The Beginning of Old Adventures
Taking place two years before Luffy embarked on his pirate journey, Ryuu D. Irin was 17 years old. She had just become the World's Youngest Vice Admiral and she was on a break from her Marine duties.
Irin was on a quiet island in the New World, she was strolling across the peaceful town as she ran her errands. Her errands included getting a box of rice crackers and just food stuff in general... She was basically just on the island to get her groceries done...
The town was peaceful and bustling with its townspeople; they were generally kind people who offered Irin what she needed for a cheap price. They weren't a very well off town but they were truly good-natured people who didn't try to rip off the young Vice Admiral. Perhaps they read about her in the latest issue of News Coo and were scared of her or they were just very kind people in general.
Nay, it was neither. Irin just never gave them a reason to be unkind to her. She was kind to them therefore they treated her with care too.
Actually scratch that, she wasn't just kind... She was overly kind... The girl saw an old lady with groceries and couldn't resist walking the elderly home while carrying her bags, then afterwards she saw a hungry cat and bought food for it and even after that she saw a child with a scraped knee and who would have guessed it?
She helped the kid with the scraped knee too.
Irin was in that town for barely a day but word had already spread that a 'Kind and Beautiful Maiden' had graced their small town. Of course, she had no idea that was what people called her so she strolled through the town completely oblivious that people were gawking at her.
The pinkette walked into shops after shops, gathering her needs until her hands were full with bags. "Thank you for your patronage!" the kind shop lady waved.
"Thank you!" Irin exclaimed as she struggled to handle all the shopping bags.
Did she just reply to a thank you with a thank you? Yes, she did. The kind shop lady sweatdropped at the girl's antics.
Irin walked further away from the shop she was just in, taking careful steps because she did not want to drop all the shopping bags. If she knew the things in this town were going to be this cheap she would have brought a trolley or something to help make it easier for her shopping. She wasn't a shopaholic because most of the stuff she got were for her friends (which only consisted of Garp, Tsuru, Kuzan and Smoker...).
A day before she was given a break from work she asked all her friends if they needed her to get anything and they all did, so now Irin was just running errands for herself along with her friends.
"Smoker-san wanted chicken... Garp-jiisan wanted rice crackers..." she walked as she read off her list but came to an abrupt stop when someone stood in front of her. She was stopped by a dark skinned man with a few teeth missing, "Hey girlie, need help with your bags?" he flirted.
And of course his attempt at flirting went unnoticed by Irin because she's, well, insanely dense...
"Oh, that's really kind of you but I wouldn't want to impose," she smiled.
"Nonsense, I wouldn't mind, I just want to help," the man grinned, showing the missing teeth he had... Or did not have...?
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On that same day, after Irin arrived on the island with her jet ski-styled boat, Bubbles, the Whitebeard Pirates had also docked onto the very same island Irin was on.
"Alright sons! Gather up resources for the ship, then you're free to do whatever you want until tomorrow morning!" the Strongest Man in the World exclaimed, this was none other than the great Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard.
"Alright! I'm in charge of booze-yoi!" the 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, also known as Marco, exclaimed, "And babysitting Ace!"
"Hey! I'm not a kid!" the freckled man argued, lunging himself at the pineapple looking man but was held back by the man with a pompadour, Thatch. "Calm down, Ace... We just don't wanna deal with the townspeople screaming at a dead guy when he's really just asleep,"
Thatch then let go of Ace, "Fine..." he grunted as he walked towards the town.
Whitebeard laughed at his son's interactions and headed back onto the Moby Dick to rest.
Marco and Thatch jogged a little to catch up with Ace who had walked ahead while they bade their goodbyes to Whitebeard. "Ay what's the hurry, Ace-yoi?" Marco questioned.
"Let's get our job done fast then we can explore the island," Ace said with a hint of childlike excitement in his voice.
The two men who trailed behind Ace grinned. "Alright alright, all we have to get is booze, meat and some cooking spices, then we can hit up a bar for lunch," Thatch said, laying down his plan for the day.
"Okay! Let's get this over with!" Ace exclaimed, "Hold on, has anyone seen Teach?"
