“Good morning, Jam—Ho, ho, oh, you are totally not James.”

I paused for a minute, blinking in confusion. There’s no possible way that, that’s not James. But… It wasn’t! o.e

I’m confused. I’m totally and completely—

“Annyeonghaseyo, Eric imnida,” he greeted, flashing me a quick smile.

My face fell. “Goddamn it. That means that, that ing nightmare from last night was real?”

Eric—Troy—laughed and shook his head at me. “You’re still as ridiculous as I remember, Uki.”

“Why? Why are you freaking alive? Why can’t you be dead?!” I exclaimed, shooting him a pouty glare while heading to the fridge—or what’s left of the fridge that is—for a glass of orange juice to wake me up. Last night was ridiculous. I mean, I thought that I had dreamt all this, and lo and behold, I didn’t. -__-

“Ouch. I love your brutal honesty, babe,” Eric—TROY!—said with a laugh. “Are you hungry? I’ll make another omelet for you if you want.”

I blinked for a moment. Okay, maybe this isn’t Troy. Troy would never offer to cook for me…

“Um, yeah, sure,” I said slowly, going to the cupboard and grabbing a glass that wasn’t broken so I could drink my orange juice in peace. I poured myself a glass and I was just about to take a sip, the glass already at my lips, when I noticed something: the kitchen wasn’t a mess. Slowly, I lowered the glass back down to the counter, keeping my fingers wrapped around the glass, as I said, “Troy…”

“Neh?” he responded, cracking two more eggs into the frying pan.

I still find it weird how he can speak fluent Korean now. -__-

“Why is the kitchen so clean?” I asked, still a bit dazed by all that’s happened in a measly 24 hours.

“Oh. I woke up really early this morning ‘cause I couldn’t sleep. You had too many, uh… Beast… things staring at me and I couldn’t quite will myself to sleep, so I woke up and worked on cleaning up instead. I hope I put everything back in the right spots. Does it look about right to you?” he asked, giving me a genuinely hopeful expression as if he really did care whether or not he put everything back in their rightful places.

“Um, yeah, it does,” I responded absently, still amazed by the fact that he managed to clean up everything in a few short hours. I mean, save for a few marks and whatnot in the walls and some of the cupboards being broken beyond repair, everything was pretty much…Spotless. o.o I’m seriously not quite sure how that works, but… It obviously did. I shook my head slightly to clear away my thoughts and drank my orange juice like I was planning to do when I first came here into the kitchen.

“I refroze the ice pack and put it into the freezer this morning. You might wanna ice your eyes before they get even worse,” Troy said, skillfully sliding my omelet onto a clean plate. He turned to face me, flashing a quick smile. “And disinfect any open wounds before you get a bad infection.”

“Okay, who are you and what did you do with my Troy?” I asked, setting my half-empty glass back down on the counter. I crossed my arms, giving him a questioning look.

“Whatta you mean?” he asked with a slight laugh, taking our plates of food to the kitchen table.

“I don’t remember you being so nice, Troy. What happened?”

He smiled slightly, a sad look entering his eyes, as he said, “I promised myself the moment I saw you waiting to be killed, that if I were to make it out alive, I’d do everything in my power to make sure that I treated you how you deserved to be treated from the very beginning. I’m a changed man, Uki. And I did it all for you.”

My heart did this weird skip-a-beat thing and I could feel butterflies fluttering to life in the pit of my stomach.

Oh no.

No, no.

This is unacceptable.

“Here,” Troy said, gently grabbing my wrist and leading me toward the table. He sat me down, giving my shoulders a gentle squeeze, before saying, “You sit and eat and I’ll get you the icepack, alright?”

“Troy, why are you being so—”

“Nice?” he interrupted with a laugh. He came back to me after shutting the freezer, handing me an icepack wrapped with a paper towel. I took it from him as he said, “I can tone it down if it bothers you. I just want you to know that I’m changed. Really. I am.”

