Noticing Ian’s odd behavior despite only knowing him for a few days, Gaelan raised a brow. He had the feeling that quite a lot had transpired between these two young people in the past, a feeling that turned out to be on the mark.

“How have you been?” Lauren asked, smiling gently in spite of the awkward air between them. Contrary to her intention, the smile resulted in Ian’s heart twisting in pain due to unwanted memories.

“I’m fine, I guess,” he evasively answered, obviously showing an attitude of not wanting to be near her. Not asking how she was in return added to that sentiment since it conflicted with his moral compass of proper manners.

“Uh-huh, I see…” Lauren muttered while awkwardly averting her gaze. A short silence followed which Gaelan imagined manifesting as malleable tactlessness.

“Well, it was nice to see you again, but we’ll get going now,” Ian said, giving Gaelan a look to urge him to leave as well. However, as soon as he tried to walk away, Lauren spoke up.

“Um, Ian?’ she shyly interjected, casting her gaze toward the floor, “I-, I’m sorry…”

When Ian looked back with a startled expression, he saw a look on the woman’s face that made it seem as though she might break into tears at any moment, throwing him for a loop.

What? What in the world is going on here? Ian asked himself. Unsure of what to do, he looked to Gaelan for assistance, though the man returned the look with a sharp gaze which clearly said something along the lines of, ‘How dare you make a woman cry? Fix it.’

Exasperated, Ian sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. What was this insanity? All he wanted to do was buy coffee and be on his way, but now he had drama, pretty much the antithesis of the wonderful drink. Unfortunately, he could practically feel his mentor’s accusatory glare piercing the back of his skull. Those purple irises of his radiated with an emotion so similar to ferocity that it frightened him. Perhaps Gaelan was a bit of a feminist?

“Haaah… okay, what do you mean by saying sorry?” Ian asked, turning to face the woman that caused him a truckload of hurt in the past.

“I’m sorry… that I hurt you,” she answered, a few tears streaming from her eyes now. Ian felt totally out of his element now.

“Uh, yeah… it’s fine…” Ian ambiguously replied in the hopes that this emotionally torturous scenario would simply end already.

“No, it’s not! I wanted to find you and apologize a long time ago, and I can’t take it anymore. It hurts, you know?” Lauren retorted, voice loud enough to draw the attention from many of the shoppers around them.

I don’t know, and all these onlookers are making it worse… Ian thought. This situation was not one he had ever planned for, and having so many spectators only made it worse. It didn’t seem like Gaelan had any interest in stopping it, either. After a deep breath through his nose, Ian placed a hand on Lauren’s shoulder to prevent her from saying anything else and sharply yet quietly said, “Okay, okay. I get it. If you really want to apologize or something, we can go do it somewhere with fewer people watching, yeah? Having all these eyes on us is irritating.”

“Food court?” Lauren suggested while rubbing her eyes with her palms.

“Nah, Jinko’s is better, and you can pay,” Ian said with a slightly commanding tone, at which Lauren nodded in consent. Of course, he was not taking advantage of the situation for revenge. Not. At. All.

However, Lauren obviously knew Jinko’s Restaurante was his favorite place to eat, considering he got along well the Jinko, the old man who ran the place.

As soon as they started walking toward the other end of the mall where the restaurant was, Lauren finally noticed the burly man with black hair and noticeably purple eyes following them. The gray t-shirt clinging tightly to his muscular frame intimidated her somewhat.

“Who is this?” she cautiously asked out of curiosity.

“My mentor, Gaelan. I hope you don’t mind him tagging along,” Ian said, though his tone displayed zero politeness as though saying the man would come with them whether she liked it or not.

“Oh… okay…” Lauren muttered, apparently unsure how to take it. Then, her boy looked up and Gaelan, and the man smiled. The little boy laughed and waved his arms in response, soothing any misgivings she held.

Following the nearly dead silent trip through the crowded complex, the trio, along with the oblivious and cheerful baby boy, were seated at a boot in the quiet restaurant. Ian and Gaelan sat on one side while Lauren sat on the other.

As one considered to be a regular, Ian knew a majority of the employees, and they generally knew what he would order. One of the waiters he was most familiar with approached the table with a child’s highchair in hand and greeted them with a friendly smile.

