Deep breaths, deep breaths.

In, out.

In, out.

Repeat.

That's what Sophie had been telling herself for the last five minutes as she stood before the grand Everglen gates. 

Suddenly Biana burst through the large front doors of Everglen and rushed up to the gate, quickly opening them so Sophie could step into the beautiful property.

"I am so sorry I am late," Biana said, out of breath. "I was trying to persuade Fitz to eat lunch but he gently told me to go away and continued to stare at the wall in front of him. Mom and Dad are really worried."

Sophie sighed and looked down. "This is all my fault."

"Hush, Sophie," Biana insisted letting Sophie into the house and leading her up the stairs. "In no way is this your fault it is Keefe and Fitz's faults alone. Don't blame yourself."

"Fitz? How is it Fitz's fault?"

"He must've been thinking seriously negative thoughts for a silly kiss to get him to become this bad."

"Hmm. And what about Keefe? You sounded like you didn't think it was his fault."

Bianca laughed a little before replying, "oh no. It is mainly his fault. I, in no way, think what he did was right. However, I did talk to him and he does have a reason behind what he did, so at least he wasn't a total jerk. Don't get me wrong, he is still a jerk for doing that."

Sophie smiled, but her smile soon disappeared when they reached Fitz's door.

"Here we are," Biana said quietly. "You... you don't mind if I come in, do you?"

"Of course not. He's your brother, after all."

Bianca smiles  and they carefully opened the door and walked in. Biana stayed near the door, giving Sophie some space with Fitz. She walked over to Fitz, Fitz not saying a word.

He had his eyes on her, though, so she knew he saw her and was aware of her presence.

"Hello, Fitz," Sophie said calmly. "How are you doing?"

"Why are you here?" he asked quietly. There was emotion in his face, but only sadness. He wasn't emotionless, at least.

"Because I care about you."

"Do you?"

"Fitz, of course I do. I am your Match, remember? What you saw was merely half of the story."

Fitz shrugged. "I just doesn't feel like you care about me. Sophie, I tried so hard, so hard, to take you on good dates and bake you stuff and spend tons with you and not rush things and it just breaks my heart to see that all being thrown away when I see you kiss my best friend."

Ouch. Okay, just breathe, Sophie.

Just because he said his heart is broken doesn't mean it is.

"I am really sorry, truly. But, Keefe kissed me. Not the other way around. Plus, you wouldn't even let me explain myself."

Fitz's face twisted into a different emotion: anger. When he talked his voice was louder and slightly deeper. "Sure, blame it all on me."

"Fitz, that's not what I meant-"

"Sophie, it... it hurts when you're here. Can you... can you please leave?"

Fitz said it so politely with such innocence, that Sophie wanted to melt right there and tell him yes, yes, she would do whatever made him feel better.

It didn't help when she saw that a small, but very real tear had slid down Fitz's face.

"No," Biana interrupted. "Fitz, don't even try to tell me you don't like Sophie a heck of a lot. She is trying to mend things with you and you are jabbering nonsense. Shut your mouth and make things right. Don't tell your Match to leave."

"Sorry," he mumbled, not making eye contact with either girls.

"Now," Biana said. "Sophie is going to reach out with her telepathy to see if you... are okay," Biana worded carefully. "Sophie, work your magic.

Sophie nodded and began to reach out with her power.

She didn't know exactly how this would work, but she imagined her telepathy stretching slowly in all directions. Not necessarily reading anyone's minds, but it was like she was using her telepathy to "see" everything around her. In a couple seconds, the invisible, mind-made barrier reached Fitz and Sophie suddenly found it hard to stay on her feet. There was this force that wanted to suck Sophie away. 

Sophie adjusted her mind barrier to be a long string instead of a circle in all direction and let the strong follow the path of pain.she followed it closer and finally reached the core. It wasn't angry, aggressive, or upset like she thought it would be, but it was so sad. 

