Ash POV

"Nothing. I-I'm okay now," she assured me in a high resonance. Even her voice sounded miserable than her usual tone. I swallowed, squeezing her small shoulders anxiously as she avoided my gaze. S***, Alain better not have touched her again.

"Sere. What happened? Why were you crying?" I asked persistently, all the while making a mental note to call Mark as soon as I got home. Although Sere's father had told her to contact him if she had any problems, I knew for a fact that Sere wouldn't do that. If Alain had resumed beating up on Sere, I wasn't just going to be a quiet spectator. Sure, I couldn't tell Sere's mom, but I would definitely let Mark know. Maybe I was sticking my nose into something that didn't concern me, but at this point, I didn't care. Looking into Sere's shining eyes and seeing the hurt and pain- that made me not care whether I was meddling or not.

She shook her head making her hair sliding across her face covering slightly at her cheeks. "It's nothing. I just- stop looking at me like that."

Yup, I gave her a straight up 'yeah right' look which made her lips twitch slightly. My heart rose at the faint smile on her stark face. Something had happened, she didn't want to tell me but I was going to find out one way or another.

"What happened?" I questioned, my eyebrows crossed a little and creasing my forehead.

"Can we sit down somewhere, please? I feel kinda- woozy." She blinked a few times as I stared down at her, perplexed. "I still can't wrap my mind around this."

Wrapping my right arm around her waist and holding her close to me, I led her to the nearest park bench near the big lakes where ducks were paddling with the young ones, and tall trees with green leaves were waving side by side from the warm breeze. We sat down and I looked into her beautiful eyes.

"Okay, now are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to wring it out of you?" I asked, squeezing her shoulder once more as she bit her lip, deep in thought.

Then looking up at me, she spoke, "Remember when I told you that one of the boys at the daycare has a brother with cancer?"

I nodded, vaguely recalling her telling me something like that. "Yeah, I think so."

She wiped her teary eyes again as she continued, her voice breaking with each word she spoke out. "He slipped into a coma last night. His doctor says he doesn't have too long to- too long to live." She sniffed. "I went to see him today and his little brother- he was reading him a story, Ash. When I came in he said it was Kevin's favourite story and when he hears it he'll wake up."

"Oh- I'm so sorry."

I held Sere closer, my words of comfort sounding inadequate to my ears. She was clearly very attached to these kids and the prospect of losing Kevin was hurting her. My heart sank all the way down to my sneakers.

If Sere was acting this way over, how would she react if something happened to me? Not that I was trying to say that I was more important, but I was her boyfriend. If this was any indication as to how she would react if I did have complications during surgery, then maybe I had some thinking to do...

Laughing sheepishly, Sere said, "You must think I'm stupid for crying like this."

I shook my head immediately, clasping her cold hands in mine, my fingers grazing over her skin on the palm. "Not even. If something like this happened to me, I would be bawling my eyes out." Smiling at her, I caressed her soft cheek which it soon changed into crimson. I always knew that everytime I touch Sere it would always make her blush, but this was my careness and custody for her. "You're really brave." I breathed my own words, sounding more than just a whisper.

Shooting me a grateful glance, Sere said, "I just have a hard time dealing with situations like this." She frowned and stared down at her boots. "I hate people I care about being taken away from me because that's what always seems to happen. Mairin, Maria, the old Alain..." Her voice trailed off and she blinked back a few tears.

"I understand what you mean," I murmured, gently brushing her short hair back from her face to behind her ear as she put her head on my shoulder finding it more comfortable to relax.

After everything she had been through in her life, it was only normal that Sere would have abandonment issues. Why hadn't I realised that before? And what was it going to take to make me realise that dad didn't give a crap about me being happy. All the man wanted was to call the shots in my life and relationships, but that wasn't right. He spent the past ten years of my life showing how little he cared about me. Why, all of a sudden, was he trying to integrate himself in my life again? Simple- he wanted me to be as unhappy and bitter as he was. Well, no sale. I wasn't going to jump just because he told me to.

"That's why I always tell you not to be negative about your situation," she admitted, a tiny smile showed up on her upward lips. She slowly rose her head from my shoulder and looked up at me in the eye, the loving expression on her pretty face making my heart skip a beat, then another. "I just don't think I could bear losing you."

With a wide smile. I plant my lips on her forehead and spoke, "Well, you won't have to," unable to keep the excitement out of my voice any longer.

She stared up at me, an inquiring expression on her face. "What do you mean?"

"I just had a meeting with Dr. Brock," I told her, grinning so widely I thought my cheeks were going to split. Her eyes widened and she nodded eagerly, waiting for me to continue. "He told me that they're ready to operate!"

Backing away from my warm spot. Sere covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes huge. "What? When?" she asked.

"Next week. When he told me, I could hardly believe it. Thought he was playing a joke on me. I've been waiting so long and- ooof!"

