Her Saviour

Chapter 87: Ways to help

Haru's Point of View

He was trying to take in all the information that Rin just told him. He was extremely glad that she was opening up so that he can help in some kind of way. He wanted to help her however he could. And her opening up was the opportunity for him to be able to start saving her.

The fact that he did not get visions for the past few nights was both disturbing and making him anxious. But he pushed those feelings away because he had something more important to do at the moment.

So he took all the information and tried to fit all the pieces together.

He knew that he would not be able to produce a solution that would be immediately effective and help her mend her relationship with her father. But who knew how much time he had. So, he wanted to make it work faster.

"Since their relationship started getting worse after her mother's death, I think they should start from there. It must have been super hard for both of them. And it looks like they have not talked about it. Maybe they should talk to each other about it and let out their emotions." Haru thought.

Haru thought that the relationship of Rin and her father might start getting better if they talked it out properly. Communicating was a must for a better relationship. However, he could not just tell Rin straightforward that something so simple as talking could help her.

Haru realized that talking would not probably be as simple as he thought it would be two seconds earlier. Their relationship would not be strained like how Rin described if all they had to was talk to each other.

Nevertheless, since he did not have any other solution for now, he decided to shoot an arrow into the dark.

He cleared his voice and then started speaking.

"Have you ever talked to him about how you feel?"

Rin looked at him and then took a deep breath. Then she spoke, "I tried to. After Mom died, I thought it would be best to try to talk to him. After all, all I had was him. But I could not get through to him. He was always busy. He did not even come home sometimes. I was by myself most of the time. So, I gave up. I did not have the energy to even try."

Haru gulped and thought, "s**t, that's messed up. What the hell should I do?"

With what Rin had just told her, Haru understood that she had been deeply hurt by it that she had given up talking to her father. He was saddened by it. He knew how painful it might have been because of his relationship with his father. They did not talk to each other and did not let each other know what was happening in their lives.

He sighed. Then he thought, "This is complicated. What should I do? Do I try to explain to her that talking it out might be the best? Or should I think of another way? I really should not be the one talking about the importance of communicating when I did not even try to talk to my father."

All these thoughts were making him stress out a lot. He took a deep breath and then decided that a smoke could help him.

So he took out a packet of cigarettes and opened it. He took one and then turned to offer to Rin.

He noticed that she was lost in her thoughts. He gently tapped on her shoulder.

She looked at him as to ask what happened. He signaled her with his head and eyes at the pack of cigarettes at his hand.

She nodded and then took one.

After Rin took a cigarette, he placed his on his lips and lighted it. As he inhaled the smoke, he looked at the sky. He got lost into the moment. He did not know how long he had been staring at the sky when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He instantly became aware of his surroundings and the situation. And then he looked at Rin.

She spoke, "Can you pass me the lighter?"

"Oh shoot, I forgot to give her the lighter after I was done." He thought while quickly muttering a "sorry" and passing it to her.

He watched her as she took the lighter from his hand and lighted her cigarette.

As she was done, she spoke.

"I am sorry Haru. I am probably stressing you out with all these stuffs. But thank you for listening."

After saying that she looked at him. Haru shook his head to deny her assumption that he was stressing out. Well he was stressing out but he was not going to straight up tell her that.

And he shook his head to also let her know that she should not be the one apologizing. She was not at fault. No one was at fault. And he was not going to blame it on fate. The concept of fate and how it works was too vast for him to just dump the blame there.

He spoke, “It is not your fault Rin. No need to apologize for something like this. And I am always here to listen. Always. Anything you want to or you need to tell me, I will be there to listen to it. Do not worry about that and just focus on yourself okay?”

He felt a little guilty lying like it was not stressing him out but he really did not want to tell her that. She had enough things to worry about. And the last thing he wanted was for her was to worry that she was a burden.

He racked through his brain for answers, solutions and even small hints that could help Rin solve the issues with her father.

He smoked as he thought hard.

Just then, he heard Rin speak.

“Thank you for that. I seriously cannot thank you enough for what you are doing. I feel better telling you all these. But there’s something you need to know.”

Haru was a little surprised hearing it. For these small duration of time that he had known her, he thought that she was not the type to be so open. But then, this would probably depend on the situation.

He recovered and then nodded to let her know that she can continue.

After she saw him nod, she started speaking.

"When I started telling you about what was bothering me, I was not telling it with the expectation that you will come up with a solution that can solve my problems at the spot. I know that things are not that easy and things take time. That is what I meant when I apologized if it was stressing you. For me, at the moment, it is enough that you are there to listen to all of this. It has been a long time that I have talked about it. And it was really eating me up. It feels a lot better that I got this out of my chest. It is like the weight of an elephant on my chest has been lifted. And I want you to know that this is enough."

Haru was seriously surprised. It was not because he did not expect Rin to be understanding and mature. It was because she knew that he was trying to come up with solutions for her. She was right. He could not come up with a solution right here and that things take time. Even if he could come up with a solution right there, it would take time to implement and take effect. He realized how unrealistic he had been for been past few minutes. It was like Rin had brought him back to reality. He was kind of grateful for that.

However, there was a huge problem.

First of all, he did not know what was happening with the curse. And he had no way of finding more about it except for talking to his grandfather, which he already did.

Second, because he did not know what was happening with the curse, he did not know if Rin was safe.

However, to be on the safer side, he wanted to do everything he can to help her. So, even if he was being unrealistic by attempting to come up with a solution right there, it was not something out of a futile attempt. He genuinely wanted to do something for her and help her.

After all these thoughts, he realized that he had left Rin hanging without a reply.

"Oh s**t", he thought.

Then he looked at her, ready to apologize for not replying. She was smoking and looking at the sky, or at least that what it looked like.

He cleared his throat to catch her attention. It did the trick and she looked at him.

He started speaking, "I am sorry that I did not reply right away. Right after you said that, I was caught up in a thought. It does not mean that I was ignoring what you were saying though. And then that thought led to another. And before I could realize, I had become lost in those thoughts. I did not intend to be rude okay?"

He was almost out of breath.

She smiled and spoke, "I understand. And don't worry, I was fine with you not saying anything."

Haru smiled back but still felt guilty for not replying. The fact that Rin said she was fine with him not replying saddened him. She should not be fine with that. It was like she normalized disregarding her feelings for other people's sake. And somehow, it did not sit well with him.

Or maybe he was overthinking this but to him that was what it looked like.

Then he let out a sigh.

Just as he was about to tell her that she should think about herself more, she started talking.

She looked like she was looking at the sky.

She said, "Hey Haru. I feel like running away from home."

As soon as he heard what Rin said, he was worried that she might be being impulsive right now. Which meant that she would probably not be able to make rational decision and those irrational decisions could hurt her. He did not want that to happen.

Or maybe he was just overthinking it. The fact that she said that she wanted to run away might not have anything to do with impulsivity. It might just be what she was thinking. These possibilities made him more anxious.

He thought and he thought hard about what he should be telling her right now.