All Chapters of The Boy who Circled Time: Chapter 181 - Chapter 190

Jasper was looking down at him, pity in his eyes as he came closer and closer, wincing slightly as he did so. He shifted his legs slightly and extended his arms outwards to draw Emmet back into him, into another hug. He let himself be pulled along by Jasper’s arms, taking note of his trembling legs and let himself be drawn into the embrace, looping his arms around the other’s back in a cursory reply of the gesture. It wasn’t like he was going to turn down any hugs, or gestures of affection in general, from Jasper. "I'm sorry," Jasper whispered to him," I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight at all when I left you behind. I thought that I was taking some sort of action that was for your own good. I thought that I had made you into a monster for just being there, and I wasn't thinking straight. I couldn't understand the situation clearly, and I thought that removing myself from your life was the best thing that I could have possibly done in that moment." Emmet’s

Lila's cafe, Emmet had to begrudgingly admit, was tastefully decorated with dark browns and and warm ochres giving a warm homey feel to the place, with a starlingly rich deep purple wall and decor sitting idly on the front counter of the store. There were various glass cases set up in the corners of the shop and on the book case, housing more of the shiny and valuable looking items that sat around there, with round tables sitting along the edges of the room to form a middle parting clearly marked out by long vertical panels of wood that interrupted the rest of the horizontal floor pattern that made up the floor of the cafe. There were privacy screens set up around some tables with potted plants separating out a good few seating areas and other tables. Gold tipped lanterns also hung from the book shelves, with the other lights of the establishment set up in a similar style, all made up of multiple squares and rectangles in complicated geometric patterns that a

Jasper, without any of the hesitation or grimaced faces that Emmet would undoubtedly pull, pressed down on the bell again, calmly and patiently and without any annoyance. After a few more moments, when she didn't appear, Jasper called out in a stronger, louder and a far too kind voice," Lila! I know that you're back there!" If it was up to Emmet, there would be no such unnecessary kindness in the voice that he would use. Lila was a manipulative little shit through and through, and is he wasn’t so uneasy of the extent of the power that she was currently holding over him, and by extension over Jasper in this situation, he would undoubtedly at least attempt to strike a bargain. She probably held the keys to the glass case and time machine, the item that he wanted, while he himself several broken bones, leaving half of his limbs out of commission and a long journey ahead of them to healing properly, considering her non attempt to try and administer some kind of h

There was some sort of history between Jasper and Lila that Emmet wasn't privy to, and it hurt him somewhere in the chest that he was essentially excluded from whatever relationship that the two of them had cultivated. To an extent, he knew that he was the goal of their efforts, but their specific actions and experiences were so far, far away from him that he had to wonder if he had become some sort of McGuffin to them both. He had been through hell, abandoned, injured, and then kept in isolation, but he had still come out on the otherside surviving, through both of their efforts no doubt. But to learn that Jasper was now years older than him, far more learned and tempered, far more restrictive with what he now said about his life here, about his life back in the future, and was just more subdued and pressed inwards, hiding more of his jagged and broken edges under layers of soft, fluffy, warm kindness. It hurt Emmet with how much he was being kept in

Jasper held a glint of superiority and playfulness in his eyes, and Emmet, still in his arms, still in a tight hug that suddenly retightened itself after relaxing steadily over the past few moments, could not see who exactly he was looking at, but he felt he felt his own blood drain out of his face anyway, fully recognising the voice behind him and fully recognising just might what was going to happen next. Jasper - still holding him and very, very much not letting him go - had said that Emmet's own future self had held some sort of grudge against his own past self, and considering that he was future Emmet's own past self, Emmet wasn't seeing much ground or reason for negotiation to get himself out of the predicament that he had now landed himself in unwittingly. Lila was sniggering in the background as well, which didn't make anything better. Emmet sucked in a deep breath, trying to be as silent as possible, until those seven, magical, damning words were spo