connected 연결된 s.m.

t w e n t y - n i n e

   "The feelings I have aren't strong enough to be with her, darling." He stroked her hair, hoping she'd underst-and that he was unfit for relationships at this point of his life.

   "But what I saw-"

   He pressed a finger to his lips, shushing her quietly, "what you saw. . . was in the moment." She raised her brows, confused that her dad basically said he used felicity because he was feeling something in the moment.

"Do you do that to every girl?" Jumping to the conclusion that he wasn't as good as she thought he was, she questioned him to figure out his true colours.

The shame hid beneath his second persona; smiley, down to earth, unbeatable, with the features of a harmless soul. Underneath his mask was where the real him could be found.

He was like a gum-ball, sweet, plain yet extravagant on the outside, but when you bit into him, acknowledging who he really was, he contained a sour, bitter, unpleasant filling.

   His head hung low and his eyes followed the steps that his feet made, "I won't lie to you, Ronnie." He sighed, "I need someone. But I don't want to search because I don't want you to feel as if I'm neglecting you. You get me?"

   "Dad," she looked over at him, wrapping her arms around his arm, weighing him down. "I love you a lot too, but I wanna know. How did you an his mum meet in the first place?"

   He chuckled, his cheeks becoming a soft pink, "like you and her son, online. I was thirteen, I think, I wasn't really fond of the Idea of girls, but I made my account and she was the first to appear in my inbox. So from there we became friends, anyway, I freaked out because i thought I was never gonna see or meet this girl. Turns out. . . We were closer than we thought."

   "Awesome." She pumped a fist softly, punching the air, "I want to meet a boy the way you met her." She sighed in astonishment, her lips slightly parted as she mumbled soft words.

   "Love who you want Amycus, I won't intervene with who your heart desires." He knocked on his chest, right above his heart.

"Gage?" She smiled softly at the ground, he looked down on her, his heart itching to decline. "Y-yeah," Shawn breathed out roughly, "gage." He agreed out of force to allow her to love someone like gage.

"Does my Amycus have a crush on a boy?" He laughed, a hand intertwined with either of his hands. He looked the his right and seen Ronnie's small hand in his, and to the left. . . Felicity's.

"Felicity. . ." He slid his teeth over his bottom lip anxiously, him, Ronnie, felicity, and gage accidentally walking into a large room with a stage, and beautiful but plain lights shining on only one part of the stage; the centre.

Ronnie and Gage dragged them to the centre, telling them to stay while they went behind the black velvet curtains. Unable to set the music to a reasonable volume, Don't Forget by Demi Lovato played loudly on the stereo speakers, mid-way through the track.

   "Somewhere we went wrong, we were once so strong, Our love was like a song, you can't forget it. So now I guess, this is where we have to stand. Did you regret ever holding my hand . Never again, don't forget. We had it all, we were just about to fall, even more in love, than we were before. . ."

  Smiles crept onto the faces Shawn and felicity, she looked at the ground while Shawn watched the dust particles float in the bright light. "Dad, do it!" Ronnie encouraged, "you need this."

"Yeah!" Gage agreed, mindless of what she was talking about. "Do it, Ronnie's Dad!"

First to lean in was felicity. Shawn stood wide eyed, tears welling up in his eyes. This is what pain felt like.

Pain was re-connecting with the one you've swore to loathe forever, only to stumble across them an eternity later, feeling they way you felt about them that night you admitted your entire being to them. That was pain.

Shawn fell weakly onto his knees, breaking into the traumatic tears he broke down into that night he left her. "I can't love you." He tugged tightly at his hair, practically pulling it out. "Fooled me one time. I fell, and you left me for dead."

Ronnie lightly gasped, covering her ears. "She hurt my dad, she hurt my dad." She ran over to her weeping dad that was on his knees, his hands flat on the ground so he was on all four. She hugged him and growled at felicity, "Stay away from my dad, you're a monster."

Shawn looked up, breaking into a smile as he was only acting to be in mourn. "Ronnie," he breathed out a laugh, "you're ready."

She cocked her head, removing her head from the crook of his neck. "I'm ready? For what?"

"-to be there for me when I need you.."

"What does that mean?" Her eyes went from him to felicity, then gage. A smile appeared on her face at the words that Shawn spoke, "I want us all to be a family."

He fixed his position to be on one knee, facing felicity, he inhales a breath of dusty air. "Felicity, before anyone says. . . no im not asking you to marry me, im asking for us to reconnect. . . For them." He nodded his head over to his daughter and her son.

Rather than wanting to be with felicity, as much as he'd love the idea, he adored the idea of Ronnie and Gage together one day, much more. "Please?" His brown irises begged, glistening in the light.

She sighed, a slight nod being made.

He called Ronnie over to him, whispering something in her ear; "I'm doing this for you, Amycus."

To be continued...

There will be no sequel. But...
IM IN LOVE WITH THIS CH.

the idea of Shawn reconnecting with felicity was to get Ronnie and Gage together one day in the future. 😩❤️️