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Hindsight bias by bytheforcebook -I loved this fic, but with the ending of it, I don't want any second chances between TopMew and SandRay, I prefer TopSand or both of them moving on with other people, but no return. But no one punished Ray and Mew for some choices at the Birthday party, - the punch, how little he cared about Ray's life that night, how much his revenge was worth and was worth more than his friend who genuinely cares about him, and Ray didn't hear a defense of his entire attack on Sand that night, other than an acknowledgment and an apology for it!
Ray's father, knowing about goodbye and that Sand loves his son, to help Sand not have to live with Ray, Mew and Cheum, sponsors and finances the distillery, using his name and resources, (Ray won't know), in addition to sponsor Roxie(Sand's mother's bar), and offers her the same procedure as Mew(of forgetting Top, at best), Sand accepts, but Sand is not Mew, he is spiteful, petty and with a lot of He is highly aware of his mistakes and actions, in addition to masochism, so he accepts, but asks to forget only the happy moments with Ray and Boeing, leaving behind all the bad things about their relationship and the certainty that there never was anything more! Finally imagining a Sand, capable of saying and maintaining "no" and walking away like a champion from Boeing and Ray, and living! Sand in the future as owner of Roxie and the Jude distillery, with some ability to travel the world to festivals!
I don't think Top would turn down a chance with Mew, even though he can find or love someone with less matches than his relationship with Mew, yeah, someone said about them only dating on Top's part, and Mew always turns that down, but he shouldn't have fallen into Boston's trap, which dug into his insecurities, and his ego and goal. he was a jerk at first to Mew, but Mew also saw him as a trophy. They both started out wrong, in the series, in the novel there is some difference.
Ray, Mew and Cheum one day met with Sand's mother, in the hospital, with Roxie's girls and Ray will have a severe relapse, because Sand's mother will not be affectionate as she was in EP5, nor kind, she will not forgive him for humiliating his son, and will be grateful for him leaving his son's life, because his son doesn't deserve it, someone like Ray, who dared to call him a whore, when he was the one who used him for not having the love of someone he wanted, at least his son recognizes that he made a mistake that night, accepts that Ray hates him, but Ray never apologized for that, because Sand told him about his dreams and his work, for him to reduce him to a whore, who was only with him for money, when he refused all offers! She makes it clear that her son is happy and much better off without him, and may he be happy. And tell him how much he deserves love now (Mew), and that he fulfills his part of the agreement and never goes after Sand.
Besides, I still haven't seen heavy and cruel punishment for Ray and Mew and their exploits on Mew's birthday. - The punch and the fact that Mew takes a long time to go after Ray, and is already thanking him for telling the truth, but Mew chooses to save face, the revenge on Top and Boston for the life of Ray who is only alive and asking for it with him thanks to some of Sand's experience with drunk idiots driving and the guilt of what he did, the storm starts- I don't see Ray's father liking his son, he forgives Mew so easily (the ideal person to remind him of that the actions of that night have weight), and that of Ray destroying Sand like that, with his dreams and calling him a whore, Sand grew up in this world, his mother is a manager, or the owner of a Gogo Bar (She wouldn't forgive so Ray, for doing this to his son, would definitely say that his son deserves better and would get better than him, and she would appreciate it if he left her son's life).
