There were some dates that you treasured so deeply because of the memories attached to it. Then something horrible happened that tarnished that date in your mind and now, you just wanted to forget about it completely.

And today was one of them.

I tried acting completely normal when I went down the stairs. I had this bright smile on when I walked over to mom, "Leon's outside, mom. I love you, see you later."

When I leaned down to kiss her cheek, she cleared her throat and that made me pause my movements. Her features weren't displaying the same forced positivity she always tried to put on whenever she was in front of me. Instead, she was showing her sadness loud and clear.

My heart dropped because this only happened twice a year.

"Remember what day it is?" she dared to ask and I gulped audibly, feeling as if somebody poured a bucket of ice water over my body.

Of course I knew, I just hoped she wouldn't bring it up.

"Yeah," I replied quietly, straightening my posture and pretending to be unfazed, "I'll visit after school."

She sent me a small smile, nodding in satisfaction, "Alright, have a good day, sweetheart."

After that interaction, I was afraid having a good day was impossible.

The usual giddiness I felt every morning when I got to see Leon was gone, it was replaced by this solemn emotion at the pit of my stomach. I planned everything out last night – act happy and preppy in front of mom and hope that she would forget.

But even I knew the chances of her forgetting was extremely slim.

"Good morning, babe," he greeted once I slid into the passenger side. I only grunted in response, sinking into my seat after I buckled in my seatbelt.

He immediately knew that something was wrong. But here was the thing that I learned about Leon – he never pried. Whenever he got the memo that I wasn't in the mood to talk about something, he would allowed me to sulk in my own little world until I was ready to tell him what was bothering me.

So he opted to keep his mouth closed, but he still went over to grab my hand and settled out clasped hands on my thigh. He kept it there the whole drive and I knew it was his little way of comforting me.

Although part of me had a hunch that he had an idea what was going on. I mean, he had time traveled more times than I would like to admit so he must have picked up something related to this horrible, miserable date.

Mia already knew what was going on so when she entered the car, she just a quick hello but also complied to my request of basking in silence.

"I need to do something before first period," she said after we arrived at school, "I'll see in the classroom."

And as she walked on ahead to the school's entrance, it was only then I realized that she did that to leave us alone. Even when I didn't ask, she did it on her own volition and every day, I felt more and more grateful that I have her.

"Come on," Leon spoke, wrapping an arm around my shoulder after he locked his car. He even went on his way to grab my bag for me, swinging it on his other shoulder.

Honestly, as secure as I was in our relationship because I knew absolutely nothing could come between us, I often wondered what I did to deserve him.

Like seriously, what did I do? Was my past life a saint or something?

"Can we go somewhere on our way home later?" I asked sheepishly and I already predicted that he would say yes. In fact, he looked rather happy that I finally took the initiative to talk.

"Sure, anything you want," he nodded, sending me a soft smile. By the way ladies, that smile was exclusively for me to see, thank you very much.

Brownie points were off the charts.

But I've also decided that today was the day that I was going tell him everything. Everything about the part of my life that I wanted to tuck away for so long. I hated speaking about it, all my friends knew but it all happened during a time when Leon wasn't in my life yet.

Sure, he might have gathered information from time traveling but I wanted the full story to come from my lips.

Plus, I wanted his advice on what to do with mom.

Should I tell her that I found out about everything? That I saw the latter in her bedroom? Or should I just keep my mouth shut and allow her to tell me when she was ready?

I wanted to talk to her about what I truly felt, that I actually knew the secrets she had been hiding. However, I could remove that image out of my head – the memory of her crumpling down onto the floor in tears, a string of apologies bursting out of her mouth as I watched her with a letter in my hands.

I didn't want to see her like that ever again, she experienced too many emotional scars already.

Several years ago, this day used to be filled with so much merriment. Many gleeful squeals, haphazardly decorated cakes, and loud out of tune singing.

Now it was a reminder of how unpredictable life could be.

Even though I was completely out of the whole day, no one dared to question it. Leon, as always, was my angel and made sure that I didn't completely sink into the blackhole of my thoughts.

He bought me lunch, walked me to class even if we weren't in the same one, and basically became a wall that warded off any nosiness from others.

And while I tried my best to not allow my mind to linger, it was impossible. The whole time that I was waiting for the team's practice to end, all I could do was stare blankly at thin air.

This all started on the specific winter day in eighth grade. It wasn't my fondest memory by any means, but it was so vivid if I wanted to get it out of my mind completely.

And no, it wasn't the same date as today but it greatly contributed to its solemnity.

We were in Zoey's room, both of sitting on her bed. I was watching the movie while munching on the bag of chips her mom gave me while she was busy reading her textbook. She barely lifted her head to look at the film because she was too occupied with studying.