Marco raised his brow, "No? I think he was the first to leave the ship-yoi,"
"Damn, did he leave early so he could skip his job?" Ace grunted but then decided to not take it personally, "Oh well."
While they were on their way to the town, they passed by a village first. It was a quiet and peaceful village, there were children running around, playing happily.
"Oh, Zach you're back! How's your knee?"a boy asked, looking at another boy with a pink plaster stuck to his knee.
Ace smiled at the children's interaction, then continued to walk towards where the town was. As he walked, he looked around the village, there was an old lady who was happily watering her plants and there was a cat that happily ate away its lunch.
What a peaceful village. What a peaceful village, indeed.
Marco had picked up the latest issue of News Coo while they were on their way to the town and he read it as he walked. "Man, the Navy has gotten another Vice Admiral-yoi! An extremely young one too!"
"Oh really? Let me see!" Thatch said as he snatched the newspaper out of Marco's hands.
"Hey!" Marco argued, trying to get his newspaper back.
Ace ignored their banter as he continued to look around the village while he walked.
"There's a picture of her too!" Thatch exclaimed as he shoved the News Coo right in front of Marco's face.
"She's hella cute-yoi!" Marco gawked.
"I know right?" Thatch replied, equally as captivated by the girl as Marco was.
The two men shared the newspaper and read it together, looking for more details about the beautiful Vice Admiral. "Hey Ace, you should look at this!" Thatch tried to show Ace the picture of the girl that captivated both his and Marco's hearts.
"Forget it, Thatch, he probably doesn't swing that way and this means less competition for us-yoi,"
Ace turned to look at the two men, "I heard that," he glared, "Are you two seriously trying to go for a Marine girl? Even worse, a Vice Admiral at that?"
Thatch shook his head, "If you saw the picture of her you would understand how we feel." he said as he tried to shove the newspaper towards Mera-Mera no Mi user. "Tsk, cut it out!" Ace argued as he slapped the newspaper away, "Hey don't ruin the newspaper!" Thatch scolded and so the two started arguing while Marco walked ahead, grabbing the newspaper from Thatch while he was at it.
The Tori-Tori no Mi user then spotted his crewmate, Teach
"I found Teach-yoi!"
And he was with a lady? Marco stared at the newspaper then back at the lady his crewmate was talking to, the girl in the newspaper and the girl a few feet away from him looked exactly the same!
"Oi oi... You've gotta be kidding me-yoi," Marco muttered.
The moment Teach was mentioned, it immediately caught the attention of Portgas D. Ace, he snapped towards the direction of Marco and stormed towards Teach.
"Oi, Teach-" Ace yelled but was stopped when he noticed the girl next to his crewmate.
The girl was of average height, sporting a miniskirt and a skin tight shirt that wrote the words 'rice'. Her hair was put in a half up half down hairstyle and she had an oddly familiar shade of pink hair. She was slim and had all the curves at the right places.
Was the famous Fire Fist Ace gawking at her? Pfft... No...
She looked oddly familiar to him and he took slow steps towards Teach and the pretty pink haired girl. What was so familiar about this girl? Ace couldn't put his finger on it, that was until he saw a scar and a mole on the right side of the girl's face.
There was only one person he knew that had that scar and that mole, it was similar to his brother, Luffy's, scar and there was no way he got it wrong...
This person was his childhood friend,his best friend, Irin...
"Irin?"
"Yeah, that's the name of that Vice Admiral we were talking about!" Thatch laughed as he patted Ace's back with ridiculous strength.
It was pin drop silent for a split second.
The girl had heard someone utter her name, she looked around to see who had called for her and right at that moment, Ace ran towards the pink haired girl.
It was her! It really was her! Ace was beyond happy to see her again!
He ran and jumped onto the pinkette, engulfing her in a warm hug as she dropped all her groceries and fell from the impact.
"Gah!" Irin squeaked.
She had fallen from an impact with an unknown person. She fell butt first onto the ground as she struggled to get up but was unable to because there was someone on top of her.
Ace's face had landed somewhere soft and his narcoleptic self fell right asleep... Right atop a woman's breasts...
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT IDIOT DOING?!" Both Marco and Thatch yelled angrily, jealous that the freckled man had landed in such a holy place.
