My Boss' Son

Chapter 49

I cover my mouth with my hands, shaking my head in disbelief as all the memories of my brothers last few weeks come flooding back.

The coughing up blood. The chemo. The needles. The random doctors. The back and forth between hospitals. The watching your loved one wash away right infront of you. And worst of all, the never knowing. The never knowing of when and how long we had left with my brother. It had gotten to the point where his body was too far gone, and starting rejecting the treatment so we were left with a time limit of 1 month left with him. But we didn't even get that. We barely got a week.

I feel a single tear leave my left eye and I quickly wipe it away, take in a deep breath and try to calm myself as I look at a man who has been keeping this secret to himself.

"How are you doing?" I say quietly, my mind still puzzled as I try take in what is going on.

"Same old. Nothings changed... well you get what I mean" he smiles and I barely manage to give one back.

"How long have you known?" I ask, hoping he hasn't been going through this alone for too long.

And that's when I think of Harry. My body goes numb at the thought of him going through this. I nearly lost it completely when I found out about my brother so I can't even imagine how he's going to take it. It's one of the worst pieces of news you could ever receive from someone. It's that word that everyone dreads hearing, and wish never to come across it in their life time. I don't want Harry to go through this pain of having the chance of losing a loved one, and I especially don't want Mr. Styles to go through this but he has no choice. That is the hardest thing about this. Once it's there, all you can do is deal with it. And like my brother, sometimes the cancer is too much that the body eventual stops fighting and gives up. But, I know Mr Styles is a strong man and I know he can beat this. He has to.

"About a month" he says rubbing the back of his head then rests his elbows back onto his desk.

"I'm so sorry" I say quietly, meaning every single word. I'm still unable to come to grips that this is actually happening.

"Don't be. That's life right" he shrugs and I look at him in awe.

I admire his simplistic approach. He would see it like that. He probably thinks he's lived a long time and this is just a bump along the way which is true but this is serious. It's not just something you can get over with a bit of paracetamol. This is cancer for Christ sake.

"Besides, they don't know what stage I am yet so don't say your goodbyes to me just yet" he laughs and I give him a pathetic smile that almost turns into a sob.

God how is Harry going to take this. He is so close with his dad, just the mere mention of him possibly being taken away will be enough to make him break.

"I don't want you to worry about it Ella. Just carry on as normal, as if nothing has changed, and I will sort this. I'm not going anywhere" he smiles and I immediately feel my heart warm.

I'm so happy he is my boss. But not only that, he's a role model. He never doubts himself for a second, always wanting to take on a challenge and I'm guessing that's how he see's this.

"I know" I agree with him, hoping both he and I are right.

"Look Ella, I know you and Harry are together now and trust me, I could not be more happy for the two of you, but I would rather he not find out about this right now"

"What?" I say a little confused. Of course I know he should be the one to tell him but the longer he leaves it, the harder Harry will take it. "So when?"

"Maybe after I find out more. All I know is that it's prostate cancer and they are running more tests to find out how far along I am so we can figure out where to go from there"