I smiled at him, placing the icepack on the left side of my face as I said, “It’s alright. It’ll just… Take some getting used to is all.”

“Well, I don’t really blame you. I don’t think I’d be as calm and collected about all this if I were in your shoes. Chances are, I probably would have murdered someone by now, and I must say, I’m quite impressed that you haven’t yet… Why is that?”

I chuckled quietly, shaking my head, as I began picking at my still-hot omelet sitting on my plate. Truth was, I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. I mean honestly… I think I reserved the right to throw just about to hugest fit possible, but why wasn’t I? Maybe it was because I’d experienced what life would have been like had he really died, and to be honest, even though I had hated him with a burning passion in the past…

I missed him while he was gone.

There, I said it, alright?

I, Uki Seohae Choi, who had sworn on her deathbed that she would never forgive the freaking douche bag, missed Troy Marcus Burchett. It was that simple. Life without him was seriously… Well, boring. After all the hype we’d gone through together, after all the that’s gone down between us, after all that’s happened, he just suddenly fell off the face of the earth and left me all alone? Yeah, no. That’s seriously unacceptable, and almost caused me to do something stupid such as commit suicide over something that I believed to be true when it totally wasn’t seeing as how he’s sitting right here in front of me eating a freaking omelet. Life just doesn’t get any weirder than that, I swear!

“So Uki,” he said, chewing his omelet thoughtfully while giving me a sidelong glance.

“Yes, Troy?” I responded, working to chew without straining my sore jaw.

“How’s life been while I was gone?”

I glared at him for a moment before sighing. “Well… It’s been boring. I went back to school, got in trouble with the professors, came back here, so on and so forth. How about you? I mean… You’re seriously not the same guy I know, both literally and figuratively speaking.”

He laughed, flashing me his white, even smile, as he said, “Whatta ya’ mean?”

“I mean… This, Troy! Black hair?! Pale skin?! Green eyes?! For God’s sake, man, you’re sitting here speaking fluent Korean! What in the hell happened during all this time?!” I exclaimed, setting my fork down and refusing to eat another bite until he explained himself. I wanted to know what the hell’s been happening, and damn it, I’m determined to find out.

He smiled slightly and also set his fork down. Turning his chair slightly so he was directly facing me, he neatly folded his hands in his lap, and asked, “Which do you want me to explain first?”

“The hair,” I replied promptly.

He “tsk, tsk”ed at me, shaking his head slightly, as he responded, “You’re smart, Uki, please act like it. Anyone can dye their hair, ya’ know.”

I blinked for a moment, my eyes drifting away from his face.

Oh yeah…

I knew that…

“Th—The Korean,” I stammered, refusing to look him in the face.

I sensed his proud smile spreading across his face, immediately drawing my attention back to him, as he said, “I spent these last three months determined to learn Korean. I mean, what else was a guy hiding from the government supposed to do, right? Twiddle his thumbs all day? I figured I might as well do something useful and productive, and what better way to do that than to learn Korean while I’m living in Seoul?”

Damn…

That’s a good response…

“The paleness?” I asked meekly, already getting the feeling that I was about to feel stupid again.

“You’d be surprised at how much color a guy can lose after being trapped in a city where the sun seemingly never shines for three months straight. Seriously, how do you guys not die of hypothermia over here? Compared to Cali, it’s a constant meat locker in this damned city!”

“Yah! No need to be dissing my hometown just ‘cause you’re a straight-up Cali boy! If you don’t like the lack of sun, then move back to your precious LA!” I exclaimed indignantly, flashing him a dangerous glare.

He laughed, reaching a hand out to my arm, as he shoved lightly, saying, “I was just kidding, Uki. Sheesh, learn to take a joke. But seriously though, that is the reason why I’m so pale nowadays. Do you think I can pass for a real Korean now?”

I rolled my eyes at his childish grin as he puffed his chest out. This guy, I swear. Knocking his hand away, I said, “You’d look more Korean if it weren’t for those eyes.”

