Chapter 82: A Memory of Yuri Watanabe

Back then, Yuri was still working at a police station in New York. After a long day of work, exhausting like so many others, she had decided to give herself a few minutes of peace. Cigarette in hand, she climbed the stairs leading to the roof of the building, with the sole intention of getting some fresh air before returning to her duties.

When she pushed open the metal door leading to the rooftop, she expected to be alone. Yet, a few meters away, near the railing, a familiar figure was silently gazing out over the city:

George Stacy.

He stood at the edge of the roof, motionless, his eyes lost in the streets of New York stretching out below him. Yuri stopped for a moment, surprised to find him there. But that surprise didn't last long and quickly gave way to the sarcastic nonchalance that already characterized her so well back then.

— "Since when do you come up here?"

At the sound of her voice, George turned his head slightly. He immediately recognized his colleague out of the corner of his eye before turning his attention back toward the city.

— "I was thinking about my wife and, I don't know… I felt like coming up here. Being a little closer to the sky, looking at the city, the streets…"

Yuri didn't answer immediately. She calmly walked over, pulled out a cigarette and lit it before taking her first drag. Once beside George, she rested her forearms on the metal railing separating the rooftop from the drop below and gazed out over the city as well.

The smoke from her cigarette was quickly carried away by the wind… directly toward George. He grimaced slightly and raised a hand near his nose to shield himself from the smell.

— "Tell me… are you ever planning to quit smoking?"

— "Don't start…" Yuri grumbled.

George gave an amused smile at her reaction, then his expression quickly settled back into calmness. For a moment, neither of them spoke. They simply remained there, side by side, watching New York live beneath their feet as the smoke from Yuri's cigarette slowly faded into the air.

She was the one who eventually broke the silence.

— "Do you miss her?"

George's smile faded slightly.

— "…Every day."

The simplicity of his answer was enough for Yuri to understand everything behind it. She took another drag from her cigarette before hesitating for a few seconds. The next question was much harder to ask.

— "And how do you… keep going? I mean… sometimes, don't you ever feel like…? You know."

George remained silent. This time, his gaze grew heavier, and several painful memories seemed to pass through his mind. He knew perfectly well what Yuri was trying to ask him, even though she hadn't found the strength to finish her sentence.

— "…I thought about it sometimes. Sometimes the pain became so unbearable that I couldn't see how I was going to make it through."

His expression darkened slightly as he spoke those words. Yet, after a few seconds, George finally looked away from the city and turned toward Yuri. A small smile appeared on his face, gentle but slightly amused.

— "But I couldn't exactly do something that selfish and leave you and Gwen behind."

Both mildly amused and slightly annoyed by his words, Yuri sighed.

— "We can get by just fine without you."

— "Yeah… I know."

Yuri turned her head slightly toward him. Behind her usually blunt tone, however, there was genuine curiosity.

— "And that's it? The two of us are the only reason you didn't go through with it, or is there another reason…?"

George didn't answer immediately. He turned his gaze back toward the horizon and seemed to think for a long moment before continuing.

— "At first, yeah. But then I met a family: the Parkers. And I found a new reason to stay alive. Besides you and Gwen."

Yuri raised an eyebrow slightly. The Parkers? That name meant absolutely nothing to her. Yet George spoke about them as though they now held an important place in his life.

— "And what's so special about this family?"

George took a few seconds before answering, as though he himself were searching for the best way to describe something that wasn't really tangible.

— "It's not easy to explain, but it's like they give off something warm and courageous. The more time you spend with them, the more it feels like your body and mind slowly fill up with some kind of almost endless energy. You even start to feel hope and strength again, even when everything is going wrong."

Yuri watched him closely as he spoke. Something in his face had changed. Whenever he talked about this family, George seemed strangely at peace. His features had relaxed, and his eyes were no longer filled with the heaviness she had known since his wife's death.

It was rare.

Even with her, Yuri had rarely seen George look so serene when talking about his life since that loss. And that simple realization was enough to make her even more curious.

— "Well… you really seem to like this family. I'm surprised you never told me about them."

George slowly turned his head toward her, a mischievous little smile appearing on his face.

— "Are you jealous…?"

A slight blush immediately rose to Yuri's cheeks. She gave him a small punch on the shoulder, more offended by the remark than actually aggressive.

— "Will you stop talking bullshit?!"

George let out a quiet laugh, clearly satisfied that he had managed to get a reaction out of her. Then, gradually, his expression became more serious again.

— "But yeah… I really like this family. They have a kid too. His name is Peter, and he's really adorable. He and Gwen are best friends, and I even think she's in love with him."

Yuri immediately turned her eyes toward him, amused by this new piece of information.

— "Seriously? And what do you think about it? You're gonna let Gwen date him?"

George's smile widened considerably.

— "Well… if they ever decided to get together… I think I'd actually be relieved. Like I told you, there's something genuinely good about that family, and about that kid too. So if Gwen starts dating that boy, she has my full support! I even wonder if they'll get married someday. I swear, they're so adorable together!"

Yuri watched him out of the corner of her eye, her cigarette still held between her lips. She knew neither Peter nor this famous Parker family George spoke about with so much affection.

Yet she didn't need to know them to understand how important they had become in his life. It was obvious in his eyes, in his voice, and in the unusual sense of peace that seemed to fill him whenever he spoke about them.

A small hint of jealousy crossed Yuri's mind despite herself. After all, she had known George far longer than they had. But that feeling was quickly swept aside by something much more important: she was happy for him.

If this family had truly managed to give him back so much hope after everything he had been through, then she could only be grateful to them.

— "I guess the future will tell?"

George turned his gaze back toward the city lights and raised his eyes slightly toward the sky.

— "Yeah… the future will tell."

TO BE CONTINUED.