Abandoned by the world.
Left alone in her room, staring blankly at the ceiling, those words were the only ones that could truly describe how Ochaco felt.
Yet she couldn't even blame the world for abandoning her, because in the end, it was she herself who had caused it.
She had been warned and had known the consequences of her actions, but stubbornly, selfishly, she had gone ahead, believing she was in the right. Now, she faced the bitter harvest of her choices.
Her father's life was in danger, and the one person who could have helped her… had been driven away by her own hands.
Not merely pushed aside, but ruthlessly rejected, and that was the cruelest part.
It wasn't that she didn't love him.
She trusted him, believed in him, and leaned on him more than she ever admitted aloud. And she knew she had feelings for him that she knew were special and unique. So why?
Why did she push him away when her heart so clearly leaned toward him?
Why did anger burn so violently inside her when all he had done was protect her?
Why did she reject him so cruelly after everything he had done for her?
Why was she like this?
The questions repeated endlessly, clawing at her mind, yet none offered answers. Only the suffocating silence of the four walls around her, which now felt like a prison.
Even her own mother had turned away from her.
After being slapped by her mother and seeing her father's broken limb, when she fainted and woke up, she found herself in her room.
"Stay here. Don't move, and don't make things worse for me anymore." Her mother's words that followed were still lingering in her ears.
Ochaco was forbidden from stepping outside of the house, and if she disobeyed, she was told that she would not be allowed to return.
Under such circumstances, she didn't dare test that warning from her mother, who was going crazy due to the situation.
Ochaco understood, painfully well, that her mother wasn't doing this out of cruelty but because she was desperate and afraid that Ochaco would make things worse while she struggled to gather the ransom money.
From the conversations of her mother's phone calls, which Ochaco secretly overheard, she came to know that because of her mistake, the kidnappers had doubled the ransom.
There was no way for her mother to arrange that kind of money so quickly.
Of course, her mother still tried everything she could: loans, a mortgage, selling the house, and selling their business. But no one would give enough instant cash, and proper procedures took time she didn't have.
She tried calling and contacting Herman, but his phone went straight to voicemail, and all the messages she left for him remained unanswered.
And just like that, the two days passed as hope thinned like a fading dream. Her mother grew quieter and weaker. It felt as though her body was aging by years with each passing hour.
Until finally… the day arrived when they were supposed to give the money.
The day that would decide her father's fate, and by extension, their own.
When her mother left their house, Ochaco sat on her bed, hands clenched tightly, and she wanted to follow her mother, but she dared not.
She had already ruined enough, and her self-esteem had already hit rock bottom.
"If… only Herman were here."
The more she thought about him, the more she hated herself for thinking of him now, after rejecting him so selfishly.
Hours passed without any news, and her heart almost sank to the bottom when her mother didn't return after so long.
But it was then—
"Ochaco!"
Her name echoed through the house, and the moment felt unreal because it was her father's voice.
He came home alive.
At that moment, everything changed, and it was not a dream. Her mother was crying tears of happiness, and she held Ochaco tightly like she was afraid she might disappear, and apologized to Ochaco.
Her father also didn't blame her, and the family was finally reunited.
Though his left hand was gone, doctors said prosthetics would allow him to live normally again.
Everything… returned to normal.
It was a joyous occasion, and Ochaco should have been happy... but she wasn't. Something inside her remained painfully empty.
And this emptiness became a black hole, almost swallowing her soul when the truth came later in the evening, when her mother told her about everything that happened.
"Herman gave me the money and also secretly contacted the heroes and brought them to the meeting point…. That's how your father was rescued... The villains, when cornered, poisoned themselves on the spot, and the mastermind was found dead with his head discarded in a sewer by his own enemies."
When her mother finally told everything, Ochaco felt something inside her crack, and her breath left her lungs when she realized that Herman did it all, even after she rejected him and even after he said he wouldn't help.
"But… where is he now?"
Her mother didn't answer, and that silence was louder than any accusation.
Ochaco's chest tightened unbearably.
She should have been grateful, and she was grateful. She should have been relieved, and she was relieved.
But her heart felt hollow, like something essential had been torn out and never replaced. She tried to smile and tried to act relieved, but the emptiness only continued to grow.
'Why does my heart hurt like this?'
She remembered the way he looked at her. The way he stood in front of her without hesitation. The way he promised the things she never asked for and kept them anyway.
She had rejected him and had pushed him away, hard enough to make sure he wouldn't come back.
And yet, he still did everything for her.
Ochaco tried calling him again once, twice, and again. But his calls went unanswered, and messages stayed unread.
Unable to bear it any longer, she searched for him everywhere, only to find that even the cafe shutters were closed.
Herman was gone.
That was when the panic truly set in for her.
Endless regret, guilt, and sadness enveloped Ochaco as she slumped on the floor.
At night, she lay in bed staring at the ceiling again with hollow eyes when suddenly…
Buzzz!
Her phone finally buzzed with a message notification, and when she opened it with trembling hands, a message from him appeared on her phone screen.
[You didn't love me. But I loved you. My love was real, and so was my promise, and I kept it. But now… My heart has finally let you go. I don't love you anymore. I've decided not to study at U.A. I'm going to America to live with my sister and enroll there.]
[If you want to meet me, I will be at Dagobah Municipal Park Beach. 6:00 A.M. Let's say our final goodbyes. If you don't want to come, that's fine too. ~Herman]
'You don't love me anymore?'
The words echoed in her mind, and her breathing hitched, then stopped, as if her body was in shock, unable to process the sheer weight of those words.
'No… No, no, no—'
Without Herman, everything else felt meaningless to her. Her family was here, her home was here, and her life was safe, and yet, without him, her world was nothing.
She couldn't live like this, and she didn't care about pride, judgment, explanations, or consequences.
All she knew was one thing: she couldn't let Herman go. That was why, as soon as the first light of dawn crept over the horizon, she was already at Dagobah Beach.
And with the background of the endlessly rolling waves and slowly emerging sun, there he was, standing near the water with his back to her.
For a second, she froze in fear and didn't know how to face him.
'No! If I hesitate, I'll lose him.'
But this time, she steeled herself. No matter what came her way, she couldn't and wouldn't lose him.
With a burst of speed born of sheer determination, she ran towards him.
"Herman!"
When he turned after hearing her call, surprise barely had time to appear on his face before she crashed into him and wrapped her arms around him tightly as if letting go meant losing him forever.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry… Herman…"
Fountains of tears erupted from her eyes as she sobbed while apologizing and burying her face against his chest.
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you… so much… please, please, just don't go… Don't, I will do anything you ask… anything… don't go… just don't leave me alone… Please."
Everything she had been holding back finally spilled out in a torrent of words and tears.
She didn't know what he would say and didn't know if he would forgive her. All she knew was that she couldn't live in a world where he walked away. And she would do anything, anything at all, to make him stay.
"... It is not impossible for me to forgive you," Herman finally spoke after a minute, "but can you really do anything for me?"
"Yes! I will do anything! Just stay with me; don't go. Please forgive me." Ochaco replied hurriedly without hesitation.
Hearing those words that he wanted to hear, a sinister smile spread across Herman's face that Ochaco failed to see because her head was buried in his chest.
"Good. Let's go… Today, I will make you mine and make sure you feel my love and never be separated from me, hehe."
His words sent a shiver down her spine, like a mix of anticipation and nervous excitement.
But she didn't hesitate, didn't question. She would follow him to the ends of the earth, doing whatever it took to keep him by her side.
For in that moment, she knew: she was his, body and soul, forever and always.