Chapter 14 - Derek’s Last Challenge
Three years after our fight, Derek returned.
He looked healthy.
Calmer.
He had finished paying back what he could through the legal settlements and had rebuilt his life working in logistics.
He asked one question.
“Want to spar?”
I stared at him.
Then laughed.
“No.”
He smiled.
“Scared?”
The old word.
The old bait.
But his expression showed the joke.
“Terrified.”
He extended his hand.
I shook it.
Derek looked around the gym.
“You built something good.”
“We built something good.”
He nodded toward the mat.
“I’m sorry, Cole.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean all of it.”
“I know.”
He waited.
Maybe for forgiveness.
Maybe not.
“I don’t hate you,” I said.
His shoulders relaxed.
It wasn’t absolution.
It was freedom.
For both of us.
He left.
We never fought again.
May you like
That was the victory neither of us had been mature enough to understand three years earlier.
End of Chapter 14.
