Chapter 61 – November 11th

"I love you."

I thought it was too late to tell him those three words even though it's too late to feel confident enough to say it to his face and in front of my mom. Even though I'm still breaking and hurting inside.

I shake his body as he slowly collapsed on the floor. I looked at James angrily as his face turned shocked because he shot his own friend, dropping the gun on the concrete floor. The sound of the heavy object hurt my ear. His eyes began to pool with tears, "O-oh n-no..." his voice was shaking.

I hear footsteps behind James and Trevor as I saw Noah, Logan, Ethan, and Caleb. I looked at Cayden as I continuously cried my eyes out as I held him in my arms. The color of his face begins to turn pale, and his skin begins to feel cold.

"What happened?" Logan asks as I pointed at his stomach, hugging Cayden at the same time. "The cops should be here any minute now."

I look behind me, and there was no sign of Trevor and Nolan. They must've run away, but instead of seeing James leave us, he stayed. He walked towards me slowly while looking down at Cayden, as he cries his eyes out in front of Cayden and me.

"I-I'm so sorry, " James says. His hands were shaking, and so were his knees. He starts to bend down, touching Cayden's hand. Before he can touch him again, Noah punched James as he totally collapsed on the floor with a bloody nose.

"That's for shooting your own best friend, " He says. Logan walked towards Noah and James, and they start kicking the side of James's body. "That's for betraying your own friends."

Soon enough, we hear the sirens of the ambulance. My mom looks down at me as she tries to hug me, "Everything's going to be okay now, " She says as she tries to hush me down. The paramedics came rushing inside the building to help Cayden.

While the police arrested James for kidnapping and attempted murder. James looks at me with sadness written all over his eyes, "I hope you can forgive me for what I did, " He says. Logan puts his arm around my shoulder and tries to pat my back. "Fuck you and your apology!" Logan shouts.

"Let's go after Cayden at the hospital. But the guys and I need to go to the Police station; first, we'll catch up with you guys, and we'll meet you there, okay?" Logan says, and I nodded my head as we all went down the stairs and finally escaped the abandoned, scary building in the middle of nowhere.

I hopped in the ambulance as I saw my mom get inside of her own car probably. Logan and Noah went inside a car and started driving opposite of where the ambulance is going. I looked at Cayden as the paramedics do their job of keeping Cayden alive.

I grabbed Cayden's hand and took a good squeeze as I keep on crying silently. "Stay with me."

***

We arrived at the hospital. I was shaking as soon as they started rushing Cayden inside the operating room to remove the bullet from his stomach, as I sat down and wait patiently for the nurses and doctors to deliver the news about Cayden's condition.

My mom arrived on time and was sitting right beside me. We still haven't talked about Cayden, and I's confession. I know it hurts for her, but it hurts me more, knowing that the person I finally opened up my heart to was going to be the person who's going to break my heart too.

I know that my mom is aware of my feelings towards Cayden. I told her before that he was my boyfriend when I saw him enter the restaurant together with his little brother. If only she knew how torn I was when I found out about their engagement and the man she is about to marry.

The door of the operating room swings open as the doctor removed his mask and walked towards us, "Do any of you are the patient's relative?" he asks us as I look up at him, standing up on the chair.

"He's my..."

"My step-son."

My mom finishes the sentence. God, it hurts to hear that. It doesn't sound right, especially when those words come out of my own mother's mouth. I cringe at the thought of calling him 'big bro,' especially when your 'big bro' is actually the person you once fell in love with.

"We successfully removed the bullet, and he's in good hands. We'll just transfer him to a room for him to rest, and once he wakes up, you can call me on the register so that I can check his vital signs, " The doctor said as my mom nods her head. The doctor soon walks away as he removes his gloves along.

The nurses escorted Cayden as they push him into a vacant room so that he could rest. I look at my mom, and she flashes me a sad smile as I return it to her.

"I'll go check on Cayden, " I told her as she nods her head and continues to plaster her sad smile on her face.

"Hailey..."

"Don't worry, mom. I'm going to do what's right for me to do, " I told her. I walked off and followed the nurses as I enter Cayden's room. The room feels melancholic because of the color of the room. The wallpapers were painted white and sky blue. The floor is pastel blue, and the bed and curtains were plain white. The only decoration that's hanging on the wall is a painting, a bowl of fruits.

I walked towards Cayden and sat down beside him. I grabbed his hand and take a good squeeze." I was wrong, and everything I said to you back there was true, " I look down at his hand as I caress it. "I was selfless."

"I wanted my mom's happiness before mine because I thought that would've made me the best daughter that she could ever ask for, but again, I was wrong. I won't be and will never be the best daughter because I wasn't honest to myself and my own mother about my feelings."

My mom would always tell me that 'there's nothing wrong with loving a person when that person loves you back, and I thought that when I loved Cayden, I thought I was hurting everyone but me because I was happy. I thought I was selfish. I was wrong, very, very wrong, and I regret every mistake that I made.

"Everything is messed up, and I don't even know how we are going to start again, but I know that letting you go is the right thing for me to do. Because..." I looked at him as my eyes began to water," If you love someone, you'll let them go, and if you two are meant to be, destiny will find its way to bring the two of you back together."

"I'm sorry. You are worth fighting for, but you are not worthy of being loved by someone who is confused about her own feelings towards the person she's willing to fight for but is too weak to do so. You deserve so much more than what I can give," I cried. "I just have to accept the fact that you are and will be my stepbrother."

I stood up from the chair and ready to leave his room when suddenly, I felt someone grab my wrist, preventing me from leaving the room, "what makes you think that I am not worthy of your love when all the love I want to receive is only from you? And you're going to take that away?"

"I don't care if you think that you are confused. I don't care whether you call yourself weak or strong. I do not care all about the horrible and negative things you say about yourself because I will still love you no matter what," Cayden said as my eyes widen. I looked at his grip on my wrist and looked back into his eyes.

"You're awake—"

"I love you, and you love me. Isn't that enough for you?" Cayden cuts me off and asks me as I look down at my feet as I felt the tears trickle down my face slowly and as my throat begins to hurt because of the intensity.

"I brought flowers for Cayden—" Noah enters the room and stops speaking as soon as he sees Cayden awake, his eyes begin to widen. "You're awake!" He says as covering his mouth with his bare hand, "Nurse!" Noah shouted.

"I'm sorry." is all I could ever say to Cayden before I remove his grip from my wrist and start running out of his room, bumping into Noah's shoulder accidentally. Why am I making the biggest regret of my life right now?

I'm doing this for his dad and my mom, to give both of our parents a happy ever after. So that the two of them could love one another without being able to know that their son and daughter are in a relationship that could ruin their own relationship.

Call me stupid and whatever you want, but all I did was for the sake of my mom and his dad's happiness. I did this because I love him, and I will never stop loving him. I won't learn how to love someone if I didn't let them go. If he's meant for me and I'm meant for him, then I wouldn't waste the opportunity of accepting him back in my life.

"You are worth the fight."

Believe me, Cayden, I am not. You shouldn't waste your own time with someone who doesn't know how to fight for your love, and that person doesn't deserve to love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you. But you deserve better than this.