice-cream and just being together without drama. Unfortunately, these aren’t normal circumstances, and my life is full of drama, there’s no escaping that.  

Candice had to make a quick phone call to her friend that knows the person we were looking for and while she did that, I decided to pop into this quaint little jewellery store to buy something extravagant for her because she got caught up in this mess with me. She didn’t seem like the type of girl who would wear a necklace, but perhaps a bracelet. They had such a wide variety to choose from, but I didn’t want her to find me in here and possibly stop me, so I made a quick judgement call and bought the one that stood out the most to me. I made it out just in time for her to return and update me on the current situation.

“My friend gave me the address, we should go”, she seemed off, so I asked, “Are you ok? Did something happen? She hesitated but then sighed and said, “I am just tired and in desperate need of a break.” I wholeheartedly understood and agreed with her, we haven’t stopped once to rest properly, and we haven’t had a decent meal in about five days. Maybe I could still take her out on a date if she is up for it. “Would you like to eat out with me and then we can get a hotel and just chill for the rest of the evening?”, she seemed to be thinking it over for a bit, a little too long for my liking. I started to get nervous, and she could see that but before I could say anything else she erupted into a fit of giggles and said, “That would be absolutely amazing, I really had you going there for a bit though, didn’t I?” Wow, that did not go the way I thought it would. I breathed a sigh of relief and gave a little chuckle before saying, “You sure did, I was thinking we could go to a nice restaurant, something fancy.” She raised her eyebrows in surprise and smiled, “I’d like that, lead the way hot stuff.”

We ended up in a restaurant called, Narisawa. Recommended by a local for its wide array of premium Japanese wine and sake, as well as roomy spaces for a luxurious gourmet experience. The whole time we were eating I couldn’t stop thinking about how lovely she looked underneath the amber lighting, I just wanted to reach over and kiss her. Instead, at the end of the meal I presented her with the bracelet I got for her. She looked at it and then up at me, surprised but also a bit gleeful. “Why did you get this for me? I have nothing for you.” While putting it on her I replied with, “I got it because I want to show you how much I appreciate you for going through all of this with me when you don’t have to, and I don’t need you to get me anything in return. I feel like you give me more than enough just by being here.” Man, I felt so cheesy, but it needs to be said, I have honestly come a long way from the guy that couldn’t string together a proper sentence when approaching the opposite sex. She thanked me for it and couldn’t stop smiling, I loved seeing her smile.

I got the bill and we headed out to find a hotel. There were quite a few hotels near the restaurant, but we ended up going to Mitsui Garden Hotel because it was top rated. We were both dead tired, so we each took a turn to shower and then just crashed. In the morning I thought I would wake up next to Candice, but she wasn’t there. I quickly scanned the room, still no sign of her. I didn’t hear her in the bathroom either so where was she? I was starting to panic until I heard the click of the door and spun around to find Candice walking in with a paper bag and a tray with two coffees. She cursed and said, “You weren’t supposed to be awake yet, I wanted this to be a surprise.” Well, she succeeded there either way, I was genuinely surprised. I walked over to give her a hand with the stuff, “This really is a nice surprise, I thought something bad had happened to you and got seriously worried.” She let out a laugh and replied, “Aw silly, no need to worry about such things, not all things go wrong.” I didn’t know if I could believe that to be true, seeing as literally everything in my life has been going wrong. It’s a wonder I still have her around. We were enjoying our breakfast while watching some television when we heard a knock at the door. Candice got up to see who it could be but as soon as she opened it, she banged it shut immediately. Seriously? What now? She frantically looked around the room probably looking for something to keep the door shut, so I helped her look. We ended up using a pipe from the bathroom that was holding some towels. Once that was in place I asked, “What is going on Candice?”, to which she replied, “The woman that was trying to attack us in Hawaii is here probably trying to finish the job.” What woman? I don’t know of any wo- wait, could she be talking about that moment in Hawaii when she looked behind me and then all of a sudden, we were inside the bungalow? I didn’t even see who it was. “Candice, what woman?” She looked very nervous now, like she was hoping I wouldn’t ask.

“Ok, don’t freak out, but she is sort of me, from the future, probably trying to kill me or stop me before I do something I would likely regret in the future.”

This is just getting ridiculous now, but because we didn’t have time to get into it I grabbed her, climbed out the window and just kept running.