Sophie could feel herself fall to the ground and could faintly hear Biana yelling, but she kept her eyes shut and stayed at the heart of sadness. It was strange— it felt so incredibly sad that Sophie honestly couldn't quite think straight. Amongst the sadness was a trace of loneliness laced in with the sorrow. In the cracks of the sad area, was and inward hate. Sophie didn't know how to describe it, but it was like there were cracks in the sadness that had a strong feeling of self hate.

But Sophie really didn't understand why Fitz would be mad at himself. Finally, the negativity pulled Sophie under and she forced her eyes open and sucked in a breath. She was no longer in Fitz's heart, but instead in her own home with Biana, Edaline, Grady, and Elwin standing over her.

"You're up!" Edaline said cheerfully and bent over to hug Sophie.

"Hello, kiddo," Grady greeted with a smile.

"Umm, what?" Sophie asked. "Why am I here? Biana, what happened?"

"Well," Biana started, "at one point you collapsed. I could tell you were conscience, just weak. So I sat next to you to support you and called Elwin. He came over in a couple minutes, but at that time you had passed out. Elwin brought you here about half an hour ago."

"I didn't think it would be best to give you any medicines," Elwin said. "Given the unknowns in the situation, I didn't want to give you anything that would upset you in case whatever you saw in Fitz had messed with your head or did any damage I couldn't see. You're heart rate and breathing were normal, so I figured you'd wake up soon."

Sophie nodded, processing the information. "What about Fitz? Is he okay?"

"He... he was worried about you. He still likes you, you know," Biana said. "He didn't show tremendous emotion, but he was by your side when you passed out. He is still being stubborn and didn't want to leave his room to come here with you. But he begged Elwin to leave you in his room so he could be with you, but we figured it would be better if you were in your own home."

"Plus," Edaline said, "we want to make sure our daughter was alright."

"Sorry for worrying you guys," Sophie said sheepishly.

"Honestly," Grady said, "we weren't too worried. Elwin said you looked fine, and we knew you had survived much, much worse. We waited with you on your room with Biana and Elwin, but we weren't freaked out or anything."

"Good," was all Sophie could say. I mean, was she supposed to say: "well, sorry for getting injured so often that you don't worry when I pass out for 30 minutes." ?

Yeah... no.

They all discussed things, from Fitz's health to what dinner plans were.

Everyone settled with the fact that Fitz's health wasn't in good shape and it would be wise to regroup and talk about it on the evening over a home cooked meal. The Vacker's would be coming and so would Elwin, Tiergan, Mr. Forkle, and Tam.

Biana wanted her boyfriend with her and she argued that if Tam knew, he could relay the information to Linh and then be passed on to Keefe. This way, Biana said, we wouldn't have to "clutter the room with extra people".

Sophie was disgusted by the fact that Linh was still with Keefe after what he did.

She wasn't mad at Linh, but at Keefe for whatever twisted up lie he had to make for her to stay. She made a mental note to talk to Linh soon.

And all too soon, Edaline was preparing the meals and setting the large dinning room table with beautiful aqua placemats, simple, yet elegant light grey plates and bowls, and gold silverware with light gray cloth napkins. The setup up was simple yet gorgeous.

By 6:00 everyone was seated around the table beginning to fill their plates with the meal Edaline and the gnomes cooked up.

"So," Alden said, addressing the elephant in the room. "I think we can all agree that, based on the evidence and theories provided by Sophie, my son has a broken heart."

Everyone nodded and agreed silently.

"So... what are we going to do about it?" Biana said, clearly pushing for an answer to cure her brother.

"Well," Tiergan said, "I think we should first try the recommended healing process they softest in the book. They figured out heartbreak was real, so we should try out their theory of how to fix it."

"That would be a wise course of action," Mr. Forkle mentions. "The book says the person performing the healing must fill the area by projecting the emotions opposite of those that caused the heartbreak. So... the big question: what caused Fitz's heartbreak."

"He probably didn't feel loved," Sophie offered.

"Sophie, dear," Della said, "can you make a list of these so we can keep track?"

"Of course."

Sophie grabbed a pen and paper before returning to her seat and writing down the word "love" on a piece of paper.