“Hey! You have green eyes, too! And they’re not even normal green eyes! They’re, like… Cat green eyes! I mean, what Korean has that?!” he shouted with a pout.

I cracked up at the sight of Troy trying to do aegyo, and said, “But I’m 100% Korean! Everything about me is purely Korean!”

“Except for the eyes…”

“I was born with these, Mister!” I exclaimed indignantly.

He smiled at me as he said, “Yeah, I know. I’ll never forget the first time I looked into those gorgeous eyes…”

I coughed slightly, feeling my face heat up again as the blush began slowly creeping up once more. Goddamn it, even after all these years, he still manages to get me with that idiotic pickup line. Granted, it’s not hard whatsoever to get me to blush, but still! It’s the principle of the matter! He shouldn’t be able to make me blush with his silly, childish pickup lines, especially when I’m so utterly pissed off at him for pulling a Houdini trick on me! I mean, what is this?! He’s alive and saving me, then he’s dead and left me, and now he’s alive again and expects for everything to be just fine and dandy?! That is not how life works, yet… Why the hell am I blushing and experiencing butterflies in my stomach as if I were reliving freshman year when I first met Troy all over again? ><;

I cleared my throat slightly, refusing to feed his ego by letting him see me all flustered and whatnot, and asked, “Th-the eyes?”

I cursed my idiotic tongue that so obviously had a mind of its own for stuttering like it was doing. I mean, it’s just Troy! No need to stutter! Aish. Tongue, if you don’t stop, there’s a nice knife sitting just right there that I can use to cut you off with, ya’ know. Okay, well, now I sound crazy for threatening my own tongue that I was gonna cut it off. I mentally sighed as I averted my attention back to Troy, who was just now getting into the whole story.

“Well, when Agent Yi first told me about this absurd plan, he asked me ahead of time what I wanted to look like. At first, I figured, ‘Can you just kill me instead? I really don’ wanna go through with this’. But eventually, I decided to do it so I could watch over you, and when it came to what I wanted to look like, I recalled what you had described was your perfect guy. Obviously, I’m him, right?” Troy asked, smirking at me and doing that whole “I’m a guy and I can totally ‘wink’ at you with my eyebrows” deal. I rolled my eyes at him, giving him a look that was obviously commanding him to continue before I reached forward and strangled him. He chuckled slightly, and said, “Alright, alright, I can tell I’m starting to piss you off. Anyway, the eyes? Just colored contacts, babe.”

“What?! No way!” I exclaimed, immediately throwing the ice pack to the table and reaching forward, grabbing his face with both my hands and pulling him closer to me. Upon closer examination, turning his face from side to side as if I didn’t believe my eyes for a moment, I saw that he was wearing contacts! “What?! This is insane! How are those contacts?! I didn’t even notice them at first!”

He laughed, causing me to smile from the feel of his face twisting into a smile under my hands. “Well, as you can so clearly see, they are contacts. If they had sucha thing as eye color changing surgery, I’d totally do it. I’m kinda diggin’ the green-eyed look.”

I laughed at him and still stared intensely into his eyes. I seriously could not tell they were contacts! I mean, usually, you’d be able to see the clear ring of the contact surrounding the iris, even if it is colored contacts, but with these, you couldn’t even tell unless you’re right up in his face! And mind you, I was pretty close to his face, yet I still could barely tell that he was wearing them. They just looked so…real! After I got over the initial shock of the fact that his green eyes were due to colored contacts, I began to notice that the electric blue of his original gorgeous eyes were hidden underneath the emerald green, making for one of the most beautiful eye colors I’ve ever seen. Dark green on top of electric blue made for an amazing combination, and I’ve gotta admit. It looked good on him.

