Tied To You

H

Author's Note: We're back to reality! I hope the flashbacks gave you a sense of understanding of how things came about.

Her happiness, is his happiness.

"Now let's take you home before your father freaks out." He giggled. A small smile formed on Ava's face. She felt somewhat relieved and her head was no longer clouded by emotions. "Speak of the devil, it's your father." His phone rang and the name of the mayor popped up on the screen.

"Hello, ninong." He said calmly, looking at a nervous Ava.

"Is Ava there with you?" His voice was a bit stressed and worried.

"Yes she is. I'm taking her home now." Ava's father sighed with relief knowing that Ava is safe. Brandon looked at Ava who was holding no emotion on her face. Ava remained quiet as Brandon put the phone call on speaker.

"You don't have to do that. I know she's still mad. I want to give her space. Just make sure she's home before midnight." Ava smiled, she never thought her father would give her space.

"Yes, Ninong you can rely on me." He looked at Ava with abut smile on his face.

"You heard your dad. What do you want to do today?" He asked her.

A smile formed on Ava's face. Brandon knew exactly what she wanted.Ava is a simple girl. She didn't like fancy outings, or even going out in public. She hated the media. Can you blame her? With her family being super influential and powerful it became inevitable to avoid the spotlight. She was always quiet and her personality was what kept her out of the spotlight. Yeah, people knew her as the next heir to the Montenegro fortune and the fiancé of the youngest business magnate Michael Solis, but no one knew the real Ava Montenegro, the one behind the camera and family name. Brandon knew that she was super down to earth, and very generous. He promised himself and to Victor that he will always stand by her despite his own circumstances.

At that moment Brandon took her to the Children's Hospital, the place where Ava loved to hang out. She took her passion for reading and brought it with her every time she had the chance to visit the hospital. The kids loved her and Brandon saw how easily the kids smiled at her. She was his breath of fresh air. Brandon took his passion for photography and captured a few shots of Ava and the children.

"Thank you Miss Ava for coming. I hope you can visit us again soon." Emily, one of the child patients and the children's hospital said. She was a 12 year old suffering with osteosarcoma a bone cancer that affects mobility throughout the body. "You and your boyfriend look cute together." Ava giggled hearing the words that came out of Emily's mouth.

"He's not my boyfriend. He's too old for me and I think I'm too young for him." She whispered to Emily and hugged her.

"Age is but a number Miss Ava. My dad is 10 years older than my mom. She was the same age as you when they met and 15 years later they are still happily in love. He cares about you Miss Ava, I can see it. Try to love him, the way he loved you." Ava smiled. This girl was so young but so wise it out amazement into her eyes.

"I wish it was that simple too, Emily. It's hard to explain everything because you're too young to understand but the whole gist is that, I have no choice on who I get to love." As much as she didn't want to break that hopeless romantic spirit of Emily, she had to break the news to her that her life isn't as simple.

"Everyone has a choice, especially if someone gives you a reason to make a choice. Look at me for example, I know my cancer wasn't my choice, but the choice it gave me was to give up or continue fighting. I chose to continue fighting because I know that my parents love me and they give me the strength and reason to keep fighting." She looked at Ava. "Someone will give you a reason to choose and when that time comes, choose what makes you happy." Ava couldn't help but hug Emily. Everything she said made Ava think about her situation.

"Thank you Emily. I will definitely comeback soon. Remember to keep fighting." Ava waved goodbye before heading out the hospital's main lobby where Brandon was waiting for her.

"Did you enjoy?" He asked with a big smile on his face as he was looking at the photos he took with his DSLR.

"Yes and thank you! I don't know what I would do without you." She hugged him, at that moment she knew she was ready to take a risk and actually make a choice of her own. But it would have to take time.

"What do you want to do next?" He asked her before they put on their disguise to avoid being detected by paparazzi.

"Well its only 4 o'clock." She looked at her watch. "The sun hasn't set yet. I was thinking movie marathon but it's a bit too early for that. So let's go to the food bank and volunteer to feed the homeless war veterans, the families and their children." She stated. Brandon just nodded and took out his phone.

"Let me call one of my connections so we can make that happen." Ava smiled again and nodded.

"Okay. So we really got lucky. My friend down at the Veterans Center said that the dinner feeding will start at 5 o'clock." He explained to her. "Since the volunteering process ended an hour ago we really got lucky because one of the couples had to cancel last minute and so we were added to the list of volunteers." Excitement grew on Ava's face, this was the first time she would volunteer at a feeding center where it wasn't a holiday. "He said that the feeding will go until 8pm. After that we can mingle with the people there before they had back to the shelter at 9."

Brandon really knew how to make Ava happy and Ava was not about to let that go anymore. She knew she had think for herself and make her own choices. She is going to be taking a huge risk. Everything Emily said to her back at the hospital made her understand her brother Evan and why he made the choice to leave. He was stuck in the same situation as her, and like Emily said, someone gave him a reason to choose.