"If I was Fitz," Tam began, "I would feel no self-worth, kind of like self deprecation."

Sophie nodded and added "self worth" to the list of things they would need to project on Fitz.

"Loneliness," Biana offered. "He was isolated a while in his room, so maybe loneliness plays a part?"

"Very good thinking, Biana," Mr. Forks praised.

Sophie thought about how to find the opposite emotion and then finally scribbled "acceptance" onto the paper.

"That's a good list," Grady said. "So... what are the emotions we need Fitz to realize?"

"Love, self worth, and acceptance," Sophie read off.

Everyone nodded and processed the information.

"I have an idea," Della announced. "Sophie would obviously be the one filing his heart with these positive emotions, but we should also make posters on each subject and display them while Sophie does her magic. We can also have people in the room, reading on the posters or saying encouraging words. Maybe that would help?"

"That's a great idea!" Edaline said. "Maybe Biana and I could make the posters?"

"I'd love to," Biana said. The two girls left the room to begin their project. Tam tagged along as well.

"We should cook his favorite breakfast and about 30 minutes later, begin the healing process," Alden suggested. "I have observed my son being in a better mood after breakfast."

"Okay. Should we aim to meet at Everglen around 9:15 and start the healing at 9:30?" Mr. For joe asked. 

Alden and Della looked at each before Della nodded and Alden said, "yes, I believe that would work nicely."

"Okay, perfect... Sophie, I don't want you going into Fitz's heart without an adult. Maybe Tiergan could be your backup?"

"I would be fine with that," Sophie said. "What about you, Tiergan?"

Tiergan cleared his throat and said, "if you would like me to, yes, yes I can do that."

The rest of the evening was spent planning down every last minute of the healing, creating backup plans and what to do if someone got hurt. They discussed who would be doing what, when they would be doing it, and even where people would stand in Fitz's room to create the most comfortable, easygoing position.

Bianca, Edaline, and Tam created three wonderful posters. They read:

"You are loved."

"You are perfect just the way you are." 

And

"You are accepted."

Each poster had pictures and writing about all of the best moments regarding each topic.

The posters had calming colors and a simple, clean, professional look that wasn't overwhelming.

"Good work, everyone," Mr. Forkle concluded. "May I remind you how important it is to be punctual. Everyone plays a part and we need to come across to Fitz as a united force that he can trust, love, and rely on. If one is absent and we are hurrying and do not have a solid plan, it won't be as effective. We will meet again at 9:15 sharp. Good job, everyone."

With goodbyes, the house was soon empty and only Grady, Edaline, and Sophie remained. Sophie gave each of her parents a hug and a kiss on the cheek before disappearing into her room and almost immediately falling asleep. 

She dreamed of all the wonderful times spent with Fitz, their dates, and all of their kisses and time spent together. They really were one amazing, unstoppable force when they were together. The bond they shared was like no other. 

Sophie only hoped that bond wasn't forever lost.

Guys, I am sorry. I have no words. I know I am late.

Nope, no excuses. Just please accept my apology. And hopefully you like the long chapter??

It was kind of boring, but let me know what you think of it.

Also, I will update BY August 10th. That means if I have it done before that I will update, if not, the latestI will update is the night of August 10th.

One last thing... I was looking at how many reads I have (A LOT — which is SUPER awesome 👏🏻😊) But I have LESS THAN one thousand votes. Which is confusing because I have thousands and thousands of reads. Please, please, PLEASE vote!!! I know I got a comment ok how I can't "force people to vote." And... you're right, I can't. BUT, if you aren't when I plead you to, to me that is lazy. It doesn't even take that long! Less than five seconds to scroll to the top and tap the star. The same comment said something like it was hassle to vote. So what? If I can write two thousand words every two or three weeks, you can go through each chapter and click a button. If you think it is a hassle to vote, think about me! It isn't exactly "convienient" to spend three or four hours every two or three weeks to create chapter for you! But I do it. And so should you! Just vote, please? I am hoping to get over 1000 votes by next tome I publish. 

Thanks,

Biana 😘