When I realized that I had been blankly staring at him, I refocused and brought my attention back to him. My breath hitched when I realized that he had been leaning in closer to me this whole time, yet I hadn’t noticed a thing until now. I made a move to drop my hands from his face and back away, but I had only managed to drop one of them while the other hand was held hostage by his hand that shot up and placed itself over mine. I felt my heart hammering in my constricting chest and as he leaned in closer and closer, I kept backing up more and more until I felt my back hit the smooth wood of the back of the kitchen chair.

“Just relax, Uki,” he said quietly, inching in closer and closer toward my lips.

Why wasn’t I pushing him away?! Why wasn’t I fighting this?! Why wasn’t I—

“Ahem.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped me back to reality and I instantly pushed him away from me, so harshly in fact, that he flew back and tumbled out of his chair. Turning to my right, I saw Donghae standing there, a cold look on his face, emphasized by his crossed arms over his toned chest. Although he looked cold and flippant, I could see past that. In his eyes, I saw a look of pure hurt. The look in his eyes was heavy and deeply saddened, completely contradicted by the icy look on his face. My poor Donghae…

“Donghae, y-you’re awake,” I accidentally stammered, wanting to shoot myself for stammering as if I were guilty of something.

At least…I don’t think I was guilty of anything… I’m not, right? I dunno. I usually make pretty bad calls when it comes to this stuff.

“Yeah, I am,” he said coldly. He shifted his look to Troy, who had stood himself up and was now towering behind me. “Not exactly what I wanna see first thing in the morning.”

“Donghae, it’s not what you think. I was asking him about how he changed his eye color and he told me he was wearing contacts. I had to look real close to notice. That’s all,” I said, giving him an apologetic look.

A look of torn decision crossed his face for a moment before he sighed and flashed me his Donghae smile. “It’s alright, Uki. Oh, Seungri called and asked if you could take Victory for the day?”

I groaned. “Again? Aish, this boy. Victory’s more my baby than he is his! That’s it. I’m kidnapping Victory. He’s living with us for a little while. Oh, before I go and pick up my baby from his idiotic father, do you want something to eat, Donghae? I can make you something real quick?”

“You are not going to lift a finger! Do you understand me, Uki Seohae Choi?! The moment you get back from picking Victory up, you are going to go to bed, ara?!” Donghae exclaimed, giving me a serious look.

“But Donghae—”

“No buts,” he interrupted, shaking his head slightly. “You are going to rest today, Uki, end of story. If you don’t, I’ma tie you up and lock you in the room, do you understand me?”

I sighed and nodded. “Arasso, oppa~”

He smiled, causing me to smile.

“So Uki, you didn’t tell me you had a baby recently,” an accusing voice said coolly behind me.

I jumped slightly, forgetting for a moment that Troy was standing behind me this entire time. I chuckled faintly, trying anything and everything to be rid of this awkward feeling in the atmosphere as I spun around to face him and slowly started backing up toward Donghae.

“I don’t have a baby, silly boy. Victory’s a snake. Yes, he’s considered my baby, but he’s definitely not two-legged nor is he annoying, so s’all good,” I responded with a nervous chuckle. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have suggested for Troy to stay here. It was pretty damn awkward having him in the same room with Donghae. ><;

I kept backing up until I felt my back hit a toned and muscular chest, followed by muscular arms encircling my waist. Donghae leaned down, whispering in my ear, “Go to the Big Bang dorms—” He paused for a moment, swallowing hard, before continuing in a strained voice, “—So I can kill him in peace.”

My eyes widened in shock and I immediately spun in his arms so I was facing him. His arms tightened around my waist possessively as a dark look entered his eyes. “Donghae, you will do no such thing,” I said under my breath, making sure I was quiet so Troy wouldn’t be able to hear me.

“Uki, just go. You’re lucky it was me who found you both like that and not Siwon or Leeteuk even. Uki, I’m warning you. All we needa do is just have a little talk with him, telling him the rules of living here with us,” he muttered.

“Donghae, let’s continue this discussion in your room,” I said under my breath, glaring at him slightly, as I broke out of his embrace and swiftly headed toward his room.

