Breathing For This (Sequel To Trembling Hands)

Chapter Forty Nine

A/N: Just want to give a special thanks to the amazing Wattpad Support Team. This chapter accidentally got deleted, and I was freaking out, but they managed to recover it for me and were so kind about it! Thank you!!!

Chapter Forty Nine
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~Niall's POV~
We sat in awkward silence as the doctor carefully stitched up Brielle's arm. She visibly fought back tears and seemed to be extra cautious of avoiding eye contact with us. I wanted so badly to try and comfort her; however, I knew that would only make this struggle harder on her, and I couldn't bear to see her try any harder than she already was.

"So, how did this happen?" The doctor casually asked.

Brielle gave us a quick glance before nervously replying, "I tripped and dropped a dish."
"Well, thankfully, your arm will be fine, and the stitches will dissolve in about a week or two,"  the doctor explained, wrapping up the wound with gauze, "try to be more careful next time."

"She will," Harry answered bluntly, and shot her a glare.

...........

The second we walked in the door, Brielle tried to make a quick break for the safety of our bedroom, but Liam immediately reached out and grabbed her good arm, forcing her to face us; "you don't seriously think we're just going to pretend this didn't happen, right?" he asked incredulously.

"I hoped," she responded with a sigh, yanking her arm away.

"Well, sorry to get your hopes up," Harry snipped at her.

"I really, really don't want to deal with this right now," she frowned.

"Too bad," Louis responded, "I really, really didn't want to have to drive you to the hospital for something totally preventable."

"It's time to get everything out in the open," Zayn nodded in agreement.

I offered her my hand, "let's go sit inside." Reluctantly, she took it, and I walked slowly with her to the couch. She sat down and buried her face in her hands.

"I just want to handle this alone," she pleaded, desperately trying to find a way to escape this inevitable conversation.

Harry sat down on the other side of her, softly saying, "the way you 'handle' things, is not okay, Brielle."

"When you first got diagnosed with cancer, you asked to talk to me alone." I began, carefully gazing into her already-watery eyes, "do you remember what you told me?"
She replied questioningly, "I told you that if I die, I want you to be happy."

"That's not all you said," I prompted.

She frowned, trying not to meet my eyes, "I don't know, Niall, I don't remember."

"You told me not to lose myself," I reminded her, "you told me that you didn't want me to end up like your father and shut people out of my life. You told me how horrible it was and how you would never want that for me."

"Niall-"

"No. There's more that you need to hear," I interrupted her, "when I asked your father for your hand in marriage, he made me promise that I would never let go of you - no matter how hard things became. If I just let you shut everyone out, I would be breaking that promise to him, and I refuse to do that. Your father loved you more than you will ever know, and he never would have wanted you to turn to-"