I was a bit miffed because I wanted to spend time with her, but I didn't comment on it. I knew how important school was to her so I kept my mouth shut and kept on watching.

And it was a rather peaceful day so I didn't have much to complain.

Well, that was until we heard a knock on her door.

"Avery?" her mom spoke, opening the door ever so slightly, just enough to poke her head inside, "Your mother told me to bring you home."

I should have known from the way sympathy was written all over her face that nothing good was about to come. Unfortunately, I was naïve.

I was young, I didn't have a taste of misfortune yet. The misery that would eventually consume my life didn't come yet. I didn't know what it was like to be overcome with so much anxiety and sadness yet.

So I shrugged, innocently thinking that mom simply finished making dinner early and wanted me to go back to eat, "Okay."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Avy," Zoey leaned forward to give me a hug.

"See you, Zo," I hummed as my goodbye, walking out of her room after her mother.

Our houses were literally a few steps away from each other so going to and fro wasn't a treck. However, instead of sending me off at the front door like she usually did, her mother walked with me all the way to my house.

In hindsight, that was the part where I should have braced myself.

"Bye Avery," she said, kissing the top of my head affectionately. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion because I was finally starting to get the bad vibes.

But I waved it off. Spoiler alert: I shouldn't have.

I said goodbye to her before I went inside my house. When I closed the front door, everything felt so eerie and wrong.

Mom was sitting there on the couch, one hand desperately clutching onto the phone while her eyes were bloodshot with tears flowing down from them. That was when I finally caught on that something incredibly horrible happened.

"Mom?" I breathed out, rushing to her side, "Mom, what's wrong?"

She didn't reply immediately, but she did turn her eyes to me. She moved in slow motion as she carefully placed down her phone and placed a cold hand on my cheek, "Sweetheart..."

She barely managed to say the word before a loud sob escaped her lips. At this point, I was panicking because I had no idea what to do. I have never seen her like this before so this situation was entirely new to me.

Eventually, it would become a norm.

"Mom," I repeated, my tone desperate, "What happened?"

Then she took a deep breath, her voice shaking when she finally delivered the news to me, "Your father died."

A part of me passed away with him that day. Not only did I have to pull myself together, but from that point on, I knew that I had to constantly act happy for mom. I didn't want her to worry, I didn't want to be a burden.

And I knew she was barely holding on so I had to do the smiling for the both of us.

Well, we eventually found out where that mentality brought me.

"Avery?" I heard Mia call out, "Training is done, come on."

I shook my head and my gaze focused on her worrying stare and from the distance, I watched as Leon jogged towards us from the locker room.

"I hate this day," I murmured sadly.

She frowned but squeezed my hand nonetheless, "I know."

These were the times when I didn't want people to tell me that everything was going to be alright. I simply wanted my friends to be by my side – nothing more and nothing less. I was so grateful that Mia understood that.

I grabbed my bag and climbed down the bleacher with her by my side. When I was one step away from reaching the ground, Leon wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up the remaining step. While I still far from happy, this did lift up my mood a little bit.

"I'm so single," Mia groaned, attempting to lighten up the atmosphere.

"I have several teammates," he joked, placing an arm around my shoulder and walking to us his car, "Any of them piques your interest?"

She playfully rolled her eyes, "No thank you."

One day, she will met a guy who will treat her well. I know Mia, she would never settle for less than what she knows she deserves.

But for now, she seemed to be happy with the way things were.

We dropped her off at her house and the moment the backdoor closed, I turned to him, "Can we stop to buy some flowers first?"

At this point, I didn't have to tell him where we were going – he just figure it out on his own. So he nodded and stopped by a small store. We bought a small and simple bouquet, since there weren't many options left, and then went back to the car.

The fact that he didn't even ask where to go next was all the confirmation I needed.

And as he pulled into a parking spot, a few steps away from those gates, I clutched the bouquet tighter causing the plastic to crinkle under my grip. I only come here twice a year and even so, I would always end up with nightmares.

But more than that, I always felt a rollercoaster of emotions. First was pain and betrayal, then guilt would wash over me.

Life was really unfortunate, wasn't it?

Leon was patiently waiting for me to move. Even if he had already placed the car on park, he sat still and allowed me to call the shots. No pressure, just plain understanding.

And with all of my misfortune, I still found it hard to believe at times that out of all the girls he could have, he chose me. While I did trust him with all of my heart, my trust on the universe was another story entirely. But then again, that same universe saw me die once and thought that I should be saved.

Then it tasked Leon, the one from a distant timeline, to find a way to make sure I lived. So while I often mused that the universe was out to get me, I was actually really thankful for it.

