Serena POV

I finally found my lost voice somewhere down in my throat, to my relief. Looking up into Ash's smiling face, I said, "I thought you don't believe in destiny?"

To my surprise, his arm reached to my chest as his fingers grazed my golden shiny locket and he came winked at me by making me all flustered crimson. "I don't exactly have a choice now since I know we cannot rule over our destiny," he said, his fingers still on my locket, which was lying dangerously close to my cleavage - chest.

I pouted, enjoying how it felt to flirt with Ash- so natural and fun. "Now you're making fun of me."

Shrugging shamefacedly, Ash said, "I'm sorry, you're just too easy!"

I saw this as a way to wrap up our awkward yet highly entertaining soul mate talk, hopefully for good. Too much wishful thinking is dangerous for a girl like me.

"My soul mate would never make fun of me, so you totally fail."

Ash groaned out of whack, seemingly upset. "At least I tried," he said, biting his lip in a self-confident manner, he added "But I'm not stressed. About soul mates, I mean." His voice trailed off.

"Why?" I questioned with curios kicking in, waiting impatience for him to answer.

He softly squeezed my free shoulder while we still dance. "We're only 17, we have all the time in the world to find our soul mates and be unhappy for life." Grinning ruefully, he stared off into space, looking away from my eyes. "That is, if I live that long." His voice trailed off again.

My stomach lurched guiltily. In the excitement of the night, I had completely forgotten about the aneurysm. I was sure that Ash had forgotten about it too and was only mentioning it now because he happened to remember.

I frowned at him, urging myself to shout or scream at him, but resisted it. "Don't say that." I said in my normal voice with concern spitting out.

He shot me a crooked smile. "Sorry. I forgot."

"Being cynical doesn't suit you, Ash." I said truthfully in my opinion.

"I'm just saying, after observing my dad and Hope, I'd much rather not even go the marriage route."

Feeling puzzled, I had to ask. "But- they're happily married, aren't they?"

"Depends on what you call happily," Ash said as the song finally ended making the duets around us finish their slow, long dance. That's certainly cleared up a lot. But Ash didn't seem inclined to go into detail and I didn't want to push him.

He bowed, looking straight down at his laced sneakers. "Thank you for the lovely dance." As he straightened up, he added "And sorry I kept stepping on your toes." At least he noticed. "I'm a bit rusty."

I looked down at my French manicured toenails, encased in a pair of brand new Gucci heels. They seemed all good. Note to self- next time I dance with Ash, wear steel toed boots. If there was a next time.

Smiling bright at Ash without showing any disrespect, I said, "You're very welcome. Oh, by the way, might I suggest dance classes?"

Shaking a finger at me, Ash chuckled. "Now who's making fun?"

"I couldn't resist." I said and giggled to myself until...

Ash slowly grabs my hand and plants a kiss above my palm, a slow caress of the lips. I shivered as his upper lip caught just a little on the skin of my hand as he stepped back, staring into my surprise eyes all the while.

Hot damn. Ash's hotness is gonna be the death of me.

"That should make Leaf happy," he commented, placing a warm hand on my bare back, giving me a shot of electric tingle And leading me off the laminate dance floor with other citezens stepping off.

Trying to act like I had every nerve in my body wasn't fired up from the hand kiss, I managed to say, "I wish I had a brother who did things to make me happy." I sighed, looking sideways at Ash. "Leaf's lucky to have you."

Ash smiled at me, his eyes lighting up with gratitude. "Thanks, Sere."

We headed back to the table which was clearly empty apart from Ash's smugly smiling dad. Just the smile alone made me seethe with intense and I had to bite my tongue to hold in the angry torrent of words threatening to flood from my mouth the more I looked at the arrogant man. It was a huge effort for me, with my big mouth, not to say anything about how rude I thought he was. Even though I had assured Ash that his dad's rude behaviour and offensiveness hadn't bothered me, I was lying. He was a jerk, pure and simple, and he didn't realise how much his words had hurt me. But I had to control myself. This was his turf, and in a way, he was entitled to act like that, since I was the interloper. And as corny as it sounded, this was Ash's night. I could tell that Giovanni didn't think much of his son, but thinking about how reckless Ash had been before Gary died, who could truly blame him.

