When you love someone, their pain becomes yours. Their joy becomes your joy and you share one heart with this person.

All he could see, amidst the few people that walked past him, was her. His eyes followed her every move and turn. He knew he couldn't miss her. He really didn't want to and when she finally made it out of the building, he hastened his pace. Finally, when he stood outside, he searched around with his eyes for any sight of her, in hope of accomplishing his heart desire. Gratefully, he caught sight of her trying to hail a cab, but that didn't seem to work for her. The act alone showed him how desperate she was to head to wherever she was going, because the Kiana he knew was the type who often made use of public buses for transportation. It only made him desire to find out what was really going on.

He took in a deep breath as he stared at her.

Kiana ran her hands through her hair. She could barely think clearly or control her emotions. Her eyes had gotten teary and the tears began trickling down her cheeks. Each second she spends trying to hail a cab or get some sort of transport to wherever she was going felt like an utter waste of time. Unable to take it anymore, she had attempted trekking, but that didn't do much for her. Her head felt like it was spinning and each sound echoed in her ears, as the very last words that put her in this state replayed over and over again in her mind, causing her to finally come to a standstill, fingers dug into her hair.

"Are you okay?" The voice as well as the hand placed on her, caused her to turn in an immediate startle.

She stared at the last person she imagined would surface at this moment. He stared back at her. The look on her face, heart-breaking to him. He wished more than anything for him to wipe the tears off her face, but he just couldn't. An invisible barrier had already been drawn between them.

"Where do you need to go? I'll take you." He finally spoke up and although everything seemed a little fuzzy for her at the moment, she was somehow able to comprehend his words.

He had offered to help her and she didn't know if this was a good thing. After days of having ignored her, he finally spoke to her. She should be jumping with joy, right? But, she just couldn't. Finally, she looked away from him as she wiped her face.

"I-I'm fine." She stuttered a bit, before attempting to walk away. He quickly took hold of her hand, causing her to come to a halt and turn to take a look at him.

"There's not much time to waste and you know it, so I'll take you." He explained once more and as much as she would love to run into his arms and let him comfort her, even for a moment, she really couldn't. She didn't want him tagging along and finding out about another side to her life. A part she had never mentioned to anyone else. Plus, he was probably helping her out of pity and she didn't like that very much.

She placed her hand on him in an attempt to get rid of his grip, but his hold remained firm. "Thank you, but I can manage."

"No, you can't. For once, Kiana, don't be stubborn." He told her and something about his tone reminded her of his anger towards her. A strange sort of warning for her not to repeat the past. She really wanted to give in to his demand, but she was really scared. She was scared of the fact that if he does discover the other side to her life, he might really distance himself for good. Not everyone wants to be associated with a criminal. He might finally judge her as the liar she was. He might even think the worst about her and she was already satisfied with him just remembering her as the Kiana he met in high school. How was she supposed to make him understand her plight?

She opened her mouth with an intention to say something, but before she could succeed, he suddenly dragged her along with him much to her surprise. She needed to say something, right? Yet, she couldn't. She found herself silently going along with him then watched as he opened the door to his car and eventually made her have her seat.

She took a silent and deep breath as he finally had his seat within the car. After what seemed like a moment of neither taking a good look at the other, he turned his head to her and her eyes shifted to him. She wondered if he had something else to say, but before she herself could summarise her thoughts, he suddenly drew real closee, causing her to unknowingly hold her breath in that very moment.

He drew the seat belt, which for a few seconds seemed stuck, but eventually, he got it and made sure she was buckled up. He had planned to do that very quickly and look away, but quite involuntarily, his eyelids flickered higher and his eyes rested on hers. It had been days since they were that close. As he stared at her widened eyes and the equal surprised look on her face, he couldn't seem to look away. Damn it, he had missed her. His heart raced and his fingers itched to make contact with her skin.

She needed to look away, but she couldn't. She was actually in love with the man and now, he was being so close to her, so nice to her. Her heart raced a thousand times and she had unknowingly held her breath, which she hadn't realised yet. She felt the need to say something, to let him know how truly sorry she was and how much she missed him , yet nothing came through her lips, just eyes filled with hope.

Suddenly, he pulled away and she eventually blinked several times as it dawned on her that he still hadn't forgiven her. Slowly, she released her breath as disappointment washed over her. She shut her eyes for a second to control her emotions.

"Where do you need to go?" He suddenly asked, bringing her back to reality.

She took a deep breath for a second, before speaking up right away, finally surrendering to her fate.

"Melody hospital." She stated. Slowly, his brows furrowed as he contemplated the new information he just received from her.

* * *

She hastened her pace, as soon as she stepped into the hospital. All other thoughts wiped away from her mind, she directed her eyes, as well as her attention, towards the reception as she headed for it.

Enrico followed behind and he could see how agitated she looked. Something was definitely up with her. He needed to know what it was, yet he could do nothing else but patiently tag along. His brain calculated the fact that he had ended things with her and only just made a decision to drop her off then get going, but his heart said otherwise. It yearned to comfort her, to tell her that everything was going to be okay, no matter what the problem might be. In the end, he just silently tagged along.

"Excuse me." She called as she finally stood in front of the reception and a nurse behind the counter looked up in reply to her call for attention.

