Lake:

I was seated on the bench beside Kenji, physically and mentally worn out. My conversation with my mother continued to replay in my head. I wondered if I would ever be allowed the chance to get close to Jojo, or even the child. Not that I deserved to, it was just a father's wish.

A father...

Did I even deserve to call myself that?

My head was resting against the wall, my back flat against the bench, when I started to see doctors and nurses troop in and out of Jojo's room. Every bit of fatigue I had been feeling disappeared from my bones, and my eyelids defeated the...