“Good to see you’re not alone for once,” the waiter noted. Then, he looked at Lauren and said, “Pretty sure I haven’t seen you in a while either.”

“Well, it is what it is,” Ian replied.

Picking up on the awkward air, the waiter dropped the conversation as is and took their drink order before moving on to another table to take orders. A minute later, he returned with waters for all of them and said he would give them a few minutes to ‘decide’ on their order. During that time, the inevitable conversation ensued.

“Um… anyway, I wanted to apologize,” she said while putting her son in the highchair.

“I noticed…” Ian sourly replied.

Meanwhile, Gaelan picked up the menu and held it inconspicuously in front of his face while sipping at the tastiest water he ever tasted. He hoped to give them as much privacy as possible.

Reading Ian’s mood, Lauren asked, “Uh, I guess you aren’t really keen on seeing me, are you?”

“Haaah… I guess. It’s awkward,” he replied. Yet another awkward silence rose between them until Ian finally said, “So, we meet randomly, and you want to apologize. You’re not going to say you regret leaving me or something, right?”

For a moment, Gaelan glanced over the top of the menu, which he couldn’t read anyway. The conflicted expression on Lauren’s face verified his thoughts in terms of comprehending their relationship.

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“Uh, no, that’s not it, exactly…” Lauren answered.

This is definitely going on my list of most awkward experiences in my life… Ian thought. Then, he glared at her and asked, “So, what then? Apologize and call it good?”

Once again, Lauren looked on the verge of tears, though she did her best to hold it in. “I just wanted to say sorry. A lot’s been going on, and this is something that’s been bothering me for years.”

“Ah, so you just wanted to clear your head,” Ian dryly alleged. Honestly, he was at the point of not caring why this woman wanted to apologize. An unforeseen yet simple desire to take a few jabs at her for a bit of revenge had surfaced within him. Even so, spiting her sent a sharp pain through his own heart in return. Maybe - no - surely, it was the wrong approach, but his inner pain slowly morphed into anger while exposed to her presence. He wanted to vent. He needed to. It just so happened that Lauren made for a perfect target as the initial cause of his inner pain.

“Ian,” Gaelan sternly whispered into his left ear, “Your hands. Look at your hands.”

“Hm?” Ian glared at his mentor, having nearly forgotten about him. Briefly, the thought of punching the man crossed his mind, but it struck him as odd. Brows now furrowed due to the strange statement, he lowered his gaze to his clenched fists resting on his lap. Immediately, he blinked several time in surprise. Numerous black particles were floating around his forearms.

What’s this all about? He thought. Puzzled, he looked to Gaelan for an answer, but the man shrugged. All Ian could do was sigh and return his attention to Lauren. Based on her expression, she seemed confused by their interaction just now, maybe even a little uncomfortable as well.

On the other hand, she certainly recognized that look of his. It was the same look he would make whenever something he didn’t understand irritated him, like the time they visited a zoo while skipping classes and saw an exhibit for genetically modified animals. The memory briefly put a smile on her face, though the grin vanished as quickly as it appeared.

During the awkward silence, Ian calmed down a little, especially after seeing the Dark Matter particles. He made a mental note to ask Gaelan about it later, even if the man had no idea what happened. Anyway, now that he could think more clearly, Lauren’s apology didn’t feel so bad. Of course, he still felt the lingering twinges of pain due to her actions almost seven years ago when she cheated on him, but that was in the past. If he was going to take the new path he had been given, he needed leave behind the old one while learning from the mistakes he made and pains he suffered while traversing it.

Suddenly, another customer knocked over their glass. For a moment, Ian thought he could hear the crack of a breaking chain when it shattered on the tile. He felt like he had suddenly flown free from a mental shackle holding him back. Perhaps it was coincidental, but it certainly meant something to him personally. The corner of his lips curled upward slightly as he looked Lauren in the eye and said, “Sorry, I got a bit worked up.”

“Uh, okay?” Lauren said, obviously puzzled by the sudden shift in his attitude.

“So, are you ready to order?” the waiter asked, startling the two. Ian looked at him and wondered how he appeared out of nowhere like that.

Gaelan obviously wasn’t surprised, since he asked, “Is the person that dropped that glass alright?”

