As Tobi sits on the edge of the tub, her hands gripping it so hard that the knuckles turned white, she thinks deeply about her previous revelation. Did she love Ashton? Sure, she liked him -- who wouldn't with a face and personality like that? -- but she wasn't sure if she loved him. But... if she loved him, did that mean she didn't love Dennis anymore? Was it possible for her to love more than one person romantically at once?
Heaving a heavy sigh, Tobi mumbles to the empty bathroom, "God, I don't know." She stands and wraps a towel around herself. Once she exits the warm and damp bathroom, she paces the rest of the apartment, thought of Ashton and their relationship plaguing her thoughts.
As she does laps around the coffee table in the living room, Tobi coughs up another handful of reddened petals and dumps them in a pile on the table. She stops and stares at it, the first thought running through her head being, I need to see Ashton. Now.
At that moment, she knew. She knew that the past month spent with Ashton had been the most intimate amount of time she'd ever spent with anyone in her life. The pond, the cafe, their conversations, all of it. All of it made her realize that now, Dennis was not the one her heart fully belonged to, however the Hanahaki disease might affect her.
Determination locked in, she marches to the laundry room and looks through the linen closet, the first items of clothing being an old pair of cargo pants belonging to Dennis and a white teeshirt. Hastily, she pulls on a bra and some underwear left on the dryer before changing into the clothes. She makes a dash to the bathroom, cinching an old fabric belt around her waist to keep the pants up. As fast as she's able, she dries her hair and brushes out the short, blonde curls.
Stumbling into the front room, she pulls on her shoes and grabs her umbrella from next to the door. Taking a deep breath, she runs down the hall to the elevator and jabs the button a multitude of times. Groaning, she decides it's taking too long and runs to the stairs, flying down them faster than she thought possible for herself.
She emerges from the apartment complex, already dialing Ashton's number. "Hello?" His voice sounds from the other end halfway through the first ring.
Opening the umbrella as she sprints into the rain, still unsure of how to get there, she pants, "Hey, what's your address?"
"Huh? Uh, fourteen-sixteen, Pine Drive, why?"
"Oh," She gasps as she briefly stops at a crosswalk before running across the street. "Nothing much." Running the route in her head, she mumbles to herself, already running out of breath, "So a right here, I think?"
"What? Tobi, where are you right now?"
"Nowhere, nowhere! Look, I'll talk to you later, man, okay?" She says hastily before abruptly hanging up the phone. "Right, right, this is Main, so Pine is..." Quickly regaining her bearings, she mutters, "this way!"
After twenty minutes of jogging and doing her best to find her way around, she finds the sign displaying the words Pine Dr. in bold, white letters. Still panting, she jogs down the street, her eyes scanning the addresses on the buildings around her. "Fourteen-sixteen, fourteen-sixteen, fourtee..." She trails off as she spots the numbers on the front of a large white house with a blue front door. "Right." Mumbles Tobi to herself, balling her fists in determination.
After stiffly marching up to the front door, she knocks on the door. While she stands there, her palms becoming progressively sweatier and a knot forming in her stomach, she begins to regret leaving the house so boldly. She takes a deep breath before letting it go in a long sigh. Again, she knocks.
This time, after only a few seconds, a woman with long black hair pulled back in a high bun and slanted eyes much like Ashton's opens the door. With a pleasantly surprised look on her face, she asks with a small smile, "Hello. Who might you be?"
A little taken aback by the unexpected character answering the door instead of Ashton, she stares blankly for a moment, a smile on her own face. She gasps and says hastily, "Oh, I'm sorry! Hi, my name is Tobi, I'm a friend of Ashton's."
The woman claps her hands together and says cheerfully, "Oh, how nice. I'll let him know you're here." Tobi expects her to turn and go get him, but instead, she yells harshly, "Ashton! Get down here, someone's here to see you!" Tobi stares at her, wide-eyed, as the woman turns back around, the same temperate smile donned on her face. "He should be just a minute. My apologies, my name is Inna. I'm his sister."
