~edited~

Danny was the first visitor, after my argument with Nate. I was happy to see him. Maybe he'd manage to uplift my spirits.

"Hey, Vane. How are you feeling?"

I sighed. "Fine. Just drained and annoyed at these slings. I can't even sit up."

"It must be a pain," he said, furrowing his eyebrows in concern.

"You have no idea."

Suddenly, he cleared his throat. I moved my gaze away from the door to his face.

He looked serious. And trust me, I had never seen Danny so serious. If he was, then there must be something important or big happening.

"Nate told me what happened between you two." I frowned. That was what got him so serious? Seriously?

"What happened, Vane?"

My eyebrows knitted in confusion. "When?" I asked. "When you fell down the stairs," he answered.

I froze. "Nothing." I looked at anywhere but him. I heard him sigh. "You know you can trust me, Vane. Just tell me what happened. My aunt won't. So, did you fall on your own or...did someone push you?"

My breath hitched in my throat. What was he implying? Why did he want to know so badly?

"I told you. Nothing happened. I fell on my own," I whispered. I think the tears were coming. "Why are you lying? I won't tell anyone, Vane. I promise you. I really need to know what happened. The truth."

This guy was so darn persistent. I was going to end up spewing out everything.

"I can't," I told him. "Did my aunt push you down the stairs, Vanessa?" I started panicking. "Wha...what do you mean?"

"Did Heather push you down those stairs after your heated argument?"

I gulped. I didn't know what to do now. But out of total fear, I told him the truth.

"Yes...yes, she pushed me," I rushed out.

"I knew it," Danny mumbled but I heard him loud and clear. "How?" I questioned.

He looked at me in the eyes. "I have to tell you something I've been keeping for a long time. Promise me you won't tell anyone. Not even my cuz."

He looked dead serious so who was I not to promise? "Yeah, I promise to not tell anyone," I told him. He nodded.

"One day, my mom dropped me off at Heather and Jason's company. I was very excited to see them again. I used to believe they were innocent people. They were the best at that time."

I listened intently. For now, I was concluding this story wouldn't have much of a happy ending.

"So, I skipped inside the building and smiled at the receptionist like I always did. I strolled to the elevator and pressed the top floor button. That's where their office was."

"I wanted to surprise them that day. I thought they would be happy to see their favorite nephew. I didn't know that I was the one to be surprised."

"Sure, the elevator dinged and I trudged towards their office. I heard screams of pain but I ignored it, thinking it was my mind playing tricks on me."

"It wasn't. Each step I took towards that office, the screams got louder. And I thought I heard my aunt shouting."

"I got closer and closer and the screams and the shouting were now clearer to me than before. I slowly opened that office door. They were stupid not to lock it."

"I stepped inside and to my complete horror, I saw blood everywhere. There was a man tied to a chair and you could clearly see his ribs. His skin was shredded in some places."

"I was frozen to the spot. That is not what a teenager would want to see. My gaze flickered back and forth between people I used to love."

"Heather was busy holding a saw while Jason was holding a sledge hammer. What they were going to do before I got there is beyond me."

"Of course, Heather shouted and yelled at me. They said I should promise to keep quiet or else...they would kill my parents."

"Not wanting my parents to die or anyone in my family for that matter, I kept my mouth shut. Until now."

What shocked me, was how calm he was. If I were him I would be full on crying right now. I knew there was no happy ending.

It was just so sad. Having to replay that image for the rest of your life was horrible. I would've killed myself a long time ago.

Danny was strong and I'd admire him for that from then on. "That's why Heather was the first guess of how you fell down the stairs. You were with her."

"Too bad Nate will never believe me. I seriously need to think about our relationship. What if Heather tries to kill me again? And succeeds this time?"

"You're in a tough situation right now," he said with a chuckle of his own.

"You don't know half of it, Danny. And thank you for telling me. About what happened."

"You deserved to know. You were her victim and I love you. I couldn't let you stay in the dark. You needed to know what this Heather is capable of."

I gave him a sad smile. "I love you, too. And not to be rude or anything, but can you leave me alone now? I have a lot to think about," I told him.

"Before I leave, I'm going to ask you not to give up on your relationship with my cousin." My eyebrows rose. "What you are requesting of me is too much, Dan," I complained.

"Look, Vane. You are literally Nathan's one chance at love. There is no one who has changed him like you have. The transformation is amazing, really."

"What you two have, is unique. Please don't give up when you barely even started to discover it. Or explore it."

"But Heath–" He cut me off,"Heather is just an obstacle. She can be easily removed from your lives. So please think about it, Vane. I know you love him. And you may not know this yet, but he loves you too."

"Just think about how great your life would be with my cuz. How he could be in your life 24/7. There when you are sad. There when you are sick and there to make you happy."

