They followed the man closely while they acted as if they were buying some things, too. They watched him bought the latest brand of a laptop with complete accessories. After making sure that everything's fine with the gadget, he moved on to another shop.

"What other school supplies does he need?" Valkyrie asked Winter while walking slowly, keeping an eye to the man in front of then who was walking to school and business supplies department.

There were so many items and Winter picked a stationary as if they were really going to buy it. "I think this will suit him better." she state, her eyes darting from every corner to check on the man who was busy checking on his phone.

"He hates this kind of colors." Valkyrie commented. "Let's go over there, I think he will like these art materials."

Mattias couldn't just pinpoint what was wrong with him, but something's telling him that he was being followed. Though he didn't want to accuse anyone, specially that they were just coincidentally buying things on the same place.

'I must be over thinking.' Mattias thought and continued buying the things that Gabriel asked him to buy. He didn't linger for too long. After buying the materials, he left immediately to buy the medical supplies that they needed.

Winter and Valkyrie didn't follow him out immediately. They let Shein monitor him while they took another route to meet the man at the parking lot.

Mattias went to the largest pharmacy in the city and made sure to buy Gabriel's medications first before buying other medical supplies. Gabriel told him that the cost don't matter but Mattias didn't want to abuse someone's help at all.

Winter and Valkyrie took a cab and let the driver follow Mattias with enough distance to make sure that the latter won't find out that they were tailing him.

Mattias took around two hours to buy all the things that was asked of him before he went back to the village.

His two other friends who came along to buy things with him also felt something was bound to happen.

"Is it just me or are we being followed?" their driver asked while looking at the side mirrors.

"I feel the same." the responded while watching the taxi follow them. On the next curb, Winter asked the taxi driver to stop driving.

Mattias and his friends thought that they were just being paranoid and no one was really following them. They didn't know that Valkyrie and Winter just took a different cab to use before tailing them again.

After an hour of driving, they arrived at the foot of the mountain with a little bit difficult terrain. If you are not familiar with the place, you'd be stuck in there.

Winter and Valkyrie asked the driver to drop then off and decided to just travel by foot. They followed the marks left by the car tires and went deeper to the forest.

They saw the car stopped not far from them and the three men unloaded their things immediately. Some of their comrades came to help as well.

"Is it Gabriel who asked you to buy these?" one of the men asked Mattias who just nodded his head. "He's really serious when it comes to the children."

"I admire his strength and bravery. At the same time I feel pity for him. He's got no one to go back which is why he stayed here." another man stated while carrying the boxes.

Behind the huge rock and heavy bushes, Winter cried silently while listening to them. She was so happy to know that he was alive but hearing them say those words, that he didn't have anyone, she felt so sad and guilty.

When she lost her memory, he was there to help her recover them. When she had her heart broken, he was there, following her wherever she went to make sure that she was safe. No matter how many times she pushed him away, he would never flinch before. He would always cling on her like a leech, annoy her and pester her. Yet now, he chose to give up on her.

Winter weeped like a child who lost her toy. She didn't care if Valkyrie was watching this weak side of her. All she wanted to do was to find him and get him back.

"If he won't come back, what will you do?" Valkyrie asked her while keeping an eye to several man who unloaded the things that they bought earlier.

"I will ask Calhoun to station me here." Winter answered without any hesitations. If that's the last thing she can do to stay with him, she's willing to spend it in this place as long as they're together.

She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, breathed in and out deeply while patting her butt to get off some dirts that clung to her.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was sitting under the lush and lovely green willow tree which was facing the clean and clear river.

Children were surrounding him as they wrote their observation with the sceneries around them. The children who just started to read and write, were writing the names of the different things they just find.

"Teacher Gabriel, look at this, did I write this correctly?" A little girl around eight years old came forward to show Travis what she wrote. She was the youngest of them all and she was just starting to learn the alphabet and numbers. Therefore, it was expected to get mistakes here and there.

"Hn. That is correct. You've done well." Gabriel praised the little girl which earned him a lovely smile.

"Thank you teacher Gabriel." the little girl responded and went back to her location to continued writing.

Light footsteps can be heard, without turning back to see who it was, Gabriel knew that Mattias was back.

"Did you get everything?" Gabriel asked him while keeping an eye to the children.

"I did. We placed everything in your house. I bought your medications, too."

"Thank you Mattias."

"No, I should be the one thanking you. You've done so much for us already and we couldn't even repay your kindness." Mattias was a very humble man and he admired Gabriel so much for being their strong pillar. "I'll leave you with the children for now. If you need anything else, just let Annie know or call me."

"Hn."

