13

EMILY'S POV.

I left John's house after he said all he wanted to, and stopped at a café, to drink a little coffee. I didn't know what next to do.

Maybe I really had to move in because I couldn't see myself begging John. My pride would never allow it. What made matters worse was that we were going to move to the family house. Had it been it were at his house, then I didn't have to see anyone.

The only time I'd see him would be when I was working. After that, I'd stay in other places he didn't frequent, but at the main building, it was going to be really… not chaotic, like a real chaotic house was, but chaotic to me, who was used to living alone.

After sipping coffee, and envying the people, who were having the fun of their lives without any worries, I decided to leave, and stop assuming things.

Their lives may not be as perfect as I thought it was.

Everyone had problems, and there was always someone with a bigger problem. I decided to be positive. There was someone dying in the hospital, at that very moment, there was someone else being diagnosed with lung cancer. There was someone who couldn't walk anymore due to an accident.

Living with John was nothing compared to all that? Being with him for three years wasn't the end of the world.

I got back to my house, and knocked on the door of Dahlia's room. "Come in, Emily." She said, and I walked in. She was folding clean clothes she had washed.

"What did he say?" She asked, dropping the last cloth she had folded.

"I'm going to be his secretary."

"Secretary? That's nice. Honestly, it's great. It's a lot better than being a maid." She said, and I sighed.

"But he says I have to move in by tomorrow." She added, and Dahlia's face fell.

"Move in? You'll live in his house?" She asked.

"It seems like the case. There's nothing else I can do. He won't take no, and I'm not going to beg him." I said, and she took my hands.

"It's going to be fine. Three years will be over before you know it. All you have to do is keep being strong, okay?" She said, reassuringly.

"I just wish I didn't have to see his face."

"You know, sometime in the future, you will look back on this moment, and smile. Everything happens for a reason, so just hang in there." She adviced, stroking my hands, and I nodded, even though I couldn't picture myself smiling anymore.

"But you'll be here, right? I want you to stay where I can easily find you, Dahlia." I said, not wanting a case where John would be the main reason we parted to continue on separate ways.

I wanted to stay with Dahlia for a very long time.

"What is my use without you? I'll simply be a burden."

"No, you're my burden lifter. I need you know you're still there. Stay here, take care of the house, and I'll come to visit from time to time, too. The house is under your care now. Its yours." I said, and tears glistened in her eyes.

I continued, "You can bring in anyone you want. Just promise me you'll be fine. I'll… I'll also try my best to be fine. Three years more, and we'll live together. Who knows, maybe we'll have a house bigger than this, and I'll be a designer attempting to break through the international market."

Dahlia hugged me, and it was hard to stop my tears from falling. It seemed like me moving out was going to strangle our relationship.

"I'll visit whenever I can, okay? Make sure you stay here, and always have my favorite snacks prepared." I said, and heard her sniff, then smiled.

I wasn't the only one sad about leaving.

She also didn't want me to leave.

Later that day, Dahlia and I packed my things, talking and laughing about our moments together.

"Remember when you wanted John, but got someone else instead?" She asked, and I burst into laughter.

"I almost burst into tears when my letter got into the wrong hands, and I couldn't do anything, or say the letter was mine." I said, giggling.

Proof that I had loved John almost all my life was us going to the same school almost all our lives. I'd watched him through the sidelines, and tried to confess my feelings to him when we were in middle school.

Unfortunately, some other idiot

Read it, and burst into tears because it was his first love letter. He had searched high and low until he found me, and forced me to take him home.

When I introduced him as my boyfriend, Dahlia had laughed because she knew John was the only one I ever wanted, so there had to be a mistake somewhere. Also, I was seeming like a stone. I didn't talk much, and didn't make much expressions.

The boy had been so happy, and it had taken two months for me to summon the courage, and break his heart.

"Why had it taken me so long to tell him the letter got into the wrong hands? I should have done it immediately." I said, and burst into laughter. "Remember when I first got noticed by John?" I asked, and she giggled.

"You spent days smiling and staring into space. It had been so tough to get to you, Emily. You really gave me a hard time. If I didn't call your name six times, then I wouldn't be successful in drawing you back from your head." She said, making me roll over on my bed, giggling.

"Remember when John asked me out?" I asked, and she closed her eyes.

"The worst." She said, and we began to sing.

"Love-struck! You had me Love-struck! My light switch, light my heart like a lamp!" We sang, and giggled.

"That was your anthem day and night. You had me singing the song, too, and I was shocked when I realized I knew the whole song."

"He had been so shy to tell me all along, and when I decided I was better off watching him from afar, than being so close, and getting hurt, he did something his shy self would never do. He called me out during the night of Homecoming dance, and confessed his feelings. That was our last year in high school." I said, smiling.

"That night was the beginning of my woes." Dahlia said, rolling her eyes with a smile. Apart from singing the same song every three minutes, I'd suddenly scream out loud. My first scream had been on the rooftop, and I'd nearly given Dahlia cardiac arrest.

When we were having dinner too, I screamed again, and it became a routine to scream unexpectedly at least thrice a day.

"Why did you even do that?" Dahlia asked, chuckling.

"That time, my emotions were too hard to control. It felt like they were too much in my chest. My heart raced, and it seemed like I'd suddenly stop breathing. So the pressure, mingled with the excitement and joy, always made me scream." I explained.

"Young love." Dahlia commented.

"Who knew John and I would end up this way? I wonder if I can ever love anyone else the way I loved him."

"Oh come on, you're still so young. You'll definitely find someone else." Dahlia reassured me, and I smiled.

"The person had better make me scream like John did." I said, and she chuckled.

"I'll be there to spank you if you're still screaming like that when you're all grown up." She said, and we laughed again.

While we packed up, Dahlia and I went back in time, reliving the good and the bad moments together; honestly, she was so optimistic that I could see myself falling for someone charming three years later.

And I couldn't wait to be completely over John.

~

When night fell, I took a slow walk around my house. It was my goodbye. I was leaving it.

The house my parents had left me in with Dahlia. My parents had been well off enough to get me a maid, which was Dahlia. Well, she started off as a nanny, before she began to clean the house, and gradually became my mother.

My parents had been very busy, and at a very young age, a business trip took them away from me forever.

My memories of them were dim, and I wished they weren't because they were happy memories. Being with my parents had been rare, so every moment I had with them was special and precious to me.

I looked around at the house once more, and sighed. I was about to say goodbye to a comfortable life.

My room was all packed, and only a few things were left behind. I was going to miss staying up long into the night with my chair in front of the window sill, making designs in the moonlight.

I was going to miss the freedom, and privacy I had, and above all, I was going to miss Dahlia, my beautiful mother.

For the last time, I sat at the window sill, looking out at the stars the night was beginning to reveal.

Would my secret with John's Uncle be safe?

Would it be spilled? Kept…? Would I be safe?