Throwing her arms around me, Sere squeezed me tight in a super bear hug and knocked all the air out of me. Soon I hugged her back, a delirious feeling sweeping through my body, making me feel like me for the first time in ages. The aneurysm must have had me more spooked than I knew. For the first time in months, I didn't feel anxious or nervous for no reason and that was a win.

"Ash! that's amazing news! Why didn't you tell me that the instant you saw me? If I'd had news like that, I would have shouted it from the rooftop or something!" She enthused and backed away again.

"But you were crying," I pointed out; loving the grateful smile she gave me. It made me sure that I was doing the right thing by not following my dad's orders. "I had to cheer you up first so that you could share the news with me."

She gave me a soft pat on the cheek. "Mr. Thoughtful," she teased.

"I try," I grinned at her, before pecking her lips gently.

"This is exactly the kind of news I needed after the day I've had," Sere told me.

I shot her a crooked smile. "Yeah? Then I'm glad to have been of service to you."

She wriggled around a bit on the bench, gazing adoringly at me. That look- it just made me feel so damn special. "I'm just so excited about this," she said in response to my curious look.

"Me too," I admitted giddily.

"Did you tell your dad yet?" Sere asked me, pushing her hair out of her eyes from the breeze that kept blowing in our direction. "Or does he already know?"

Shrugging, I said, "I don't know, or care, to be honest."

Biting her lip, Sere glanced thoughtfully at me. "You're not fighting again, are you?"

"Well, when he finds out that I decided not to dump you like he told me to, we probably will be." The instant I said those words out from my mouth, I wanted to snatch them back. And judging from the suddenly suspicious look on Sere's face, I had just made a big ass mistake.

Narrowing her eyes curiously, Sere spoke, "What?" in a low quiet voice but even I couldn't miss the chilliness in her voice.

Blame it on the meds.

"Look, just- pretend I didn't say anything," I said, lamely trying to escape a potentially volatile situation. But Sere- well, she wasn't about to let me.

Frowning, she said, "But you did. Are you trying to say that your dad wanted you to dump me and you were going to do it?" To my surprise, she sounded very angry and I ran a hand through my tousled hair, confused. I didn't understand- what was the problem?

Spreading my arms wide out, I exclaimed, "If I was going to dump you, I would have done it already! God, don't you trust me by now, Sere? It's not a big deal." But apparently, I must have missed something, because to her, it was more than a big deal.

"You're the one who brought it up," Sere said tight-lipped, shaking a finger in my face. She stood up as her body straightens out and started pacing in front of me, reminding me of my dad. And that was surely not a good thing. "'Decided not to'- meaning you were actually thinking about it?"

I opened my mouth to say something comforting, something to bring back the warm, fuzzy moments we'd just shared. But I couldn't bring myself to lie to her, to tell her that I hadn't been thinking of dumping her, because I had.

"I-," I started, scratching the back of my neck before hanging my head in shame.

"You were, right? You were going to dump me because your dad told you to!"

I glanced up sharply as the disgusted tone in Sere's voice hit my ears. She was glaring down at me, her hands on her hips and her eyes cold. "Sere- chill. You don't understand! When he told me- his theories made a lot of sense."

I kinda understood why she was getting mad at me, I think. It made sense. I spent all this time trying to convince myself and everyone around me that I didn't want to please my dad anymore because he didn't give two s**** about me and nothing I did was ever good enough for him. Yet when a chance came along for me to prove it, I automatically did the exact same thing I didn't want to do. I was a hypocrite, always trying to get into dad's good books, even though I knew that would never happen.

And now, judging from the irate look on Sere's face, I was about to pay my price. All because I didn't have the common sense to keep my mouth shut.

Sarcastically, Sere said, "Oh, really?" in biting tones. "Do enlighten me." her eyes contacted into mine without moving away for a second,

"He said it would hurt you if something happened to me." I quickly explained, trying to get her to see the situation from my point of view. But the moment I stopped talking, I knew she wasn't about to buy it.

"So how does that work?" she asked condescendingly, narrowing her eyes. "You dump me, break my heart then you- die- and you think I still won't care?" The hurt in her voice sent a pang through my heart as she continued. "Does that really make sense to you?"

Feeling like the low down dirty jerk I really was, I slowly shook my head. Now that she put it out there in such a way, it sounded like the stupidest idea ever. I can't believe I fell for it.

"No. But-," I started, but I was cut short.

Sere talked over me, working herself up into a frenzy. "So why were you even thinking about it? Taking relationship advice from your dad?" She snorted contemptuously and I stared up at her, my eyebrows raised.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked quietly.

Looking flustered, Sere squeezed her hands together, her fingers going in-between. "All I meant is- have you ever taken sides from your dad?"

"No." I shook my head with my response.