Annie was sitting down on the small chair beside Gabriel and she was drawing the children who were doing their own task, the scenery as the background and that includes Gabriel.

"Brother Gabriel, you seemed to like children a lot? Don't you want to go back and get married?" Annie asked out of nowhere since she felt that Gabriel was really lonely.

"You're asking nonsense things again." Gabriel rubbed her head with mirth in his eyes, yet when he looked down, a single tear fell on his lap. "No one will love a cripple man like me. I would become a burden to them."

"I really didn't want to ask this but I can feel that you are lonely here. Don't you have family or a girlfriend or wife?" Annie still asked while drawing the river this time.

"I lost my parents when I was still young. My bestfriend's parents took me in and raised me. I also wanted to tell them that I am still alive but, what use do I have? I will only hinder them. I will only add to their problem. So I decided to stay. As for the woman I wanted to marry, she had forgotten me a long time ago. She also refused to remember me, so I decided to stop being delusional. I really think that I made the right decision for staying here."

Annie didn't answer him or speak anything as she was looking at the woman who was crying not far from them. Her Uncle Mattias and another man were following few steps behind her.

"Are you really giving up on me?" Winter's hoarse and pained voice startled everyone. The students were looking at her and Gabriel was so stiff he didn't even want to move his neck to turn around and see him. "You..y-you really want to stay here?" Her throat constricted and she choked on her sob.

Annie was old enough to know about relationships which was the reason she can converse with Gabriel like an adult. Seeing Winter right now, messy hair and dirty jeans, sad and pained expressions, she knew that her brother Gabriel has a girlfriend.

Gabriel took several deep breaths before maneuvering his wheelchair to turned around and see her. Valkyrie was also there, few steps behind her with Mattias. "Why are you here?" he asked in wonder. 'She looked so thin and messy.' Gabriel thought to himself.

Winter couldn't tell what he was thinking or what his expression was because her vision was getting blurry with tears. "I come to bring you back home."

Seeing the situation, Annie signaled the other children to follow her and leave the scene.

"I don't have a home. I have a house but not a home. It was long forgotten." Gabriel retorted. "You don't have to waste your time her, go back to where you should be."

When they came to find him, they were spotted by Mattias and his friends. They asked them several questions which later on confirmed that they were from the military.

Valkyrie had to lie earlier about Winter and Gabriel's relationship in order to let the man expose the truth. Thus, Mattias told them about what happened to Gabriel on their way to find him.

Winter steeled her heart and approached him. "Gabriel, I remembered you. I went to look for you and found that you left. I..I'm sorry. I know I've done so many ridiculous things. I..I hurt you..I..I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for forgetting you and for refusing to remember you."

Gabriel just looked at Winter with aching heart. There's no turning back now. He didn't want to become a burden to her.

"You remember me? Well, it's too late. I decided to give up on you before I took the mission here in Pantar. I just realized how much time I've wasted on you. I realized that I could've looked for someone else and forget. Now, I've wasted that chance as well." His voice was full of mockery that both Mattias and Valkyrie flinched. In the end, the both of them left the arguing man and woman alone.

Winter's pieces of broken heart were split again. It was broken into tiny bits of pieces that she didn't know if she could still put them back together.

"I see. I'm sorry if I wasted your time." Winter whispered with a smile while she wiped her tears off her face. "I'm really sorry for bothering you here." No matter how much she tried to wipe her tears, new ones will come out and stream down again. "I really thought I could still start over with you but I am wrong. I will respect your decision. Please take care of yourself, then."

She gathered all her courage before she came and she decided that she would bring him back no matter what. But, hearing the painful truth from his mouth, her courage crumbled into pieces just like her heart.

Winter turned around and ran away from him. She was so foolish to believe so much in herself. 'How could I think that he will still love me after all the times I pushed him away? Ahh! I am such a bloke!'

Valkyrie and Mattias were staying in Gabriel's veranda thinking that they would make up and go back together. However, when Gabriel came back he was all alone.

"Where's Winter?" Valkyrie asked in worry when he saw him alone.

"She left earlier." Gabriel answered indifferently.

Valkyrie took a deep breath and sighed. "I can't blame you for what you did. I won't blame you for giving up on her as well. I just thought that, at least, you should give her a chance. She hadn't been well since she found out that you accepted the mission here in Pantar. She even refused to believe that you are dead. For the sake of finding you, she risked being punished by Calhoun. I know I am not in the position to say this but, I think you were so harsh to her just now. You don't even know what she went through just to find you. Well, there's no point in telling you this now since you chose to give up on her. Take care of yourself then." Valkyrie made a respectful salute before turning his heels and left them.