"I-I was called here. I mean, my name is Kiana Stuart and my mo..."

"Miss Stuart?" A male voice called from slightly behind and both parties turned to it.

A man and a female dressed in a police outfit stared back at them. Enrico couldn't help but furrowed his brows. They only released when he caught sight of Kiana quickly walking up to her.

"Yes. I'm she. Where's my mother?" She asked, as she searched desperately for hope within their eyes.

Enrico's brows furrowed once more at the mention of a word he hadn't quite expected from her.

Mother.

"Is she alright? Where's she? Which room has she been admitted to?" Kiana asked once more and all they did was stare at her for a second, with a strange pity encoded within their eyes, before they let out a heavy sigh.

Kiana looked away from them, refusing to adhere to their facial expression.

"I have to see her." She commented as she attempted to walk past them, but the male officer caught hold of her before she could.

"What are you doing? I know she's in your custody and all that, but I'm her daughter and I have the right to see her." She quoted boldly, but by this time, she was back to standing in front of the officer.

"I'm sorry but... she didn't make it." He finally blurted out and in that moment, she stood frozen with no expression.

Enrico, on the other hand, did nothing but stare at them while being a little confused about the entire situation. Slowly but surely, the tears gathered her eyes and she eventually sniffed as if to control them.

"She didn't make what? The work she was assigned to? A well cooked food? The bracelet she had promised me?"

"She's dead." The female officer blurted out right away and Enrico's eyes slightly widened. Kiana, on the other hand, remained the same, frozen, while the tears built up within her eyes.

"D-dead? How is that possible? I saw and I spoke to my mother a few days ago. She was alright. How can she be dead?"

"There was a fight between her and an inmate and she was eventually stabbed. I'm sorry, but we tried our best to rush her to the nearest hospital as quickly as possible. The doctors tried, but she gave up in the end."

"She can't give up!" Kiana exclaimed, in tears as her voice heightened up a bit.

"I told her not to. I promised I would get her out. I told her to wait for me!" She continued and by this time the tears had begun trickling down her cheeks.

"She can't do this to me." Kiana mumbled as she covered her face with her hands and sobbed a great deal.

Enrico could feel his heart being torn into pieces at the mere sight of her being in pain. He couldn't help it anymore, so he took steps closer to her and eventually placed a hand on her shoulder in order for her to know she wasn't alone. Instantly and quite unexpected, she turned and buried her face in his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist. For a second, he was taken aback then followed by a feeling of warmth. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her to comfort her, while she wept bitterly.

Okay, maybe he doesn't know the whole story that engineered towards the scenario that just played out, but there was one thing he knew and that was the fact that Kiana was his heartbeat. Everything about him exists solely for her. He knew this better as he held her in his arms wishing more than anything that he could make it all better for her.

* * *

Enrico stood outside the room as he gave her the privacy of saying her last goodbye to her mother. Thinking about the mother figure that suddenly showed up in her life, Enrico couldn't help, but wonder why she had hid this little truth about her. She never, for once in the past, mentioned her mother. He had somehow assumed that her parents were gone and in order to not make her feel uncomfortable, he never brought up the topic. He never insisted on visiting her at her home. He liked her way too much that he played on the safe side for long, then he realised he knew nothing about her. She was, sort of, a complete stranger to him. When he thought of possible reasons for her actions, he couldn't help, but boil down to the one thought that she really never trusted him. She never trusted him enough to share her secrets, sorrows and pain with him. She made a decision to take the longer route out of her situation. She fought all on her own for a long time. It made him feel sad.

As he raised his eyes, he caught sight of her walking away. He took one quick look into the room and realised she was no longer in there. He had been so occupied with his thoughts that he failed to realise when she walked past him. He began threading towards her, hastening his pace by the minute. A part of him didn't want to let her go like that. She was hurt and probably still needed a shoulder to cry on.

"Kiana." He called as they made their way out of the hospital, but she barely reacted to his call.

"Kiana, stop!" He ordered, as he finally took hold of her hand and they both came to a halt. There was a strange silence between them, while she still had her back faced to him.

Eventually, she turned to face him, withdrawing her hand away from his grip. The look on her face, in her eyes told him she was in a great deal of pain. The tears still trickled down her cheeks nonstop and she sniffed at intervals.

"Yes." She finally spoke up.

"Yes, the woman in there and who just died is my mother, the person who brought me into this world. Yes, she was termed a criminal and thrown into jail for something she didn't even do in the first place. Yes, I never spoke about this part of my life and yes... I'm fine." She ended, before turning to walk away, but Enrico quickly took hold of her hand to stop her from leaving.

"You... you didn't have to live life like that. I might have been just a boy then, but I was truly ready to protect you until the end." He told her whilst staring directly into her eyes.

She suddenly let out a light chuckle.

"You? Protect me? Enrich, you couldn't even talk back to Nicolas, who bullied you. How, on earth, did you ever plan on protecting me? You don't even know what it's like to live in my world, to see and go through what I've been through. You only fell for what you saw about me. The fact I stood by your side when no one else did and the fact that I was the first girl to walk with you. That's all... I was just the first to make you feel better." She explained and Enrico did nothing but stare at her. She knew; she could see in his eyes that her words were hurting him, but she really had to do this, so she looked away from him for a moment.