Irin panicked when she realised that there was a passed out man on top of her, "Oh no, are you okay, sir?!" she tried to shake the man, "Sir?"
"AH!" Ace screamed as he abruptly woken up, he then looked up and saw his childhood friend's face, he scanned her face and, "Irin!" he exclaimed, engulfing her in a warm hug before pulling himself off of her to look at her.
Irin blinked twice before she realised who she was looking at but when realisation hit her, "Ace!" she hugged him once more, happiness washing over her.
The duo sure had a lovely and heartwarming reunion.
Marco, Thatch and Teach stared at the two in shock.
Ace knew the gorgeous Vice Admiral from the newspaper?
The pink haired beauty knew Ace?
Their minds couldn't catch up with everything that was going on.
"Ace... You know this lady?" Marco asked, breaking the silence from their side.
"Hm? Of course! She's my best friend in the whole entire world! She's the childhood friend I told you guys about!" Ace grinned.
"What?! You said she was annoying, obnoxious and was an absolute crybaby!" Thatch scolded.
"I did?"
"You did?!" Irin gasped in disbelief, staring at Ace with the word 'offended' written all over her face.
"Wait no, let me explain!"
"Oh yeah? Flatter me,"
"I-" Ace stuttered, unable to come up with an excuse, "Ugh..." his head hung low.
Irin deadpanned, "That's what I thought," she pouted before standing up, "Crybaby was it?" she smiled evilly. 'Oh no...' Ace gulped, if there was one thing he knew about Irin it was that she hated being called a crybaby. Irin lifted up her fist and blew on it then knocked Ace's head.
"Ack!" Ace grabbed his head in pain.
The pinkette who was pouting then smiled gently before she helped her childhood friend up. She grabbed ahold of Ace's arm and helped him up. Irin stood on her tippy toes, helping Ace put his hat on which fell off when she knocked his head. She bit the bottom of her lips as she strained to reach the top of Ace's head.
The freckled man chuckled, "Let me do it."
"No no, I can reach it," she said.
Ace bent down slightly so she could reach the top of his head. "Yes! I did it!" she exclaimed, "Oh wait no, you bent down..." she sulked. He then laughed at her antics.
"It's not funny!" Irin scolded but Ace only continued to laugh.
Marco, Thatch and Teach stared at the two, "Why do I suddenly feel like punching Ace in the balls?" Marco asked. Thatch agreed, "Me too."
"Zehahaha! This was interesting to watch!" Teach laughed, interrupting Ace's reunion with Irin.
"Oh Kind Man-san, you know Ace?" Irin asked with her usual smile. "Kind man-san?" Ace's face scrunched up in disgust.
"Ace is my commander! Zehahaha!"
"Ohhh! So you're part of the Whitebeard Pirates too? That's cool!"
"Zehahaha! Yeah! You're an interesting lady, are you not scared? I'm a pirate y'know?" Teach provoked, or at least, attempted to provoke.
"Why would I be scared?" Irin raised her brow quizzically, tilting her head to the side.
Marco and Thatch then walked towards them with the newspaper in Marco's hand, "Teach, that lady is a Navy Vice Admiral," Thatch informed with a glint of amusement in his voice.
Irin looked at the two men and then put the puzzle pieces together, they were Ace's friends. "Hello Ace's friends! I'm Irin! Thank you so much for looking after Ace, I know he's a hassle at times but please continue to take good care of him!" She bowed a 90 degree bow.
The two men were slightly shocked by Irin's abrupt actions; they did not expect the Ace's 'annoying and obnoxious' childhood friend to have such good manners. Another thing they did not expect was to see a Navy Vice Admiral bowing to a group of pirates.
"Gah! Irin, what are you doing?!" Ace exclaimed as he pulled Irin up from her bowing position, "You're embarrassing me..." he muttered. "Tsk, can't you see I'm thanking them for you? You're still the same as when we were little, " she huffed, crossing her arms.
"Huh?! What do you mean by that?! You're still the same too, okay?! You just changed in terms of.... Breasts?" Ace tried to argue as his eyes scanned Irin's body.
The girl's face blew up in a deep shade of red, "You can't just say that, Ace!" she scolded as she hugged her chest protectively.
"And why not?! We used to shower together anyways, how is this any different?! I'm just saying what I see!" the freckled man exclaimed.