“Ah, yes. Nice to see a courteous person around this guy for once,” the waiter said, grinning slyly.

Ian clicked his tongue, though Lauren giggled ever so slightly. Gaelan simply shrugged and said, “If that’s so, then…” he pointed a thumb at Ian, “I’ll have what he’s having.”

“You want your regular, Ian?” the waiter asked.

“Yeah.”

From there, the waiter took Lauren’s order, as well as for her son, and wandered off. A little while passed without much conversation until the food finally arrived. None of them really felt like anything else needed to be said. While Ian and Gaelan dug into their steaks, Lauren focused on feeding some sliced hot dogs and fries to her son before eating her own salad. During the meal, few words were spoken aside from Gaelan’s compliments of the food and the occasional excited cry from Lauren’s son.

Once the meal ended, the group left the restaurant. Ian asked if Jinko was there, but, apparently, the old man had the day off. Before going their separate ways, Lauren, with expression still slightly downtrodden, said, “Well, I guess I’ll head out, then. I’m glad I was able to meet you here today, and… uh… thanks for hearing me out I guess.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Ian contemplatively replied. “At first, I thought I never wanted to see you again, but I think it was for the best.” Then, grinning slyly, he added, “Not sure I’m totally over it yet, though.”

Lauren giggled a little before saying, “Well, see you around, I guess.”

“See ya.”

With that, they waved farewell to each other and went their separate ways, disappearing into the crowd.

* * * * *

For several minutes, Lauren walked around aimlessly, totally lost in thought. In fact, she completely forgot what she even came to the mall for originally. Truthfully, she probably felt more perplexed by the unexpected encounter than Ian.

Looking back, she still felt a massive amount of guilt weighing on her shoulders from the time she left him for another man. At the time, it had seemed so right, only to feel so wrong years later. Despite marrying the man she left Ian for, things did not end up as peachy as she imagined they would be. She grimaced when she realized she was rubbing her arm where her long sleeve covered a fresh bruise.

Lips quivering, she gazed through the glass roof. The past was in the past, and she had to live with the choices she made. Even if she wondered if staying with Ian back then would have been better, it wouldn’t help her now. Thinking about it would probably just lead to more problems with her husband. Apologizing certainly helped, but would everything go well from now on?

“Probably not…” she mumbled to herself.

* * * * *

Later in the afternoon, Ian and Gaelan exited the shopping complex carrying a large number of bags containing all sorts of items including coffee beans and french press, pillows, memory foam mattress pads, quilts, a few other miscellaneous items Gaelan found interesting, and even some over-the-counter medicine. Honestly, Ian was surprised by how much he could carry now without exerting much effort. Then there was Gaelan who didn’t break a sweat even when carrying twice the load, even if he held fewer items.

It was an investment… an investment… Ian kept telling himself. Each time he thought about how he ended up spending almost eighty percent of his hard-earned savings in one sitting, he winced.

“So,” Gaelan casually inquired in an attempt to spark up a conversation, “you glad you got to talk it out with that woman?” Even while asking such a thing, he couldn’t help feeling surprised by how much he had learned about this young man in less than a week. If he had been able to have a son, would it have been like this; knowing all the dirty details of the young man’s life?

“Honestly? I’m not completely sure yet,” Ian answered.

“Heh, seems like this world is rather rough on a weakling like you.”

“Tch. Maybe.” Ian shrugged off the comment. “However, what was with the Dark Matter while I was talking to her? Any ideas?”

Gaelan tilted his head. “Perhaps. Either you were angry enough for it to activate without you noticing, or maybe it actually amplified your anger. I honestly don’t know for sure since I’ve never seen such a thing. Not a lot of humans use it, remember?”

“Yeah… makes sense… Well, how about we head back to your place now? I could really use the fresh air and some blacksmithing.”

“We should probably stay in your apartment thing tonight,” Gaelan urged.

“Ah, yeah, probably true,” Ian muttered, glancing at the setting sun. For some reason, it didn’t bother his eyes all that much even when he stared right at it, though he barely noticed at the time. Figuring it was almost four in the afternoon, he said, “Let’s do that, then. Also, now that I think about it, how would Dark Matter even affect my emotions in the first place?”

“Ugh…” Gaelan groaned. Explaining all of these things was becoming a daunting task.