Temporary Fix ✔️

Chapter 39

Chapter 39 — When It Rains, It Pours

Neither Jason nor Aaron is to be found when he wakes up. He finds his mother in the kitchen, and it's morning. He slept through the night on the couch. He didn't even realise he was that tired.

"Good morning," he greets his mother.

"Good morning, darling. Your boyfriends left yesterday night, told me to inform you,"

"Oh, okay," he stifles a yawn just as his mother slides a steaming mug of coffee in front of him, "Thank you so much," he says, taking a sip, not bothering it scalds his tongue and the roof of his mouth, "Is that for Rylee?" he asks, nodding at the other mug she's filling.

She nods in reply.

"I can bring it to her. I need to see her anyways,"

She passes the mug to him, "She won't talk to me; maybe she will to you,"

"Yeah, I'll try. The kids–"

"I'll take care of them. Don't worry,"

"Thanks, ma,"

Picking up both the mugs, one his and another for his sister, he walks towards her room, knocking lightly with his elbow, before the pushing the door open. It wasn't closed all the way, so it wasn't much of a struggle, having both his hands occupied.

He expected his sister to be all covered up under her blankets and the room to be dark, like she was before. However, much to contrary, she is sitting up and the curtains are drawn, sunlight lighting the room. She doesn't acknowledge him and is staring out the window instead.

"Hey," Liam keeps his voice soft, not wanting to startle her, "I brought coffee,"

She turns to him, and nods once, before turning back to the window. Liam places her mug on the bedside table and sits gingerly at the end of her table.

"You okay?" he asks her.

She doesn't respond.

He waits for a few more moment before saying what has been eating up at him ever since the moment he found that his sister disappeared, "I'm sorry," he lets out a sigh, "I should have been here. I should have not stayed out too much. I should have talked to you,"

He has been spending almost all his after work hours with his boyfriends and not once did he check up on Rylee to see if she'd be fine with it. He was after all staying with her to help her out, yet he wasn't doing anything.

That at least brings some response out of Rylee. She looks back at Liam and he cannot stand with the exhaustion behind her eyes, especially not when he knows he caused some of it.

"Shut up, Liam," she shakes her head, and leans over and takes her mug into her hand, "This is not your fault. Okay. Just shut up," she takes a small sip, before continuing, "I thought... I can handle it all on my own. I didn't want to burden you or mom more than I– Just listen," she stops Liam before he can say anything, and goes on, "It was our anniversary yesterday," she admits at last.

"And I tried to not think about it too much. It was just another day, but–" she takes in a sharp breath, and her voice comes out wobbly, and her hands start shaking, "It just hurt too much,"

Liam grabs the mug before she can drop it and place both of the mugs on the bedside table, moving closer to her.

Rylee continues, wiping the tears of her eyes, "And I know I could have talked to you but I saw how happy you were at last and I didn't want to ruin that.

"What — Rylee, how can you possibly think that? You are my sister; I would never think that you would do anything to ruin my happiness. And I will keep repeating this forever until you completely understand it. I am here because I want to help you. Because I love you,"