It was the same universe that gave me the man I loved.

"Let's go," I breathed out and he immediately turned off the engine and went out of the car, going around so he could open the door for me.

As I stepped out, he reached down for my hand and waited until I led him. It made my heart swell to think that I really did have Leon Colten and he was absolutely mine.

When I thought that he hated me months ago.

"I love you," I muttered to him as I pulled him onwards.

He squeezed my hand in response, "And I love you."

We finally made our way through those metal gates. It felt like we entered another world when we did, the aura of the environment felt so heavy.

Even though I rarely visited, I knew exactly where to go.

Weaving through rows and rows of tombstones, I finally spotted it.

I tugged him towards that particular grave and once we were fully in front of it, I let go of his hand and knelt down. There were already candles and flowers there, which I assumed were from mom. If I even guess correctly, she was late for work today just so she could spend as much time as she could here.

Gingerly placing the bouquet I bought next to the ones she got, I rested a hand on top of the stone and finally greeted him, "Happy birthday, dad."

In this day back in eight grade, we were still celebrating happily. We were in full familial bliss since I was extremely close to both of my parents because I was an only child. I bought him something with my allowance and everything – which he all accepted with a gleeful smile on his face.

Months later, he left for work and never came home again.

I was stricken with so much grief that I didn't know what to do with myself. Mom was even worse to the point that she would rarely talk, even to me. We really owed Zoey's family a lot for taking care of us.

But for thirteen year old me at the time, I was so lost on what to do. I couldn't go to my own mother for comfort since she was inconsolable herself and the man who I thought was superman found his kryptonite.

Zoey would come over everyday and would not leave me until she was assure that I ate and took care of myself. When I finally had the courage to come back to school, Sasha and Mia always kept an eye on to make sure I didn't spiral.

It took me so long to recover and as a result, I grew a hatred over coming here. What became weekly visits to the cemetery, it became a monthly thing, until it disintegrated to a twice a year affair.

And even right now, I was hesitant.

But even if I was warry, I had no urge to run away like all the other times that I've been here. Maybe it was because I knew that calm acceptance was the true path to moving on or perhaps I've realized that I went through far harsher disasters.

Or maybe it was because of the boy standing right behind me.

"Dad, this is Leon," I spoke, "He's my boyfriend. You should consider yourself lucky because I haven't even introduced him to mom yet."

I felt Leon slowly lower himself next to me and as if he was truly meeting his girlfriend's father for the first time, he cleared his throat and tried to make himself sound polite, "Hello, sir."

Although this was him we were talking about. Even if he was extremely sweet, his tone of speaking was far for friendly. Still, I appreciated his efforts.

"Avery is an amazing girl and I'm still amazed that she went for someone like me," he kept going, causing me to tear my gaze away from the stone and place it on him, "But I promise you that I will take care of her and make her happy."

I had to gag at how corny it was. If dad was alive and was hearing all of this from Leon, he would laugh loudly and practically suffocate him in a bear hug. That was just the kind of person he was, or so I thought.

But fortunately for Leon that in spite of the sappy words he chose, I adored him.

"I'm already happy," I told him with a soft smile, "Every day, you already make me happy. As for the taking care part, I think going back in time multiple times is proof enough."

He returned that with a grin of his own and I knew from that that I could handle this. That I shouldn't be afraid of being here and facing my father's grave.

So I maneuvered my body so that I wasn't just kneeling, but I was now sitting down. I patted the spot next to me and he got the signal quickly, settling into a sitting position as well.

Now for the hard part – telling him the truth.

"Do you know how he died?" I asked Leon, hugging my knees close to my chest.

"I heard that it was a snowy day and he got into a car accident," he told me, "You didn't go to school for almost two weeks when it happened."

Well, that was what everyone knew. Heck, that was what I believed as well when I was younger.

But that was only until the fateful day in mom's room, when I finally saw the letter she had been hiding from me.

"You were right that it was snowy that day," I confirmed and I looked at him, capturing his eyes with mine. While my heart drummed in my chest, I gave myself a mini pep talk that I could go through this conversation without breaking down.

"But it wasn't an accident," I let out, causing his eyes to widen in shock. I took another shaky breath and ploughed through, "He killed himself that day."

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I sometimes forget that I'm already in my 20s and that it's okay that people my age are getting married and having kids. I don't know why I have to act so shocked all the time. Maybe because I'm freaking single and still waiting for my Leon, but oh well.

Dun dun dun! Were you guys expecting that truth about Avery's father? I think I've alluded it enough times for y'all to at least have an idea about it.

I hope you guys are taking care of yourselves! Please don't forget to vote, comment, and follow. I'll see you next chapter.