As I was walking away, I heard Donghae say, “We’ll be right back.”

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” I heard Troy respond.

I could almost feel the glare Donghae for sure sent his way, but instead of turning around and dragging Donghae after me by the ear, I entered his room and patiently sat on the edge of his bed, crossing my arms, and waiting for him to show up. A few seconds later, Donghae came striding in, pulling the door shut after him.

Screw sitting and waiting patiently.

I immediately stood, and asked, “What the hell was that all about? He’s staying with us for the time being, you guys can’t kill him.”

“I saw the way he was looking at you, Uki,” he responded, his eyes narrowed slightly in anger and his jaw tensing slightly with his words, “and I didn’t like it.”

“Oh, you didn’t like it. Of course you didn’t like it! Donghae, you’ve got to believe when I say that nothing happened!”

“Yeah, but something was about to happen, and I’m willing to bet my life that if I hadn’t walked in when I had, something would have happened!”

“Donghae!”

“Uki!”

A slow, angry breath escaped my lips as I took steps to keep my anger at bay. Think logically, Uki. He’s only doing this ‘cause he loves you. Don’t blow up on him. Just put yourself in his shoes for a moment. I’m sure that if you had walked in on Jessica trying to kiss him or something, your reaction would have been the same… Well, much worse, seeing as how Jessica would have ended up having a very unfortunate episode with the balcony. I mentally chuckled, a physical smile spreading across my lips. Sighing, I raised my head and stared straight at Donghae.

“I’m sorry, okay?” I said. “I know that it probably looked bad, but I promise you. Nothing happened, and nothing would have happened. I love you, and only you, ara? And no amount of Cali boy turned Korean can change that. You’ve got to know that.”

Donghae smiled slightly, walking toward me and pulling me into his arms. I grinned like a love-struck fool, my cheek lying flat against his chest as he simply held me for a moment. “I know that, Uki, and that’s not what scares me. What scares me is the fact that Troy’s living with us now. Even though he saved you, even though I’ve forgiven him, even though he’s gone to such lengths to protect both you and Alex… It still makes me nervous knowing that he’s under the same roof as us. I respect the fact that you forgave him completely, but there’s still this part of me that’s a bit suspicious of him, especially since you sleep in a room right across from his and Alex sleeps in a room right next to his. I just… I don’t want either of you getting hurt. I know you can handle yourself, and I’m sure Alex can handle herself, too, but… It doesn’t matter. The moment he shows any signs of reverting back to his old ways, both Siwon and I are jumping him. And then the other boys can have their turn. I just wanted you to know.”

I chuckled slightly, pulling back to look him full in the face while his arms simply tightened around me. “Don’t worry. As far as I’m concerned…Troy’s really changed. I know, I know, every abuse victim says the same damn thing, but I can feel it with this one. He’s truly different and I can tell he’s completely changed. If he hasn’t…Then I take full responsibility for what he does in the future.”

“Uki, you’re not taking anything from him again. You’ve taken enough of his crap,” Donghae said seriously, his eyes clouding once more.

I chuckled, weaving my arms around his waist and hugging him tightly as I said, “Yes, but I’m the only one who knows what to expect if he hasn’t changed. I’ll know the signs when I see them. Trust me. I was stupid once and ignored them the first time I saw them, but this time, I’m not the only one at stake, meaning that the moment I see any telltale sign, his is gettin’ thrown outta here. But in the meantime, try to be nice to him? As in, no interrogating, no grilling, no threatening, no death glares, no fighting, no bringing up the past, and no treating him like an outsider, ara?”

“Aish. You take all the fun outta things,” he replied with a pout.

I laughed, hitting him slightly on the chest, as I said, “Well, good luck with that. But in the meantime, I need my baby. I have a feeling that his father has been stupid and neglecting him lately.”

“Yah! He is not the father of your child! I am!” Donghae exclaimed indignantly.

“You are not! No one is! I am not having a child!” I responded with a laugh.