Finally relaxing slightly, Tobi smiles and states, "It's nice to meet you, Inna."
"It's very nice to meet you too."
As she says this, Ashton makes his way down the stairs, shirtless and with a towel covering his sopping wet hair. "Hey, who's here?" His eyes lock on Tobi and a smile stretches his face. "Oh, hey Tobi. What's up?"
Before Tobi responds, Inna says brightly, "Ah, I have to leave. Isa needs me to pick her up, so I'll be a while." She gives Tobi a small pat on the shoulder as she leaves. Making sure her brother can't hear her, she whispers, "Good luck with that one."
Just as the door closes, Tobi turns to look at her, eyes wide. "Uh... huh..." She mutters.
She jumps when Ashton says from right in front of her, "Hey, what's up? You sounded weird on the phone. I was kinda worried, y'know?"
Worried. Her face flushes and she laughs as she fixes her eyes on the table behind him. "Right, sorry about that." She mumbles to him, her heart hammering in her chest. "I just have something important to tell you. I mean, I actually have a few things I want to tell you that are pretty important."
Offering her a lopsided smile, Ashton pushes his hands in the pockets of his hands. "Sure, go ahead. I'm gonna go put a shirt on and dry my hair first, though, okay?"
She nods, a blank expression on her face. "Uh-huh,"
He gives her another brief smile before walking back up the stairs, rubbing the towel over his hair as he goes. For a moment, Tobi only stands there, absorbing her surroundings. Slowly, she makes her way around the spacious living room. On the wall behind the couch, dozens of pictures line fill the space. The faces of Ashton's family smiling fill her mind. As she stands admiring the wall, her eyes quickly fall on a picture that stands out among the rest, quietly tucked in the corner of the wall.
A girl with fiery red hair sits with her arm slung around Ashton's shoulders, a wide grin on both of their faces. From the picture, Tobi assumes her to be roughly sixteen and Ashton to be maybe fourteen. The longer she stares, the more curious she becomes. As she does, she notices a yellow petal tucked between the fingers of the girl.
Tobi tilts her head quizzically. Suddenly, from close behind her, Ashton's voice sounds, saying, "It's a good picture of her, isn't it?" He comes to stand next to her looking just as intrigued by the photo as she is. Tobi turns from him and back to the picture, nodding in response. After giving a sigh, he tells her, "This is my old friend Nira. She died about four years ago."
He grows quiet and, in an effort to comfort him, Tobi slips her hand into his. When she does, he turns to look down at her, a sad smile turning the corners of his mouth up slightly. Once he's facing the picture again, he says, "It's my fault, y'know." Tobi keeps her eyes fixed on the picture as Ashton squeezes her hand. "She had Hanahaki. She was in love with me, but I just... couldn't feel the same way."
With her free hand, Tobi touches the petal tucked in between the girl's fingers in the photo. Finally, after a long moment of silence, she says, "Ashton, it really isn't your fault this happened." She sighs, still with her eyes trained on the photo, and continues, "I speak from experience when I say that she wouldn't want you to think it's your fault. If she loved you -- was really in love with you -- she wouldn't want you to think it's your fault. If anything is at fault, it's the Hanahaki disease." With her eyes fixed on Ashton's wide smile in the picture, she states, "And if you don't wanna hear that it's the disease's fault, then I'll tell you that it's her heart's fault." When she turns and looks at him, their hands still linked, she sees his eyes wide and a few stray tears running down his cheeks. She smiles. "Ashton, there isn't anyone to blame in this situation. You can't let this feeling of guilt consume you."
She lifts her hand to his cheek and smoothes it over his skin, ridding it of the tears he's shed. "That wouldn't be fair to anyone."
Ashton stares at her, still wide-eyed, as Tobi stares up into his eyes calmly. "Hey, Tobi?" He mumbles to her, his eyes softening. A small content smile spreads on her face in response. He gives a slight chuckle and whispers, "You really are something." Before kissing her softly on the lips.