Broken Hearts ( Complete )

Chapter 24 | Ezra

She's scared. I can feel it in her voice.

"I'll drag you down.", she says in-between sobs and my heart breaks watching her think like this.

I pull her from me and take her face in my hands, "Hey Winter, look at me. You can never, never drag me down, okay?"

"I don't know, Ezra. I don't know what to do at all. Between Dad's death, my house, Law, New York, internship, I can't handle them."

"Well, I'm there for you to handle it.", she gives me a small smile. There's a little hope.

"There's a lot of baggage on my side, Ezra. I can't do this right now!", she says so slow that if I wasn't standing chest to chest with her, I wouldn't have heard.

All the hope I felt before now feels like darkness.

"I can wait for you, Freckles. Always."

She raises her head to look at me. Then she tip toes and give a little peck on tip on my nose. Standing so close, I can feel her scent around me but still I can't embrace it. I sigh feeling helpless.

"Thank you. But I don't want to hold you back."

I cup her cheek and she places her hand on it. "But I'm willing. And remember you're never a burden, okay?"

She replies with a nod.

So I did what I should do. I kiss her on her forehead, say good night and went outside of her room.

I can't let her go because she's it for me. If it's not her then it's no one.

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Dad walks in the kitchen at 6am when I'm preparing food to take with me during the journey.

"You wouldn't be leaving till 9. Why are you up so early?"

Because I wouldn't be able to face Winter.

"I had to do some work at the University before leaving."

He raises his eyebrows as if he doesn't believe me. I quickly pack my food and go out of the kitchen to avoid his questions. But he follows me to living room (where I have my bags ready to take with me).

"You know, I used to have a highschool sweetheart."

"What?"

He never told me before. Well, it's not common for parents to discuss their love life with their children.

"She was exactly the girl I wanted for me. But life other had plans. Then I met your mother and you know how things went."

"And why are you telling me this now?"

"Because when you're young, you think you already know the things you want in your life but sometimes you gotta go out there to see that it's not final. I thought I would marry her but in the end I choose your mom."

There's sadness in his voice.

"But it was not a right choice."

"Yes, you could say that. But if I had married another woman, I wouldn't have you and Sasha. So it's the best decision of your life."

I get it what he's trying to say. But here, he is wrong.

"Yeah Dad, but you're not happy yourself. You're alone and miserable and don't tell me you're always going to be like this."

He chuckles, "Yeah, yeah. Now my own son is questioning my decision."

"Dad. I know you want the best for me but I like her. A lot." I might even love her. "I've never felt these strong emotions like this for any other person. So that's how I know that she's the end game for me. Even if I had to wait for her."