"That's because... Oh right... I guess that kinda makes sense..." Irin said, putting her finger on her chin as she thought about what Ace had just said.
"IT DOES NOT!" Both Marco and Thatch scolded, "Ace are you that stupid?" the man with the pompadour styled hair asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Huh?! What do you mean by that?!"
"You can't just say that to a woman, regardless whether you grew up together with her or showered with her,"
"Why not?!"
"What do you mean why not?! Do you seriously have no experience with women?!"
Ace fell silent. Thatch had hit a spot. It was true, Ace did not have any experience with women, he just hadn't met a single woman that matched his tastes.
Marco and Thatch stared at the quiet Ace, "You've gotta be kidding me-yoi, Ace has never felt a woman's touch before?" the pineapple-like man laughed. "Shut up!" Ace argued as he tried to hide his embarrassment, tilting his hat downwards to hide his blush. Thatch then ignored the two men and looked at Irin.
"So Vice Admiral-chan, how did you get to know our Ace?" Thatch asked in a slightly flirtatious voice.
"Oh we grew up together,"
"No no, I meant how did you guys meet?"
"Ohhh that... We were both left at the same place to grow up since we both didn't have our parents with us,"
"Like an orphanage?"
"Nope, we grew up with mountain bandits," Irin replied.
"Mountain Bandits?!" Thatch gasped, "Was Ace's younger brother there with you guys too?"
"Oh yeah, of course. I was left there with him by our grandfather, well, his grandfather," Irin replied.
"That's a little complicating,"
"Right?" Irin giggled.
"Oi Thatch! Stop flirting with the girl!" Marco scolded as he stomped towards them, "Anyways pretty lady, wanna hit the town with us-yoi?" he smirked.
Irin giggled at Marco's way of speaking, "Um...Sure but let me put my groceries on my boat first," she said, smiling at the man.
Teach had already disappeared from their short conversation so it was only Marco, Thatch, Ace and Irin that were left standing in the middle of the village. "Alright I'll be back in a minute," Irin said as she struggled to pick up all her groceries. "Let me help you with that," Ace offered, picking up the bags of groceries that had fallen on the ground.
"Thank you," Irin smiled brightly.
"Eek!" Ace squeaked at the sight of her smile, it brought back many memories of their childhood, "D-Don't mention it..."
The girl's eyes widened in shock then she smiled softly, "My boat's this way," she pointed. During their childhood, whenever Irin thanked Ace for something he had done for her, he would always reply to her with a snarky comment or an insult to her but at that moment instead of any of those two replies, Ace had just replied like how a normal person would and she had no complains about that.
And so the Dadan Family duo walked off towards the island's dock, leaving Marco and Thatch behind to snarl at Ace for being lucky enough to be acquainted with such a beauty.
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Ace helped Irin to stuff all her loot into a waterproof box that was connected to the back of her boat. Truth be told, she bought too much for her boat to carry but she could care less. The two struggled to shut the waterproof box's lid but, nevertheless, they succeeded.
"Man, you sure bought a lot!" Ace wiped his sweat away with the back of his hand, "What do you need so much chicken meat for?"
Irin giggled, "That's not for me at all! Those chickens are for Smoker-san! Well, he didn't ask for that many but I just got him more because 'the more the merrier' right?"
"Smoker-san?" the freckled man raised a brow.
"He's a friend of mine," Irin said as she locked the waterproof box and walked away from her boat.
Ace's eyebrow twitched at the mention of that, "O-Oh uh okay..." he slow jogged towards the pinkette then matched her pace when he caught up with her. The freckled man looked at Irin, she had a content smile on her face as her eyes remained fixed towards the front of them, he smiled softly, glad that he finally got to see her again. "I missed you, y'know?" he said as he turned his head forward, avoiding eye contact with the girl.
Her head snapped towards him.
Eyes wide, Irin stared at Ace in shock, she never expected him to say such words. The Ace she knew was more of a cold person with a warm heart, he didn't like to show affection much when they were little and whenever he did he would always cover it up by scolding her.
She stifled a laugh, "If I remember correctly, you were the one who told me that I shouldn't miss you too much... Oh how the tables have turned..."