“You can start,” he said with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

I gasped at his disgusting comment and immediately began to wriggle in his arms, yelling, “Ew! Donghae! That’s so unacceptable beyond so many lev—”

I was cut off by his lips crashing against mine, his arms still holding onto me tightly, refusing to let me break free. Not even two seconds into the kiss, I immediately smiled and went limp, allowing myself to melt into the kiss~

Troy’s POV~

I felt my jaw clenching when I heard—oh , what was his name again? Dongho? O.O—joking about having Uki’s baby. That disgusting little cretin. It’s obvious that he’s scared I’m gonna end up stealing Uki from him, which—I’ll be truthful with you guys here—I had no intentions of doing when I went through with this whole idiotic plan of faking my death. But… The moment I saw her, it was so different. It felt as though I’d truly just awoken, just by the sight of her alone. The moment she started speaking, saying my name, I felt the old butterflies begin to flare up in the pit of my stomach again.

Am I still in love with Uki?

Oh yeah.

Big time.

Am I going to restrain myself from attempting to win her back from What’s-His-Face?

…No guarantees~

“Uh, what’re you doing?” I heard an annoyed voice ask from behind.

I immediately sprung up from my crouched position against What’s-His-Face’s door and quickly spun around to come face to face with an irritated Alex. I gulped slightly as her suspicious gaze flickered from my guilty face to What’s-His-Face’s door. A look of understanding slowly unraveled on her face as her jaw clenched.

“Look,” she said in a hard voice, “I’m truly thankful for you and everything you’ve done for me, I’m not gonna lie, but you do anything—anything at all—to come in between those two, and I will kill you. They’ve been through too many ups and downs to be completely torn apart by the likes of you.”

At first, I was scared of her, but hearing her words caused anger to flare inside of me. Who the hell did this chick think she was? I kept her alive and she turns and pulls this with me? No, no. I’ve dated Uki for two years. I’ve learned a thing or two about asserting my authority when need be.

“That’s surely some way to talk to the person who kept you alive after you were kidnapped and almost killed,” I replied coolly.

“That’s surely some way to talk as if you weren’t the person who got me kidnapped and almost killed,” she replied equally as cool.

I was taken aback for a moment, but quickly regained my composure. No one, not even Uki, dared to speak to me like that, and quite frankly, I’m impressed by the fact that Alex of all people spoke out against me. Those three weeks we’d spent together back in Tony’s trafficking ring had me thinking that she was just some shy, quiet, and meek little girl that was submissive to everyone around her. Obviously, as shown by the temerity of this new-and-approved Alex, she is anything but shy, quiet, and meek.

“I’m warning you for the last time, Troy,” Alex continued in a low and dangerous voice. “Come in between Uki and Donghae, and I will make sure that this time around, your death is for real.”

I smirked at this, amused by her newly discovered audacious personality. “And what if I take no heed to this warning?”

She smirked as well, her smirk rivaling to that of some of the most evil and cunning people out there. “Then you’ll face the consequences. Simple as that. Because not only are you hurting Uki, my sister, but you’d also be hurting Donghae, my brother, and that is behavior that none of us around here condone. And rest assured. I do not play nice when my brother’s heart is at stake. So stay out of the way, and I assure you that everything shall go just fine and dandy.”

I took a sigh before smiling a cold, sarcastic smile. “Here’s the thing, Alex,” I began. “I still love Uki. It’s as simple as that. And when I want something, I always get it. No. Matter. What.”

I saw her swallow slightly as she timidly backed away from me. I smirked at the sight of her temerity slowly cracking and beginning to dissolve, but I’ll commend her in the fact that she managed to hold enough bravery to ask, “And if you don’t get what you want?”

My face fell, turning into a cold mask, my eyes holding no warmth or welcoming whatsoever. In the coldest, iciest, most terrifying voice I could muster, I leaned the six inches or so separating me from her ear, and quietly whispered, “Then I’ll make sure that nobody gets it.”

