Guardian Angel \\ l.h.\\ Luke Hemmings

Chapter Forty One: His Life and Connection

Luke sighed, I could tell this wasn't easy for him.

The moment was heavy, his fingers gently caressing the various pictures.

I was watching him, but he wasn't watching me.

Although there was complete silence between us but the way his eyes moved, they told a story.

The first photo on top of the pile was a black and white picture of a house. On the steps was a boy who looked dying of the heat, but still managed to somewhat smile.

"This is me." He informed, "I think I was seven here. This is when I moved to the outskirts of Sydeny. My dad managed to get a better job and my mum thought it would be better to move. I didn't want to, all my friends were back in the city but I never wanted to tell my parents that. I never wanted to see them frown, I just wanted to make them happy even if that jeopardized my own happiness."

Luke pressed his lips as he took out another photo. I smiled at the sight while he said, "This picture is of me on the first day of my new school. I remember being so nervous. I hung on to my mum's legs and started wailing."

He lightly laughed, "I remember my mom bribing me with animal crackers before she had to leave."

I didn't have the chance to say much before he began to explain another photo, "And this is my grandma and me."

Luke gently gave the photo to me, "I was ten in this one. And this-this is my grandma." He slightly puckered his lips at the mention of her.

"You look like her." I admired at the cheerful woman who looked fragile but had a lot of life in her.

"I do." He repeated to me, "Next to you and my family she probably was the only one who I would do absolutely everything for. She was a tremendous part in me being who I am. When my mum and dad were working all the time, my brothers and I were with her. When we moved, she even moved to another house nearby us."

"You must have really loved her." I noted.

"Yeah, I did. I really did and I still do. I owe her my life you know?" His voice was becoming weaker by each syllable.

Luke searched through the piles of pictures until he found one. He huffed, it was of him and another girl.

She was beautiful. Not the typical magazine beautiful. But beautiful in her own way.

Her face was long, she had a meaningful smile, and her beautiful auburn hair went past her shoulders.

"This is Grace. She was my first girlfriend."

My heart twitched slightly at the mention of her being his girlfriend. And suddenly the unhealthy jealously and insecurity flooded through me. I knew this was the wrong time to feel this way, but I'm human, I couldn't help it.

"Sweetheart." Luke comforted me, reading my thoughts, "I said first girlfriend. Not my first and last love, that's you, that will always be you."

I nodded, trying to mask my emotions. I was supposed to be there for Luke this time.

"Tell me about her." I forced those words out of my mouth.

"She was nice. And I was fifteen when we meet at school. She was the new girl from London. Everyone was teasing her about her accent on her first day but I stood up for her. And that day I walked her home and she kissed me. But I felt nothing to way the way I'm with you."

He pulled me in closer and kissed my forehead, "Me being so young and that being my first kiss, I thought she was the one. I thought right and then and there. Our relationship was puppy love. But it was barely love, we had some similar interests and all but we never would fully connect. I thought that was the way love was though, I thought that if you say those third words then you were in love. But I failed to realize I never felt anything."

I placed a kiss on his neck, encouraging him to tell me more, "Grace was also my first heartbreak. After being together for six months she told she had to move. I was so devastated because I thought that was my last chance at love."

He humorlessly laughed, "I know it was immature now thinking about it. But it's strange how fear works. You think that in that moment it's all over when you don't realize that's it just the beginning. That there is more to life, that there is always a light, a second chance for everyone. It's strange too because you think that you only have one light but I got lucky, I got two, you and my grandma."

He bit the bottom of his lip, "That night I went to my grandma's house and she comforted me all night. And then that nigh-night i was sleeping on her couch."

Luke bowed his head, his voice shaking, "I heard a crash and I got up to see my grandma on, on the floor."

He breathe and I held him tighter, "she had a heart attack and died that night." He whispered, "I never had come to terms that someone that important in my life had left. That someone was gone forever and that they weren't coming back. I couldn't fathom it, I just couldn't and the worse came when I fell into a cycle of self hatred. I felt lifeless and I blamed myself for my grandma's death."

He let out a deep breathe, "You know what's ironic? I wanted to end my life right then and there. And one day I was walking around a lake, ready to drown myself until a heard a laugh. It was the most beautiful sound ever and I knew it was a sign. And guess what? When I looked up it was you. You were my light."

"And now you're my second chance." I whispered holding his hand and falling in love with him.

I didn't think it was possible but it came to the point where I loved Luke Hemmings, with every fiber of being, with every touch, and every tear, I loved him.

Luke timidly smiled at me and picked up the last photo, it was of his family.

"This is my parents and my two brothers." He smiled fondly at them.

"This is Jack." He pointed to the tallest blonde; Luke and him resembled each other the most.

"And this is Ben." His finger moved to the shortest of the brothers but nevertheless Ben shared the same blonde hair, the same blue eyes.

"An-and this is my mum and dad." Luke's whole demeanor changed at just the sight of his parents.

Luke looked fragile instead of the strong wall he always seems to be. Maybe this times it switched, maybe it was my time to be his anchor.

I slightly leaned toward him as he fell into my arms, I could him trying to calm down his prevailing tears.

"We weren't the perfect family. Nobody is, we fought a lot actually. But that didn't mean I didn't love them, I did." He whispered as if he were talking to himself.

"I loved them, they were the other piece to my heart. The other half was your's." He lowered his head causing most of his hair to get in my face, but I didn't mind.

"I had to go." He mumbled, "I had to go. I couldn't imagine a life without you. It was the only way, it was the right way."

"Luke, baby, I'm here to you." I a nuzzled into his hair, the scent of strawberry hitting my face.

His head shot up as his hands grabbed my face. With a loving touch, his thumbs caressed my cheeks. "Are you actually though? It won't be for so long."

His eyes were saddened with each word he said but I didn't understand.

"What are you saying?" I asked, afraid of the response I would receive.

He sighed as if this would ruin his life. Luke grabbed my hands and with an unwillingly slow pace, he said,

"I'm not the one for you."