Irin was expecting him to scold her or hit her on the head for pointing it out but he only chuckled and patted her head, "Did you not miss me?" he asked, amusement lacing his voice.
"I-I did..." Irin stuttered, slightly embarrassed to admit that she, too, had missed the freckled man deeply.
Ace felt warmness wash over him as Irin uttered those few words, he was happy to hear her say those words and he didn't exactly know why. He only smiled at his childhood friend as they headed to the town where Marco and Thatch were.
The two were quiet for a while, enjoying the comfortable silence that surrounded them. "You've changed, Ace," Irin smiled, "In a good way."
Ace laughed, "It's good to know those lessons from Makino really paid off!"
"Oh right! You used to take lessons from her so you could thank Shanks-san properly for saving Luffy someday!" She reminisced.
The freckled man smirked, "Not someday... I already met him and thanked him for saving Luffy's life,"
"Wait what?! Already?! That's fast! How was Shanks-san doing?"
Irin listened to Ace as he told her about how Shanks was doing and the adventures he had before he joined the Whitebeard Pirates. The two exchanged their stories, Irin talked about her life as a Marine and how she actually didn't have many friends in the Navy, just a good few.
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The two had finally reached the town, they spotted Marco and Thatch drinking away in a bar and immediately made their way towards the eatery. "Those idiots! Are they even done with gathering supplies?" Ace scolded as he walked nearer to the bar with Irin by his side. The girl, however, came to stop as she stood right in front of the entrance of the bar.
A fake smile was plastered onto the pinkette's face as balls of sweat dripped from her forehead. She was horribly nervous because of, well...
Let's just say her life as a Marine wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows. Things only got better for her when she reached higher ranks in the Navy hierarchy.
"Say...Do you think your friends like me? What if they think I'm... I dunno stuck up?" she muttered softly, she did not intend for Ace to hear her but he did.
"Huh? Since when did you care about this kinda stuff?" he asked as he cocked his brow.
"Y-You're right, I don't!" Irin laughed awkwardly, covering her nervousness, "Let's go meet your friends for the second time!"
Ace raised a brow again but then shook his head, dismissing his worries for his childhood friend.
The doorbell jingled as Ace and Irin entered the bar. The two men that were drinking away immediately noticed their presence. Marco raised his arm up and waved at them, "Hey! We're here!"
Thatch slammed his cup of beer down on the table and huffed happily, "That took you guys long enough, we've already got all the supplies! Come sit down!"
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They sat on a round wooden table, Irin was sat in between Marco and Thatch while Ace sat opposite, growling at the fact that his childhood friend was stolen away from him.
"Here you go, Irin-chan~" Thatch cooed as he held out a spoonful of rice towards the pink haired.
"Err... Thanks?" she smiled awkwardly. Irin wasn't sure what to do because she had never been in a situation like this. She wasn't sure if she should eat off the spoon Thatch held out for her or if she should take the spoon from him and feed herself.
The girl went with her first choice, to eat off the spoon Thatch had held out.
She ate off the spoon he held.
Thatch was beyond shocked. He immediately let go of the spoon and turned as red as a tomato. Irin held onto the spoon he had released and looked at him then she gasped, "Oh no! Was I not supposed to do that? I'm so sorry!" she apologised as she abruptly stood up, bowing continuously as a form of apology.
"Argh! Are you stupid?!" Ace scolded, dropping the meat he had in his hand.
Marco only laughed as he watched the scene unfold, "It's okay, Irin-yoi! You don't have to apologise, you didn't do anything wrong. Thatch wanted to feed you!" he cackled.
"Eh?" Irin looked at Marco quizzically and then switched her gaze to Thatch who was a blushing mess, "But he doesn't look okay..."
"Don't worry about him-yoi! He's an idiot that's why!" the pineapple-like man continued to laugh at his friend.
Ace pouted from the sidelines, he didn't like that his crewmates were crushing over his childhood friend. He didn't like that they got her attention and he didn't.
He didn't like how she seemed so timid right now, well, she seemed pretty timid too when he first met her but right now she seemed shyer than she ever was. Ace didn't understand why she was acting so nervous.
The freckled man snapped back into reality when Thatch returned from his daydream.
