Crushes Fade, Love Stays

New Beginnings

"If that's true, would you be willing... no, actually, could you please break up with him?"

What? Zon stood completely dumbfounded. Had he heard him correctly? Did Saifah's brother really just ask him to break up with Saifah? Why? It made no sense whatsoever. Was this supposed to be a joke? Because it sure as hell wasn't funny. Taking a breath to calm down, Zon wiped his mind clear of speculative thoughts. He looked carefully at the muscular man with piercing eyes standing before him. This was Saifah's big brother. The one who had stopped speaking to his own parents because they treated Saifah badly. The one Saifah considers his most important family. Zon knew there had to be a reason behind such an absurd request.

"Why? I just told you I love him. Why would you ask me to break up with him?" Zon asked with narrowed eyes and a raised brow. Thinking he'd better have a damn good response or he was going to be pissed off.

"Because if you love him, then you will want what's best for him," he replied while perching on the edge of his desk. "Let me explain. I want to send Saifah abroad. There's a hospital in Japan that specialises in treating internal injuries like his, and I've already talked to a doctor there."

Zon was confused. He was burning with irritation at hearing breaking up with Saifah would be what's best for him, but why should they break up just because he'd go to Japan? "Hold up," he interrupted with a raised hand. "What does Saifah getting treatment abroad have to do with our relationship?"

Saifah's brother raked his hair back with his fingers with a look of frustration. "Look, you probably think he's fine right? That he is recovering well? Well, he's not." Seeing the look of surprise on Zon's face, he quickly added, "Sai believes he's fine, but that's because he only hears what he wants to. His doctor told him so many times he needs to rest and take time off from work, but he doesn't listen and thinks all he's doing is slowing the recovery time. But his doctor told me that if he keeps going like this he will end up with permanent damage or possibly even organ failure."

This news made Zon's stomach heavy and his chest hurt as if he'd swallowed stones. But still, none of this explained why he needed to break up with Sai.

"Sai won't take the time off work to go abroad and get treatment, especially now he's with you. He won't want to leave," explained Saifah's brother. "So I figure, if you break up with him, he'll be devastated and therefore much easier to persuade to go to Japan and get the treatment."

Zon's face deadpanned hearing such a ridiculous idea. He was not amused hearing a suggestion to manipulate Saifah in such a cruel way. He rubbed his brow as it furrowed in annoyance. Saifah had said his brother was a carbon copy of his father, but Zon hadn't thought he'd also inherited a warped mindset. How could he think emotionally crushing someone into submission was a good idea? Taking a breath to soothe his swelling temper, Zon looked up and met those piercing eyes with his own condescending stare. "I'll ignore what you just said. As I highly doubt you want to kill your brother, I'm going to assume you've never heard of broken heart syndrome."

His words were met with raised eyebrows. Saifah's brother indeed hadn't heard of such a silly sounding thing, but he was more surprised at how Zon didn't seem intimidated by him at all.

"Go ahead and look it up," said Zon with a gesture of his hand. All the researching he'd done for his novels was paying off unexpectedly. "You claim Saifah is already in a bad condition, and yet you want to put him under emotional distress and risk him developing heart problems on top of everything else? Well, I refuse."

Aside from that, he'd only just told Saifah he loved him. How could he suddenly turn around and break up with him for no reason? It would completely destroy Sai's trust in people. In him. Even if they got back together later, Saifah would probably be reluctant to open his heart and fully trust him again. Zon shook the painful thoughts from his mind. As a writer there was nothing he hated more in novels or dramas than a character breaking the heart of another character claiming it's what's best for them and that they're doing it out of love. All it does is leave two people heartbroken, and one emotionally scarred. He couldn't believe he was being asked to do it in real life. Zon would never do something so cruel to Saifah, or himself.