RayMew will last, Mew will love Ray, as much as he can, and Ray will love Mew the way he knows how, the Mew of his imagination, of his expectations has returned, only now he has a chance, and Mew doesn't hate him, still wants him around, and he will remain an addict, because Mew and Cheum never faced a Ray in abstinence, but they took care of at least a drunk Ray (this is normal and common, Ray is no better than that for them), but he will survive for Mew, for the love he receives from him, with the hostel they have together, they are back to how they were before, without Ton in the group, and Ray(everyone felt that if Mew had really given and tried, Ray wouldn't have run after of Sand, and that's what happens in this universe, because for Ray the least that Mew is sincere is what he deserves and needs, and he doesn't want to and won't forgive Sand, or doesn't want to need him after what he did), in the bubble of how things were before Top, Sand and Nick. And with that, Ray and Mew, already changed by events, will return to their old habits, and the peace of the past, I imagine them both graduating, having Only Friends Stay, and Mew's Cafe Book, but Ray's father, will impose limits on money to teach them what running a business means, without pampering, Ray's father doesn't like Mew, but he and Cheum are the only ones he has, and without them his son will die, at least they will be for his own sake. drunk, to say the least! Mew still maintains her view of the world and people, from EP1, the one about is always right, but I'm sure about their relationship, as in EP6, the idealistic view of romantic love thanks to her mothers, who are best friends, and Ray He is your friend, most loyal, most faithful, and totally blind to your defects. I don't feel like they'll be faithful to each other, the series, and I think the novel made it clear that they could end up sleeping with other people while they're together. Ray's father had fought with Mew and Cheum, with Ray close by, about the accident, and about them only going after him a week later, and showed them the photos of the accident, saying that Ray would have died that night, if Sand hadn't told him. had followed, and that for a week his son seemed sober, but he says he was already grateful for Sand's help and that they didn't see him again, because that boy deserves better company! I think they reached the EP9 stage, but that's when life and time had already caught up with Top and Sand who have their own lives, learned to breathe and live without them, keeping few parts of the past, because they always had some responsibilities, and they They reached them faster than Ray and Mew's quiet, pampered lives!
In all of them, Sand erased his moments when he was happy with Ray and Boeing, he only kept everything else, his mistakes, their choices, he kept them in his memories so as not to make the mistake of hesitating with them, of having the strength to say no. Ray's father sponsors and finances Sand's distillery, Sand's mother and Sand share the ownership and profits of Roxie, (they both do this to help him not play at bars, or other events, for Sand being able to avoid Ray, Mew and Cheum), does not work at YOLO. Sand becomes untraceable so as not to disturb Ray's life.
Top learns to live without Mew, and face some family problems, to have more control, and try to be an airplane pilot, he doesn't want to live thinking he's found Mew.
I like the narrative that makes Top (the betrayal), Nick (recording) and Sand (what spread), well before that, the catalysts for an already fucked up group dynamic, but they are fused with Mew's bad choices (the game, and the denial of dating, in addition to together with Ton, treats Top as a sexual trophy, in the beginning, and I don't like how Ton lives, and criticizes the burden, drunk Ray), Ray (loves someone who has already told him that he will only be friends , but at least they can continue to be in each other's lives, and unintentionally but on purpose use others, just not as intentional as Ton, he is practically a dog because he is so loyal to Mew, and that is a very unbalanced point in this friendship, besides the addiction, it doesn't get any better, and none of his friends are firm about it, 4 years took a toll on them), and Ton(who isn't ashamed of himself, doesn't like the way Mew lives, and didn't want to lose Top to he). The series punished Ray and Ton for loving people who didn't want them, very hard, the second phase is almost about that, and Sand and Nick in the same situation accept defeat and are at peace with themselves., so an old prediction, that Sand and Nick could survive and live again without Ray and Ton, and I still believe that!
Version (TopSand) O1: They help each other move forward, they even get engaged and married, Top faces his family, for himself, and both of their dreams, Top's of being a pilot and Sand's traveling to festivals, he becomes years later they meet Ray, Mew and Cheum, but it's up to each one, for me TopSand are polite and take charge, they learned to live without them, Nick is in Top and Sand's circle, they got bored because they loved the boys in that group . Sand's mother takes them in, and Ray's father
Version (TopSand) 02: Sand is pregnant with Ray, he takes care of him with the help of Nick, his mother and Top later discovers, in addition to Ray's father, that he respects his granddaughter's upbringing without saying to Ray, because from the conversation he had with Sand, Ray wants to live as they were before, without Top, Sand or Nick, and Ray's father doesn't challenge him, since Sand threatens to disappear if necessary, he doesn't want to interfere with Ray's happiness .TopSand happen, he raises Ray's son, it's similar to version one with a child, a delayed fatherhood.
Version 03 (Sand and Top, have sex with other people): Sand travels the world, and Top leaves the hotel with his family, he decides he can't have Mew, he's going to fulfill his dream of being an airline pilot! They both find people who are good to them, and they count the kitty for change! Ray, Mew and Cheum, and Ton see them on TV, Sand, Top and Nick are over them, and they're fine!