"Do you see anyone but Nathan as your lifetime partner? Or for now, boyfriend?" Okay, he definitely made some sense.

"Honestly, no. I could never picture myself with someone else. Not now and not ever," I answered truthfully.

"Good. There you have it. I'll see you later, Vane. Nice chat," he said and then left me alone. So that was just it? I was not giving up on our relationship?

Meaning, there was a second date coming? Great!

And just then, I remembered the promise I had made to him. I promised to plan something else if we didn't enjoy his birthday.

And that was what I was going to do. Until that substitute birthday party, I still had to pretend as if I was still on the break I was asking for.

Painful to even think about it, but yeah. Just to not ruin the surprise.

Nathan walked in. I suppressed the good news hanging on the tip of my tongue. He looked much more calm now. Maybe Danny talked to him.

I swear, Daniel was the best.

"Look, Princess. I'm sorry for rushing out earlier without a proper response. I just came to tell you that it's fine. If it's a break you need then I will give it to you."

"I'll happily be waiting for you. And, about you moving out of your home...we bought an apartment for you. We bought the furniture and everything. The only thing that's missing is the owner. And that's you."

"WHAT?!" I shouted, eyes wide in surprise. "You did that all for me?" He nodded. "Oh my gosh, give me a hug," I said, my heart swelling. He laughed and came closer to me.

He wrapped his strong arms around me. He didn't hold me tight like he usually did. Probably because I was injured.

And the fact that I couldn't hug him back because of these slings made me sad. "It makes me sad that I can't hug you back," I thought out loud.

"It's okay. You will soon and I'll be looking forward to it." I laughed a little. We pulled away from the hug and he took a step back.

My face fell. "Since you are discharged, I can take you to your new apartment."

"I'm discharged? Already?" I questioned. He nodded in response. "That's weird," I commented. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and jumped off.

"You're going to have to undress me and dress me," I told him with a sigh. He looked apalled. "Hey, hey. It's not like you haven't done it before," I reminded him.

"Well...yeah. But this time you're not wearing your bra," he said. I rolled my eyes. "You're going to have to close your eyes, then," I suggested.

He sighed and nodded.

He ended up undressing and dressing me successfully without looking. I had to coach him, sometimes. He decided to put me in a dress, considering it would be much easier.

Of course, we had to take off the slings, which made my arms float in pain.

It was a good thing I was able to walk. I didn't know what I would have done if I found out I couldn't use my legs, either.

We drove to the apartment in silence. Until I remembered something really really important and broke it,"My exam! I didn't write my exam!"

"Don't worry about that. Bella took care of it. She talked to your lecturer and promised you would write it once you recover," he eased my worries.

But not all of them.

What worried me more is that he hadn't called me 'Princess'. That was a bummer. But anyway, we arrived at the building.

It looked exquisite with facebricks. It was really tall, mind you. It looked expensive too. How the heck was I going to afford this place's rent for the rest of the year?

We parked the car and walked inside. I looked around, and it looked beautiful. I had never seen a place like this before.

We entered the elevator and Nathan pushed the button. He knew where we were going. We stood in silence, waiting for the elevator ride to end.

Soon enough, it did and we stepped out. I remembered my apartment as the third door on my right. We walked inside and I was immediately greeted by beauty.

I stood in the middle and gazed at the kitchen on my right.

It was not the end of it. On my left was the living room. I bet I was smiling like I had won the lottery. It felt like I did.

"OMG! Thank you so much! This place looks so nice. And you used blue?" I kept on gushing. "Yeah. We used your favorite colours. Come on, let me show you our room. Uh...I mean, your room," he fixed himself.

I blushed at the thought of me sharing a room with him. I don't mind, though. We walked further down and he opened the first door in the hallway.

I stepped inside and gasped.

He used black. And as far as I know, black was one of my favorite colours and his. I am speechless.

"Do you...like it?" He questioned, nervously. I walked inside and plopped on the bed. It was so bouncy.

"I don't like it, I love it," I told him. "Really? Well, I thought you wouldn't like the black. I thought I had used it too much..."

As he continued rambling gibberish, I had stood up and trudged to him. I stood in front of him and after that?

After that, I leaned in and slammed my lips to his.

Just as it was getting better, he pulled away. "We shouldn't be doing that," he whispered. "Doing what?" I asked, feigning confusion.

"Kissing. You said you needed a break and I don't think kissing is going to help with the uh...process," he responded.

Oh...I almost forgot about that.

"But we–"

He interrupted,"Look, I need to go. You're welcome, by the way. Since you can't use your arms, Bella is coming to stay with you. I'll see you when I see you. Goodbye, Princess."

He didn't give me a chance to say anything before he ran out. Leaving me in my apartment.

Alone...and regretful.