Chapter 107

Chase's POV. 

I was still very much haunted from how I reacted when Emma told me about it. 

Every time I saw her wear a painful look on her face I remembered how it mirrored the look she wore when she told me. 

The sleep at night was somewhat chaotic. She had a bout of nightmares. 

I was scared to my bones when I heard her scream the first time, but it was rather a relief when I saw she was still asleep. 

It happened three times more, and every single time, I got less scared than I was before. 

 "How are you?" I asked. I'd been staring at her for over an hour, when the day was still a bit dark. 

 "Better." She replied, turning from me and facing the wall. 

I thought today was gonna be different. Maybe she'd be warmer, calmer, more composed. 

I had the most beautiful smile on, ready to make her world different from what it used to be. 

 "I loved watching you sleep." I said, like I'd done every morning since we'd been together. 

Emma's smile was a bit shy, or cold, frosty, I didn't want to presume. But it sure lasted shorter than I felt it should've. 

 "I think we should go somewhere today." I said. 

 "Where do you have in mind?" She asked. 

She wasn't sounding so interested, but I was gonna make it a better day than the day before. 

 "You say." I replied, gayly.

 "I don't think I have anywhere in mind." Emma murmured. 

 "Just suggest something off the top of your mind." I requested. 

I put my hand on her waist, after which she brushed it off. 

One minute passed, two minutes passed, Emma wasn't saying anything. 

 "Emma." I called out to her. 

Still no reply. 

Maybe I'd done it. Maybe I was overbearing. 

I decided to do the next cute thing on my list, which was breakfast. 

When I was younger, I was more ashamed to admit that I was a genius in the kitchen. 

I made breakfast the way I watched my mom make it before the cold hands of death snatched her away some sunny afternoon. 

I tasted it, and it was one of the best I'd made yet. 

Emma wasn't lying down anymore, she was seated up, even though her head was bent, I could see the bold dark circles that had formed around her eyes. 

I felt like shit, that it was taking that much toll on her. 

 "I made pancakes." I announced my presence. 

She could not even be bothered to look up! 

If I was gonna be honest with my feelings, I was getting bored of being pushed and shoved, and snubbed. 

I really just wanted to have a good life with the girl I loved the most. 

I really didn't see it being so hard. 

 "They're gonna get cold, Emma." I broke the awkward silence. 

 "Hmm." She grunted. 

 "Should I get you something?" I asked her. 

 "Mm." She grunted again. 

I was going mad in my head. It was getting to the point where I wasn't gonna care anymore. 

 "I'm just gonna step out." I said, as politely as I could. 

The space was beginning to feel too small for her and I. 

The air was tense, and awkward too. 

 "Lord." I exclaimed as I shut the door to my own house. 

I literally ran out of my place because of the girl I claimed to love. 

Every single action I took, seems reasonable at first, but then ends up adding salt to the injury already on ground. 

 "Hey." I called Gray. Hadn't spoken to him for about two days. 

The whole thing going on didn't give me the chance to relish my friends resurface, after he'd been gone for more than a month. 

The Grayson family moved out of their house after my dad sent his boys. They started as pizza delivery, and then continued their visit brazenly, threatening his mom. 

I'm glad it's all water under the bridge. 

 "How are you and Emma now?"He asked. 

I wasn't sure I wanted to tell him what was up. But there was no one else I could talk to about it. 

I didn't know what I was doing.

 "I don't understand anymore, man." I sighed. 

 "What's up?" He asked. 

I heard Lily ask him some question which he answered hushedly. 

 "We lost the baby." I started. 

I could literally hear Gray hold himself from screaming. 

 "It's been dead for almost a week." I added. "And Emma's been different." 

 "Come on man." He chided, "You know how hard it must be on her." 

 "I know, but," I looked back to see if Emma wasn't near, "Sometimes, I feel like she's doing too much. She's been snubbing me, you know, stuff like that. And it hurts me, we're supposed to be going through this together." 

 "Well, you are." He replied. I wondered what Gray meant by that. " Yet here you are, you're not by her side." 

 "Come on man, give me a break I'm exhausted, I've been trying for as long as I could. I've done literally everything I can and it's not breaking her walls. At this point, it feels like she's being selfish about it." I said. I didn't want to think, nor act rationally. 

I wanted to say it the way I thought. 

 "I think you're projecting." He replied. "Or reversing roles. I hope she's not hearing that, and I'm gonna make sure Lily doesn't. You've gotta be really patient with her. Chase, I wish we could talk for longer, but we're supposed to be leaving for the airport now. We've got a deal to seal in Berlin, I'll see you when I get back. I'll tell Lily to keep in touch too." I was happy for Gray, I just wished I could be that happy too. 

 "Thanks man. Break a leg." I managed to summon every happy bone in me while I said that. 

 "Yeah, you too." He replied, "Break legs and not hearts." He laughed and cut the call. 

As I sat on my front porch, I contemplated what the future was gonna look like for us both. 

College was only a month away, Dad called to say I'd gotten acceptance mails from Harvard and MIT. 

There was one more thing I hadn't told Emma, apart from the fact that I actually applied to MIT, and it was that I'd joined my dads underground business. 

I wasn't pressured by anything,, I did it of my own choosing. 

If you can't beat them, join them, they say.