KYAAAAAAAAA, I FREAKING GOT FEATURED, GUYS!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^-^

Oh my gosh, you don't even know how freaking AMAZED I am at the fact that I freaking got FEATURED!! I still can't wrap my head around it! Ughh. It still all feels surreal to me, with all these new readers congratulating me and subbing and whatnot. It makes me so happy!! And I could not have done this without ANY of you guys! You guys are what started this, and I'm soooooooooooooooooo beyond thankful to ALL of you! I love EVERY single ONE of you, and don't think for a MINUTE that I get annoyed with you guys, whether it be from ridiculously long comments, to insanely long wall posts, to over-the-top rants, or even just a message dropping by to say "Hi" or "Good job". It makes me feel soooo blessed to have such amazing readers such as yourselves who stand by me no matter what(:

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!<3<3

A SPECIAL, SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO sujudork602, WITHOUT WHOM, THIS SERIES WOULD NOT BE THE SAME. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, RIDICULOUSLY TALL DONGSAENG, AND I AM SO RIDICULOUSLY THANKFUL TO HAVE ALEX HERE AS A PART OF THIS EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER RIDE<3

ANOTHER VERY SPECIAL THANKS GOES OUT TO MusicChibi, WITHOUT WHOM, I WOULD PROBABLY GO INSANE. I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH, UNNIE, AND YOU'RE THE FREAKING BEST UNNIE EVER. WITHOUT YOU THERE TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS, UKI'S STORY WOULD NOT BE THE SAME. I'M SOOOOO THANKFUL TO HAVE GOTTEN TO KNOW YOU THESE PAST COUPLE OF MONTHS, AND I THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING IN MY STORY EVEN DURING THE TIMES WHEN I LOST HOPE. I LOVE YOU, AND YOU BETTER NOT CHANGE, EVER. IF YOU DO, I SHALL BE VERY UPSET. ANY WHO, I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPRESS MY TOTAL FEELINGS IN THIS TINY LITTLE BOX, OTHERWISE, MY READERS WILL BEGIN TO GET PISSED AT ME FOR LEAVING SUCHA LONG MESSAGE. REMEMBER, I LOVE YOU<3

AND FINALLY, THE MOST SPECIAL, AWESOME, FREAKISHLY FANTASTIC THANKS GOES OUT TO YOU ALL, WITHOUT WHOM, THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. THIS SERIES NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN MADE AS POPULAR AS IT IS NOW WITHOUT YOUR AWESOME SUPPORT SYSTEM AND ENCOURAGING COMMENTS AND SUCH. WHEN I FIRST STARTED WRITING FANFICS, I NEVER ONCE SET OUT TO BECOME A KNOWN WRITER OR A FEATURED WRITER OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. I JUST WANTED TO WRITE AND I NEVER ONCE THOUGHT THAT MY STORIES WOULD PICK UP AS MUCH POPULARITY AS THEY HAVE, AND I HAVE ALL OF YOU TO THANK FOR THAT. BEING FEATURED WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING THAT I THOUGHT WAS OUT OF REACH FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME, AND I'M HAPPY TO SAY THAT I WAS WRONG AND I AM SOOOOOOOOOO BEYOND GRATEFUL TO HAVE SUCH AMAZING AND LOYAL READERS WHO STICK BY MY SIDE NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, AND FOR THAT, I THANK YOU ALL. WITHOUT YOU GUYS, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE ME OR UKI WOULD BE AT RIGHT NOW, SO FOR THAT, WE FREAKING THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER<3

Any who, I think I should end this before my AN becomes a novel within a novel, but I just wanted a way to show JUST how thankful and grateful I am to you all. Without any of you supporting me 1000% of the way, this never would have happened, and it makes me SO happy to know that I've got such amazing readers by my side(:

Okay, 'tis really the end. THANK YOU SO MUCH, AND I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!! THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS EVEN A TANGIBLE THING FOR ME!<3