"I’m scared though," I whisper, not looking up.

"I know," he says, "I was the same way, remember?"

I look up, he’s smiling at me.

"You helped in opening my eyes and heart again," he says, shrugging, "I have a wonderful girlfriend thanks to you. As well as a healthy little girl."

I smile, shaking my head.

"That was all you."

"You helped, though," Ben counters.

We look at each other, laughing out loud now. This is our relationship, a father-daughter one.

"Order up!" Steve says.

Ben gets up, grabbing my food. I look out the window, taking in his every word of course. I sigh as the plate is put in front of me. I look up and smile at my boss. He gives my shoulder a little squeeze, walking off. I pick up a fry, looking at it, thinking.

They just heard what transpired, I know it, I think, and I see the look on his face. Man, I’m confused. I mean what do I do? Is he the one? Or is my heart playing tricks again, like last time? I don’t want to end up like I did back there, having to move to forget him or the people I’ve come to trust and love for fear of putting them in harm‘s way.

I shrug, finally eating the fry. I then chow down on the food, enjoying the juicy flavor of my burger, like always. When I’m done, the four men still watching me intently, I get up and take my plate to the back, setting it in the sink.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Steve asks, hands on hips and glaring playfully, "leave that on the table, I’ll get it."

I laugh and say, "sorry but it’s a habit."

He shakes his head, chuckling.

"Out, now," he says.

He gives me a little push to the door, making me laugh again. I leave to his bickering about me being back there, going to the table again. I put my headphones in again, BigBang’s song, "Number 1", playing now. I sit back down, looking out the window again, watching the river as it calmly flows. I’m at peace here, my soul isn’t restless, like I told the girls. I smile at these thoughts, then the dark ones come.

But what if he finds us again? Can we keep running?

No, we’re not running anymore, if he comes, then we’ll put our foot down and face him, once and for all.

You know as well as I do what he’s capable of, the voice in my head says, he could hurt us worse than last time, even kill us.

Stop, I tell it, we’re just as capable of hurting him, too.

Then why did we run, hmmm? It’s like we wanted to just get away, like always, from our problems, not work them out or stop them, it says.

It laughs at me, making me cringe. I rub my forehead, trying to rid these thoughts and voices. I sigh, getting up and leaving. I walk slowly along the river, headphones still in, hands in my jacket pocket. I’m not really watching anything, except the water.

I look up and stop dead. My worst nightmare has come to life. He’s standing a little ways off, smirking and eyeing me. I turn to walk back the way I had come, taking my headphones out and turning my music off, wrapping my headphones around my neck.