I didn't want to make things worse for Ash by launching a criticism against his father, even though the man had singlehandedly ruined my night. So I took a deep calm breath and stared at a empty wine glass on table alongside a messy plate.

Apparently Mr. Ketchum has been watching us dance because the first thing he said before we even sat down was, "It's obvious that somebody needs a few ballet lessons pronto, eh? Miss Yvonne, maybe you should have bust out the ghetto fabulous moves. Ash clearly isn't dancer material." He laughed at his own terrible attempt of a joke and I glanced up at Ash as his hand stiffened on my back.

He's just like Alain. Maybe he was even worse. Although Alain got violent and yelled at me from time to time, when he was sober he pretty much left me alone. He didn't want anything to do with me when he hadn't had anything to drink. Ash's dad seemed to get a kick out of always attempting to belittle Ash with a snide comment here, an insult there... Didn't he feel sorry for his son having to deal with the aneurysm?

I sat down silently on chair, keeping my eyes glued at the empty wine glass in short distance as I wondered where Leaf and Hope had gone. Ash evidently wondered the same thing because he remained standing, his eyes narrowed as he took in the empty seats.

"Where've Leaf and Hope gone?" he asked mildly.

Mr. Ketchum waved a dismissive hand. "Home. Sit down, will ya? Last thing I want if for people to start asking why Giovanni Ketchum's son is dressed like a moron."

He laughed nastily, raising his glass of wine to his lips, gulping down in one go. Ash's hand tightened on the back of his chair. He didn't sit down, or give any hint that he'd actually heard his dad talk. "Why'd they leave?"

Snorting, Mr. Ketchum dabbed at his mouth with a white napkin after finishing his wine. "Who are you, my mother? Why the third degree? Sit down, dammit!" He said, his dead eyes glared at his son.

Glowering at his dad, Ash finally sat, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Are they coming back?" I could tell from his cautiously blank voice that he was striving to keep his temper. I'd never seen Ash really mad. Well, apart from the time I hit him in the face and fell on him, but that was ancient history now.

"Are they coming back?" Mr. Ketchum mimicked, his grey cold eyes dancing with satisfaction as a muscle worked in Ash's jaw. Despite myself, my head was moving like I was watching a fast paced game of ping pong. Ash, his dad, Ash, his dad, Ash- I'm gonna have a crick in my neck if I'm not careful. "If you must know, smart ass, Leaf happens to have a bedtime. But you should know this after all the time you spend reading her bedtime stories, right?"

Ash shot me a quick, embarrassed glance which I pretended not to see. It was so evil of his dad to ridicule him in my presence. I squirmed in my own seat, suddenly wanting the night to be over. Nothing had turned out like I expected. Your expectations were too high, Serena. Agreed.

"Dad-," he started, but soon Mr. Ketchum talked over him, silencing him effectively.

"Oh, yeah, you haven't done that since the day she was born, have you?" He tutted as he shook his head, an amused look playing across his distinguished face. "I completely forgot how uninvolved you've been in your little sisters life."

His cheeks flushed red and his head bowed, Ash muttered, "Dad- can we just not do this right now? Please?" in an almost desperate tone. He was staring down at his hands, which were clutching his napkin with force.

Arceus, why did Hope have to leave? She would have put a stop to this. As things were, I was in a prime location to watch everything unfold and I hated myself for it. I wish I could be somewhere else...

Guffawing out from his mouth, Mr. Ketchum eyed his son almost curiously. "What? Don't want your date knowing what an incredibly lousy big brother you've been to Leaf?"

