Chapter 61

**Kapittel 61**

**Some things in the world** would never change, and one of them was feelings. Feelings were constant. It was impossible for a living creature, especially a person, to not feel anything. Some people may say that they were heartless and didn't feel anything at all. But that was a lie.

People get hurt emotionally, and they change when in pain. Even if you loathe a person you once loved, you couldn't help yourself but care if something terrible happened to them, and care meant to love. No matter how hard you deny that you didn't care, you know that deep inside you, you do. That was a person's nature. No matter how hard you twist and turn the Earth, feelings never change.

"I see that you still like white coffee, huh?" asked Dane as he placed a cup of searing white coffee frothing with steam and a plastic bottle of water over her direction.

She gave him a small smile in response. "Old habits die hard, Dane," she told him before taking the cup and lifting it to her lips, taking a small sip that rendered her to moan in delight. The delightful sweetness of the cream and coffee was very overwhelming and restorative. She looked at him over her eyelashes and saw him looking at her with emotions that she could not state. Her eyes furrowed in confusion, wondering what was on his mind. "A penny for a thought?" she asked him.

He shook his head and smiled at her. "You still haven't changed, I see. You can still read if a person is pondering."

She laughed in response to his statement. "That's my hidden talent."

He just nodded in reply. "I see," he said before holding his cup and lifting it to his lips, but as soon as his lips touched the cup. "Ah!" he groaned and coughed. He just marred his tongue, and what was worse, he choked on his own drink!

"Tsk, tsk," she quickly handed him the bottle of cold water. He took it and drank it immediately, but it only rendered him to cough even more. Out of worry, Allison stood up and made her way towards him. She placed her hand on his broad back and rubbed her palm up and down, soothing him.

"Are you okay now?" she asked him when she noticed he wasn't coughing anymore.

He sniffed before answering, still recovering. "Yeah."

Once she was reassured, she sighed in relief before returning to her seat. She placed an elbow on the table and rested her cheek on her palm. She scrutinized him, observing him from his face to his body and his posture. "You seem restless," she stated at him. She looked down at his things that were resting below the table. "And, what are those baby paraphernalia for?" she asked before looking at him with curious eyes.

She saw him stiffen when he heard her ask. Her brows furrowed in confusion once again. As far as she remembered, Dane didn't have either sister or a cousin. He only had his father as family, and he was like her, an only child. His father didn't even bother remarrying, as far as she knew. So what would he make use of those baby paraphernalia?

A thought suddenly struck her like a bolt of lightning. 'Don't tell me...'

"Well," he coughed before placing the cup of coffee down on the table. "How's life, Al?" he asked her, trying to change the topic. It seemed that he didn't have the heart to talk about it.

"I'm doing fairly fine," she answered him before taking a sip of her coffee once again.

"It must've been. I mean, of course, you're getting married..."

This time, she was the one who stiffened at his statement. She felt her heart lurch deep inside her chest and her insides getting wild in madness. She remembered that man again.

"Is there something wrong, Allison? Are you not feeling well?" she heard Dane ask her worriedly.

She looked at him through her lashes and gave him a sad smile. "I'm not getting married anymore, Dane."

"Wh... What?" he breathed out in flabbergast.

"The engagement..." she trailed off. "...was broken off."

"Oh," he paused for a moment, hesitating to ask more questions.

"I don't want to remember that, though, so let's not talk about it," she said earnestly before shaking her head and asking him, "How about you? How's life, Dane?"

"Stressful," he immediately retorted before taking a sip.

"I can see that," she paused for a moment. "Why, though?" she couldn't help but ask that made him fall silent. Allison tapped her fingers on her cup and bit her lower lip. 'Stupid, Allison! You shouldn't have asked for further!' she chided herself mentally. Now she was putting him on an uncomfortable pedestal in exchange for avoiding the topic about Hades and their broken engagement.

She drooped her head down. "I'm sorry, I should..."

"I got her pregnant."

"Wh... Who?" she asked him.

He heaved off a heavy sigh. "Jewell."

'Jewell...' she felt like she was struck by lightning when she heard that name. Jewell Valencia, Dane's colleague who held an attraction towards him. The woman he told her not to worry about.

"You got Jewell pregnant?" she asked him incredulously, "When? How?" she saw his hands start quivering as he gripped tightly on the hot cup. Even though his head was drooping down, she could see his eyes darkened in anguish. She reached for him and held his hands, and he looked at her in surprise. She gave him an assuring smile in return, "Spill, Dane. You know what will happen if you won't open up," she rubbed her thumb against his. "Don't worry. I will listen."

He broke off a small, sad smile before telling his tale, pouring all his grief and frustrations. It happened a month before they broke up. He went along with his colleagues to celebrate a successful open-heart surgery that Dane assisted. Along with those colleagues was Jewell Valencia, another cardiology intern who was rumored to be attracted to him. The group ate heartily and drank beer too much to the point that he became blitzed and lost control over himself. Then the next morning, he woke up and found himself in a hotel with her, completely naked under the sheets. The two agreed that they would pretend that nothing happened to them and live their everyday lives a month until Jewell found out she was pregnant and said that it was his as he was the only man she had a sexual encounter with.

Dane talked, telling all the pain and pressure he had felt while she listened to him, soothing him by caressing her thumb against his. She knew how he felt. She may have experienced a different situation, but she knew how it felt. The pain. The pressure. The hatred.

"I hope you can forgive me for what I've done to you, Al," he apologized to her.

"I will," she told him and smiled softly. Dane looked at her with joy in his eyes, but it faltered because of the next thing she said, "But on one condition."