Quatre's POV in this part.
Hungry Heart Part 2
"Welcome to the islands," the lovely woman at the end of the ramp smiled at me as I stepped down onto the tarmac. "We hope you enjoy your stay."
I hoped I did too. I was planning on staying quite a long time. "Thank you. Where can I find a cab?"
"Taxis?" The woman gestured to the small building behind her. "Right on the curb."
"Thanks," I smiled back at her and lifted my bag up to my shoulder. I hadn't brought all that much with me. Just a knapsack with a few things I hadn't wanted to give up. I didn't want the baggage of my old life in the new one.
There was one cab by the curb. "I need to go to the North Shore," I told the driver. "How much to take me there?"
He eyed my faded jeans and beat up sneakers. "Not much. You a surfer?"
I grinned at him, shaking my hair out of my eyes. "I will be."
A few moments later and I was in the back seat of the cab, listening to the driver sing along to the radio as we headed towards my future home.
~*~
Running away.
That's what it was when you get right down to it. I suppose it was somewhat childish of me but I felt that I really had no other choice. My life was consumed by my business and I resented it. An eternal go round of: go here, do this, talk to these people in this way... if I had enjoyed the work perhaps it would've been different- but I didn't. I had started out disliking it, and for the last few years I had hated it.
I suppose I could've tolerated it better had it left me with some time of my own, but it didn't. I had only a small bit of time everyday to myself and even then most of the time it would be eaten up by the demands of the business.
It would've been easy to try and drive the damn company into the ground, but there were too many people relying on it. So I worked hard at it, the company prospered and more of my life vanished into it.
A year ago, seven years after the end of the second war, I decided that I was finished. I was still young, though I didn't feel it, and I wanted to leave. I knew already that any attempt by me to ask for a leave of absence would be met by disapproval. My sisters, much as I loved them, would do their best to guilt me into staying- I was tired of even trying.
So I planned my escape. It wasn't easy. I knew they'd send people after me, knew that accounts and files would be searched. I could leave no trace of myself behind. I spent a year planning my escape.
It was the most fun I could remember having in a long time.
Perhaps I should've been worried about the fate of the company, but I wasn't. I knew my sisters could run it easily enough- better even since they'd divide the duties up between themselves. Maybe I should've considered my friends- but in truth, I didn't have many. The people I met in my day-to-day life were not friends, merely acquaintances.
The only friends I had were those I made during the war- and those relationships had fallen into only the occasional email. The other pilots were busy with their lives- and I envied them. They were all happy and busy with the lives they had chosen. I think that more than anything pushed me into leaving.
Precisely, it was one event that gave me the final push. Two of my old friends got married.
I had thought that if any of us lived through it and ended up together on the other side... it would've been Trowa and myself... but our relationship, though it lasted through both wars, couldn't last afterwards. My work and the distance killed it... not that we talked about it. It was more of a drifting apart... and as much as I wanted to reach out and pull us back together- I realized I had left it too long.
I couldn't make it to Heero and Duo's wedding- important negotiations were scheduled for that week and of course no one else could handle them! So I had sent my apologies and a gift. Duo had emailed me pictures later on- and in them Trowa was always beside someone I didn't recognize... his emails hadn't mentioned anyone... but his emails had grown fewer and fewer of late...
I suppose I realized then that I had lost him... and my resentment of WEI was that much greater...
I briefly entertained the notion of faking my death, but I truly didn't want to hurt my family. Instead I began to grow my hair out- and hid it under a wig. I began to stash money in untraceable accounts, bought a home through an agent using a fake name. Set up the fake name with a background that could stand up to any background check. I made sure I didn't leave any traces- checked and double-checked that I was in the clear.
I picked a date of departure. Had a mix up with the bodyguard's schedule that left me alone after work that day. Easy enough to walk down the street and slip into a public bathroom, pull off the wig, switch the suit for ripped jeans and a t-shirt, pop in the colored contacts.
Then all I had to do was catch my flight.
"We're almost there," the driver said, interrupting my thoughts. "You have a specific location?"
"Yep," I said and gave him the address. A few minutes more and we were pulling up in front of a tiny bungalow that looked like it would blow over in a strong wind.
I paid the driver, grabbed my bag and headed up the steps, digging my keys out of my pocket. Looking around, I decided I liked my area- pretty well set back away from the beaches. A block or so away was the beginning of a line of beach hotels. The island's main industry was tourism. It should be easy for me to pick up an extra job here and there- I didn't want a full time job, I wanted to try a lot of different things.
The bungalow was just a room with a bed, a small kitchen and a tiny shower. I loved it. I tossed my knapsack down on the bed, began to make a mental list of the things I'd need to get. I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and had to grin.
In a week or so the fake tan would be real. I would have to start wearing my hair in a ponytail- having it down for the few hours on the flight had been irritating- no wonder Duo always had a braid. No one would connect the laid-back surfer dude I planned to look like with the missing executive Quatre R. Winner.
I took a deep breath and continued with my mental list. I had a lot to do...
TBC...
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