Ash raised his head as fast as a bullet, popping his knuckles as he looked daggers at his father. "That's all in the past now," he said quietly, the calmness of his voice belying the anger flaring in his eyes. I almost applauded him. Team Ash all the way, baby. This is the real deal family feud.

"Oh, is it?" Mr. Ketchum asked almost courteously, pouring himself yet another glass of wine, filling it up till the very top. I already knew he had had one (or six) glasses too many- I could tell by the deliberate way he was talking. Another few glasses and he'd start slurring.

As Ash leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table, resting them. he held his dad's intimidating gaze.

"Get your elbows off the table." Mr. Ketchum commanded in a quiet and dangerous voice making me flinch from his vicious words. 

Ash bit his lip angrily as he leaned back against the chair, crossing his arms across his chest. "I've changed, but you don't seem to realize that," he said bitterly by giving a cold look at his dad.

Mr. Ketchum appeared to find that statement rather funny, judging from the snort of contemptuous laughter that emanated from him. "You've changed?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't expect you to notice, with your 'busy' life," Ash said sneeringly, his mouth twisted.

Mr. Ketchum looked heartily amused by Ash's borderline rude answer. He give out a chuckle then turned his head to me. My heart thumped, I was that sure he was about to start in on me too, but he just said, "He says he's changed," in a confiding tone as Ash glowered. "Just because he spends a couple of afternoons out of a month with his sister, he thinks he's the brother of the year." Another chuckle. "Congrats, Ash. I'll get the waiter to bring you a cupcake to celebrate."

And here I was, thinking what I said made no sense at times.

Ash's lips tightened as he could. I hoped he wouldn't snap and start cussing his dad out. That was obviously Mr. Ketchum's game plan, trying to get Ash to blow, which was, to me, truly bizarre. Why was he trying to piss his own son off so much and how the hell was he enjoying it so much? Is this normal father/son behaviour?

Judging from Ash's stony expression. Why did they hate each other so much that this uncomfortable scene had to happen? What had happened between them to create such animosity?

Mr. Ketchum turned to me again, his eyes asking me a question. "You know, Miss Yvonne, I tend to wonder why you accepted Ash's date offer. I'm sure you know about his track record?"

I opened my dry mouth to retort but Mr. Ketchum talked over me. In retrospect, that was probably a good thing, because I wasn't feeling particularly disposed to him at the moment.

"You've probably ruined your reputation just by going out with this screw-up son of mine," he continued, nodding in a severely pissed off Ash's direction. "No self-respecting guy would touch you once you've been tainted by Ash Ketchum. I mean, look at Miette! They dated for a few years and now the only guy who'll have her is that money loving scumbag she's dancing with."

I looked up at Mr. Ketchum with surprise. He didn't strike me as the type of guy who'd even remember the names of his son's ex girlfriends, but here he was, proving that he not only knew who Miette was, he was also all up in her business.

Ash also looked up at his dad, his face teeming with emotion. "Are you ******* serious right now?"

A passing aged lady clapped her hands over her young daughter's small ears and glared at Ash reproachfully. He didn't notice. Neither did Mr. Ketchum, who wagged his finger back and forth, a merry smile on his face.

"Language, young man!" He said and turned to me again. "After Ash's third driving under license , I told him to straighten out or I'd send him to one of the strictest boarding schools on the planet. Can you imagine, he crashed one of my cars into a building while he was on a bender with a bunch of his dumbass friends?"

I vaguely recalled hearing something about that incident, but by the time the story had gone through our school, the general consensus had been that Ash and his boys crashed the car into an oil tanker outside a fancy restaurant and they managed to escape right before the car went up in flames, incinerating the fancy restaurant and everyone in it.

I knew Dawn was lying about that.

I didn't say anything in response to that, because, well, what could you say?

Ash mentally groaned loud, his hand rubbed his closed eyes and then fully open by looking ahead across table at his father. "Dad, just stop already! You've already ruined the entire night for us."

