✓ VIRTUAL AEROBICS; eli moskowitz

36. {miyagi-do}

gioia placed her notepad on the table and opened it up to the first page.

"i had a head injury, temporarily affected my speech." robby read out. "head injury? how?"

"uh, j-jack o'malley." gioia explained, his name was like toxins in her mouth. "he here?"

"no." robby shook his head. "look, gioia. i didn't do it on purpose. i wasn't aware of where we were and i was so blinded by rage... he had kissed my girlfriend. i just wanted to finish the fight."

"you finished it." gioia agreed.

"i didn't want to hurt miguel... or you." robby continued. "it was an accident."

"okay." gioia said, flipping the page of her notepad and sliding it over to him.

"my therapist suggested that to help me get my voice back, i should confront my past... face my problems. make amends." robby said. "how is this going to help?"

gioia flicked the page.

"i'm not sure how this would help." he read, cracking a small smile. "but i don't want to hate you.... i don't want any hate in my heart. it's not good for my recovery."

"yeah."

"miguel is... my brother." robby couldn't help but frown. he had always wanted a relationship similar to miguel and gioia's - they had been friends since day one. they always had each other's backs. "and that day, when i saw him lying on the stairs as if his heart wasn't beating, i thought i had lost the ability to breathe because of the shock."

gioia nodded while he read as if she hadn't written this herself.

"but i looked up and saw you. that look on your face. i knew that you felt regret, guilt. it was an accident. a fatal accident." robby uttered. "it ruined you both, just in different ways."

she turned the page.

"the second miguel forgives you for what happened to him, know that i will too." robby finished. he glanced up at the girl, nodding at her. "thank you."

gioia's got to her feet, picking up her notepad and closing it. "papa." she called out to him. "you n-need anything?" she offered the boy.

robby shook his head. "i'm good."

fred stood up, approaching the two. "come on." he shifted his attention to robby. "stay out of trouble, kid."

"thanks."

as the father and daughter started walking to the exit, robby called out again.

"hey, gioia!" he yelled, making her turn around. "i'm sorry."

gioia gave him a small smile and a curt nod before she shifted back and left the room, her father by her side.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"where are they?" sam rushed over to chris. behind her were demetri, gioia and two other members of miyagi do.

demetri had sent gioia a text asking for help, but he didn't mention anything about sam or the others. she was initially going to hang out with miguel at the hospital, but then she saw the 'SOS' message from her dramatic friend.