Third Shred of Love

Chapter 6.1

After some time in the future, you were back at work helping customers pick out their books when suddenly your phone rang.

"Excuse me," you said pulling out your phone. It was your mom.

"Mom?" You were a little confused as to why she was calling you. First of all she never called, only texted and second of all you two were in quite a disagreement.

"Y/N, sweetheart." She began. "How are you doing?"
"I'm at work right now why? What happened?"
"Is Steven okay? Did you finish moving in?"

She was clearly ignoring your questions.

"Mom what happened?" You could tell something was off. She sounded like she had something in her mouth, the voice that you hear from someone that just finished crying.

"Can you sit down?"
"Mom cmon what happened?"
You heard distorted blowing sounds in the microphone, assuming that she sighed.

"It's your father."

You swallowed. "What's wrong with dad?"
"He's sick. Last week I found him in the bathroom...on the floor."
"Wha-Last week?" You exclaimed.

You saw the customer, that you were helping earlier, look at you. "Sorry I've got to go, um John over there will help you find what you need." You motioned to a stubby man scanning some books in the corner of the library and, without further notice, you hurried to the archives room.

"Mom why are you only telling me this now?" You whispered. "How could you not tell me?!"

"Honey I thought he was going to be fine, I didn't want to put any stress on you and besides we weren't on speaking terms."
"FINE!? Mom you can't not tell me something this important just because we're not on speaking terms!" You couldn't believe what you were discussing right now.

"Y/N I'm sorry. I'm just really worried right now."
You felt your insides clench.

Not your dad.

Please just not him.

"What does he have?" You didn't want to know the answer to that, you really didn't.

"A heart disease. CAD. Coron-"
"Coronary artery disease." You finished for her with a sigh.
"Yes. Doctors said it could've been something a lot worse."

"So he had a heart attack?"
She was silent. You took that as a yes.
"But it's not that bad is it? I mean it's the most common heart disease in the US. He's just in recovery for now." Not only were you trying to calm your mom down, but also yourself.

The last thing you needed right now was negative thoughts.

"I suppose you're right, he's getting a stress test tomorrow."
"What is that?"
"The doctors are going to measure his heartbeat while he walks on a treadmill."
"So he can walk?"
"Got up yesterday."
"Oh thank god." You breathed. "I'm almost certain he's going to be fine, mom," You took a breathe in. "Dads a fighter you know that."

"Yes, that he is." You heard a smile in her voice.
"Alright I'm going to go now. Gotta work." You said pulling your face into a smile to comfort your mom.

"Yes, yes. Thank you Y/N, you made me feel a lot better."
"I love you, bye."
"Love you."

She hung up the phone.

"God," your smile that you forced disappeared as you let out a shaky breathe.

Not your lovely dad.

Comforting your mom was one thing. The truth was something else entirely. This meant everything, this changed everything. His life was hanging on by a thread that only obeyed the odds.

"No, no, no," you whispered screwing your eyes shut. Covering your face with your hands, you felt tears starting to build up, you crouched down hiding your face in your knees.

Light whimpers echoed in the big archive room.

A couple of minutes later you heard the door creak open and instinctively you sprang up straight.

"Oh there you are Y/N!" Mr.Crew cheered sarcastically. "Why aren't yo-Are you okay mo charaid?" You had absolutely no clue what the last thing he said was, probably something from Scottish slang.

"Yes sir." You sniffed.
"Were you cryin'?"
You shook your head. He walked over to you examining your face.

"Ye you were. What happened?"
"Nothing, I'm fine I'll get back to work." You wiped your eyes.
"Oh cmon, you're in no state to go back to work. If you tell me what happened I might just let ye go early." He said.

"My dads sick." You mumbled.
"Oh no, what's wrong with your father?" He raised his fuzzy ginger eyebrows.

"Heart disease." You wiped your eyes again.
"I'm sorre, my mom-a passed from heart failure too."

TOO!? Your dad wasn't dead YET!

"I'll let ya go then," he motioned to the door with his head.
"Really?" You blinked.
"Go on, before I change me mind."
"Thank you, sir." You were actually quite shocked. You were almost sure Mr.Crew was heartless.

By bus you were home in no time.

As you took off your shoes and coat you heard footsteps coming from the living room.

"Y/N? Why are you back so early?" It was Marc.

Great.

"Are you ok?"

You looked up at him without saying a word. If you were going to say something, your voice would wobble so much, that in the end you would just end up crying.

"Are you upset?" He tried to read your expressions.

Shaking your head you hurried to your room closing the door behind you.

Marc stood there not knowing what on earth had just happened, he was trying to decide between just leaving you alone or going to check on you.

He ended up settling with the second option and a hesitant knock on the door made you lift your face from the wet pillow that you were face planting.

"Y/N?" Marc saw you under the covers with your face dug into the pillow. He slowly walked over to you and kneeled down beside you, resting his chin on the bed.

"What's up?" He rubbed your shoulder, tilting his head.

"It's ok, I'm ok." Your voice was muffled by the fabric.

"You don't wanna tell me?"
You shook your head. You didn't want to tell anyone.

"Can you tell me later?" His voice was so tranquil and calming, it's like he knew what was going on.

You nodded, still hiding your face.

"I'll make you some tea yeah? It'll be on the table if you want some." He quietly got up and left, leaving you in sheer surprise of how he had just managed to calm you down without doing anything...