"Me, ruin your night?" Mr. Ketchum looked genuinely surprised as he pointed to himself in dramatic. "I'm just regaling your date with stories, since you're obviously too tongue-tied to talk to her yourself." Now he thinks he's doing us a favour. Come on! "Of course, he isn't always this tongue tied around girls," Mr. Ketchum went on, turning to me again. "In fact, the amount of times I've found him in the hot tub with a pretty young thing, saying things that would make a girl blush- let's just say he gets his libido from me." He winked as my eyes widened, he continued. "Of course, I don't really like the fact that I have to get someone to clean the hot tub when I want to use it, but I suppose I should be glad, you know what I mean? I always was scared that little Leaf would walk in on him and his various floozies, but so far so good. Ever since the doctor diagnosed his aneurysm, he's been keeping a low profile, thank God. Or maybe he's been holding something in his room, where nobody can see."

"I've been helping him with his bucket list," I interrupted hastily, feeling like I had to say something to detract Ash's dad from the embarrassingly painful dissection of his son's life. In the back of my mind, all I could think was 'I sat on his bed! Did he hold it there too?'

Ash glanced up from his study of his hands, a positively grateful look on his face at my intervention tactics. He mouthed, "Thank you," at me as his dad did a double take at the sound of my voice. What did he think he'd been talking to all this time, a tree?

"What's that? A bucket list? Why the hell would he have a bucket list? You that sure you gonna croak, kiddo? You want me to cancel Dr.Brock's appointment and let you handle this by yourself?"

I almost growled at Mr. Ketchum's. Didn't Ash's wellbeing mean a damn thing to him?

"People don't only have bucket lists just because they're going to die," I said in chilly tones. "Ash wants to do the things he always wanted to do before he has his operation. It has nothing to do with death and everything to do with being organised."

"But Ash isn't organised," Mr. Ketchum said, grabbing the wine glass, swigging down his wine like it was just water. "He does everything half assed then drops it when he's bored. You wait and see. He's not gonna finish his stupid list."

"Yes, I will," Ash said, his voice flat and emotionless.

"Oh, wait, I'm sorry, you must have already finished your list!" Mr. Ketchum laughed sarcastically. I'm really starting to hate that laugh. And the man. And his overpowering cologne. "I mean, what could possibly be on it apart from 'get wasted', 'get high', 'vandalise historic landmarks', 'get suspended multiple times' and 'get arrested'? Honestly, the only thing you could still do is get yourself into a car accident and go the same way as that friend of yours."

My mouth dropped open in shock that Mr. Ketchum was talking about Gary. And in such a blatantly disrespectful way too. Hadn't he ever heard about not speaking ill of the dead? And he was Ash's best friend, too.

Giving his dad a look of fury, Ash pushed his chair back and stood up, messaging his forehead with one hand. "That's low, you asshole," he said, his voice cracking with anger. "Gary was my best friend! His parents are here- you're heartless!" With that parting shot, Ash whirled around from his chair and stomped out of the ballroom, his back rigid with anger.

Grinning like everything was all good, Mr. Ketchum turned to me one last time. "He's probably gone to bawl his eyes out," he said dismissively. "Can I tempt you with some wine?"

This had to be a dream. Either that or I was being punked. Please let this be an episode of Punk'd. Because no family could possibly be this dysfunctional, could it? I thought I had it bad with Alain. This was a whole another story.

I stood up, grabbing my purse on table. "Excuse me, sir. I have to go check on my date," I said, my voice sounding frosty to my ears. I didn't care much. The last thing I felt like doing was being nice to the egotistical man. No wonder Ash put up such a tough guy front. With a dad like that, he had to.

Before Mr. Ketchum could say anything else to me 'can I tempt you with some wine? Puh-leeze!' I scurried off in the direction Ash had gone, getting past each people in my way. My heels clattering on the floor as I dragged my feet away from table.