"Damn, she's so cute, I definitely gotta make her mine!" Thatch grinned, snapping back from his daydream that Irin had sent him into when she ate off the spoon he offered.
"Hey! Don't even think about it, Thatch!" Ace snarled, "She's off limits!"
"This sucks, we got more competition now-yoi!"
"Tsk I thought you didn't swing that way, Ace!"
"Don't you like men-yoi?"
"When did I even say that?!"
Irin watched as the three men argued, she didn't know what to do in this situation. Did she start an argument between the three friends? Did she mess things up? She was worried that she wouldn't be able to make new friends and that she had made things hard for Ace.
Her problems with friendship and her worries of how people felt were deep rooted, it had developed over her years as a Marine.
She wanted to say that she wanted friends and that she didn't want Ace to argue with his friends. She wanted them to get along because that was the one thing she couldn't do a few years back.
Overcoming her shyness, she attempted to stop their banter, "L-Let's just all be friends!" she stuttered, "I-I don't want Ace to argue with his friends..."
The three men stared at her with their eyes wide.
Marco then broke out laughing, "Damn, she's a good one!"
"She's too cute! We gotta keep her!" Thatch added.
Irin smiled awkwardly, she was glad that they stopped arguing.
Ace eyed his childhood friend suspiciously, she was different than how she used to be. When they first met, sure, she was shy but she eased up after a while. Right now, even after talking to Thatch and Marco for quite a bit, Irin still seemed as tense as a child who was getting scolded. It was as though she was afraid that she would say something wrong.
They continued their lunch happily, with Thatch asking Irin what her favourite food was and Marco teasing the girl. Ace was oddly quiet but it went unnoticed by the rest, he knew something had happened to Irin within the years they were apart.
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"Since we've already got the supplies we came here for, let's head back and introduce Irin-chan here to pops-yoi!" Marco suggested with a grin on his face.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Thatch agreed.
"HUH?!" Ace suddenly yelled. They were supposed to explore the island with him but here they are, wanting to head back to the ship already.
"What's with you, Ace?" Thatch raised a brow.
Ace was going to argue but he decided against it. He wanted to talk to Irin in private later because he was worried about her. He wanted to ask her what's wrong.
Ace was worried, he turned to look at Irin and she was busy helping a shopkeeper carry his freshly delivered goods into his shop. He sweatdropped but smiled at her. At least she was still the same person in her core.
"Hey, Irin-chan! Whatchu doin over there-yoi?" Marco asked, walking over to where Irin was.
Turning around and instinctively smiling, Irin replied to the pineapple-like man, "Oh I was just helping the shopkeeper here!" she introduced the shopkeeper she helped.
Marco blushed. One thing he must admit was that she was even more attractive when she smiled like that, carefree and unapologetically herself.
Irin was suddenly as stiff as a rock when she realised she had just spoke to Marco and that he was extremely quiet, "... Er, Marco-san...?"
He regained his composure when Irin spoke, "Oh yeah! We're going back to our ship so let's go together-yoi! We gotta introduce you to pops!"
The pinkette's eyes widened as she internally freaked out, "W-We're going to meet the famous Whitebeard?!" she stuttered.
Her little heart was about to fly out of her mouth, not only did she spend a lot of her social battery on talking to Marco and Thatch she was also going to meet the great Whitebeard!
Knowing that Whitebeard was someone important to Ace she was hellbent on making a good impression. She wanted to get along with people important to Ace because whoever was important to him should be important to her too, afterall she had sworn to herself that she'd protect Ace and that included the people he cared about too.
'What should I do?' Irin thought as she bit her lower lip, trying to think of a good way to impress Ace's friends.
The girl was dealing with her own problems and that included her horrible need to please everyone and her fear of rejection.
17 year old Irin had many problems. Many problems indeed.
A/N: another week, another chapter! we're almost at 500 reads for this book and that's half a thousand! isn't that crazy? i never expected to get this many reads but thank you so much, my dear readers, for all the support!
also i tried digital art for the first time today and let's just say my respect for digital artists has yet again risen. i spent a long time trying to figure out how things worked on the app and i was still terrible at it hahaha.
anyways, i hope you enjoyed this week's chapter and stay tuned for the next week's chapter!