SPACES | 𝘯. 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯 (book 3) ✔

Time.

Niall's Pov:

"Mr. Horan, we're going to have to ask you to leave," the nurse says, topping the moving bed from going into the operating room. The doctors were able to get a hold of a donor and get a lung transplant for Emily. And now that she got through the hour of waiting for the lungs, they were going to take her into surgery right away. 

I looked away from Emily and at the nurse. "Right. Sorry."

I looked at Emily who smiled gently. "I'll be back. For Via."

I breathed deeply and nodded. "For Via."

The nurses took it as the cue to roll Emily away into the operating room and left me where I stood. 

~~~

It's been three hours already. Yomara was sitting on one of the waiting chairs beside Tom who was asleep with his head against the wall. I sat across from them with my elbows on my restless knees as I waited for the doctor working on Emily to come out and tell me she'll be okay. 

The boys took Via to get something to eat and made me call them if something were to happen while they were out. For now, I only stared hopefully at the nurses that would come in and out of my view. Yomara cleared her throat as she sat next to me. "We have to talk."

I sighed and nodded, sitting up. "I know."

"You really screwed up, Niall. I hope you know that" she says. 

I nodded. "I've been told."

"What were you thinking? Cheating on Emily is the worst thing you could've done."

"I wasn't," I admitted, looking down at my hands. "That's the problem."

"Clearly." Yomara nodded. "You hurt my best friend, Niall. You stooped so low that she wanted to cut off all ties between you and Via because she didn't want you to be the way Via saw was a correct way to treat a woman."

I sighed, closing my eyes in shame. I know I fucked up. And I know I can't go back and fix it. If it helps, I cut off all ties with Stacey. I thought over everything and anything for a way to make it up to Emily, and so far, have come up with nothing. I opened my eyes again and looked at Yomara, merely only making out the faint outline. "What do I do?" I asked, feeling my voice break. "I'm a mess that can't be cleaned up. I don't know what to do to get Emily to trust me anymore. I don't know what to do to prove to her family that I'm cut out to be a better father than I am a boyfriend. I--" I bit my lip ad shook my head, looking back down. 

"I don't want Via to grow up and have me as an example of how a man should treat a woman. I want her to have the best examples and have the best view of the world and not get overwhelmed with the world always expecting everything from you the minute they snap their fingers and say "now". I want her to step up for herself and know her self-worth. I want her to make sure the man she grows up to be with treats her like a queen. Like how I should've treated Emily."

Yomara sighs, placing a hand on my shoulder. "All you can give Emily is time. Don't expect her to take you back, though. You really broke her. But with time, she can trust you enough again to get through this shithole we call life. And with time she can forgive you. And you can prove to Via how a man should act and how to handle the rest of the world. Because that's what she deserves. Time is the only healer we can depend on right now."

I nodded and wiped my face free of the escaping tears 

It was a little while later that the doctor finally came out. I stood up immediately. "How is she?" I asked quickly.

"She bled a lot, and her blood type isn't a common one. But, we were able to switch out the lungs and get some more blood into her system," the doctor says.

"So she'll be okay?" I asked hopefully.

The doctor nodded, "With time and patience, she'll go back to normal."

I sighed in relief, feeling a whole wave of needing to cry come back. "Thank you. So much."

"It's my job," the doctor replies with a small smile.

"When can I see her?"

"Not now, she's resting, but once she wakes up-- which will be in a couple of hours-- you can see her. She'll be able to go home in a couple of days." The doctor pats my shoulder before walking away.

I called the boys right away, giving them the good news, and waited for them to get back to go visit Emily. All was going to be okay now.