Naomi glanced over the documents Little Guy had just handed her. Odd... this one was handwritten. Naturally, that caught her attention, so she chose to read that one first. It helped that it began with the words "Dear Naomi," while the others were... Well, obviously this had to be a work document, or he wouldn't bother giving it to her. It really was strange though. She started reading.
Hoo boy. It's like grade school all over again, making a note to someone I like.
...Definitely odd. What was he talking about?
You're gorgeous in every sense of the word, and you do know that. There's probably hundreds of men (and women) out there who want to have some sort of relationship with you on that factor alone.
...Alright, then. Well, he wasn't wrong; she knew that much. Probably not women, but definitely many people were interested in her because of that. She couldn't object to that being a fact; her body was one thing that she could at least feel a bit confident about. ...But really, why on earth was he saying this? What was this letter all about...?
But that's not why I wanted to say this. If this was about your body, I could've made that known a long, long time ago.
...Okay, she'd keep reading, if only for the sole reason of the fact that she did respect him enough to feel she ought to. Even if this was making absolutely no sense, and she would have to have a word with him about it later. That could probably constitute sexual harassment, really.
No. There's more to you than that, and I don't think you personally can even see that. You have passion. You care about others, you have goals, you want to be able to do what you love. No matter how you may do it, you enjoy yourself the entire time.
He wasn't wrong. She knew she had passion, cared, had goals... but to her it seemed like it wasn't good enough. Of course it wasn't. So more than anything else, he was right that she didn't see that.
I'm going to give it away right now. Back in Delphi,
No, no... she didn't want to read about that. She didn't want to think about Delphi. She really almost stopped reading there -- this didn't make sense, she didn't understand it, and she had no idea why he was saying these things to her. And most of all, she didn't want to think about their past. ...But he had put up with so many things for her sake (and when had she ever so much as thanked him?), so... somehow, she felt like she owed him to at least read this.
Back in Delphi, I don't think anyone was exactly happy to be there. Everyone had one reason or another to be there. Spite, revenge, vague interest, wanting to be part of something great... But you? You just wanted to operate.
Naomi closed her eyes, trying to push away the memories and stop the tears forming. It was true... The only reason she was there was because it gave her the opportunity to operate again. After she lost her license, she may as well have lost her entire life. And then Delphi... they gave her the opportunity to operate again. Moreover, they wanted her Healing Touch. It was because of that that she had let herself be blinded; she wanted to believe that whatever they were doing wasn't as bad as it seemed, and tried to hold onto that hope as long as she could.
But no matter what her reasons, she shouldn't have let herself believe that. How many people died because of her selfish wishes? When Naomi opened her eyes again, she had to wipe away tears.
It wasn't even about the money anymore. I turned my head several times when you attempted to save someone's life before getting a sample. I only let you operate on the reporter because I wanted to see just how willing you were to help people. You were happy.
She laughed despite herself, through her tears, remembering that operation. How could she forget? It wasn't every day she operated using a penlight as a light source... and then a camera flash... but she had done it, and she had saved his life. And it was true; Little Guy had certainly humored her in that one. Holding the penlight so she could operate on the reporter... she had known it was a ridiculous request, and it was hardly in her contract, but he had humored her through it. She appreciated that, really.
Despite being chased out of your home because of the one thing that you loved so dearly and having it stripped away from you,
...Honestly, she couldn't have put it better herself. Even though it hurt to think about, she still felt a bit... touched, somehow, that he understood her, even if it was about something like that. Or maybe because it was something like that. With her tendency to avoid showing her feelings, and certainly to avoid talking about them, she would never admit how much that had hurt... Well, he had seen it for himself when they first met. Still, paradoxic though it was considering she typically didn't want people to know her feelings, it was somehow comforting to have someone who knew her like that.
you were still happier than most to be in such a wicked and disgusting organization. It was great. It taught me a few things. Maybe life isn't as bad as it seems. It's just really what I make of it.
I didn't even realize I had some stupid crush on you until two years later.
Naomi smiled through her tears. They weren't sad anymore, but rather... she was touched. She finally understood the purpose behind the letter, and... it meant a lot to her. She wasn't quite sure what she would say when she saw him next, how she would bring it up, but for now she let herself digest the new information. She kept looking at the letter, although the ink was blurring slightly in a few places. She felt bad for ruining it a bit, but she didn't want to put it down just yet.