Someday {Niall Horan}

Chapter 20: Secrets Revealed

Emily's POV

The pain. The pain of him losing his job because of me is ridiculous. Right when I thought it was gone, it's back. When I saw him last night, he just looked so different. Drunk and devastated. Niall didn't even notice him, we drove back to his apartment. The rest of the drive I looked normal, but I was dying inside. This morning I'm back, back to the depressed self I was yesterday morning. It's ridiculous, really.

"Emily, are you okay?" he asks, while taking another bite from his French toast.

"I'm fine," I answer. I know that he doesn't believe me, but it's all I can say.

"Don't tell me your back again," he says. "I thought that yesterday helped you, I guess that three hour drive was a waste of time."

"It wasn't, Niall. It did help. I was actually able to forget all of this for a while, but I guess that it decided to come back. I'm back to square one and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Does it hurt?" he asks. I can't imagine why he would ask me this question, but I'll answer it anyway. I can feel my body becoming warm and my eyes start to fill with tears.

"Yes, yes it hurts. It hurts like hell to know that I just ruined someone's life," I say while letting my tears fall down my face. It's a horrible feeling, tears of pain. He comforts me, holding me in his arms. I can't stop crying.

"Shhh, don't cry. Emily, it's not worth it." I start to have a panic attack and I don't know why. I guess that the memories from last night came into place. "Hey, your okay," he says, but I shake my head. "I'll tell you the secret I was going to tell you yesterday." I don't say anything. I don't nod but he continues. "I...it's a bit of a secret that you can't tell anyone. If you do, I'll never forgive you. Understand?" I nod.

"I won't."

"Okay, here it goes. Remember how I told you that my mother....died?" he says. I nod again. "and my father is an alcoholic?"

"Yes, I remember." I'm still just by the end of a small panic attack, but I can talk to him a bit.

"Well...I saw her get killed," he says, surprising me.

"Why didn't you do anything?" I ask. Tears, real tears start to fall down his face. Niall, the tough CEO and boss, the one who had to comfort me many times now needed comfort.

"I-I couldn't. It was too late. He killed her, I couldn't do anything about it. They told the pol-"

"Wait, who killed her?" I ask.

"My father." I'm both shocked and sad as I see the look of pain in his eyes. His father killed his mother.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's fine. It's done, over with."

"What were you saying before?"

"Oh, yeah. I was saying that they told the police that she was attacked by an animal, but I know that's not true. He stabbed her, beat her..." Tears keep falling down his and my own face, each representing a pain we've felt, a regret, a mistake.

"You didn't tell the police..." I say, but I can tell its true.

"No, I didn't tell the police. I didn't even tell my sister. My father was drunk at the time, but when he found out, he became a complete alcoholic. It was a mistake, but I can't forgive him for it."

"Are you ever going to tell your sister?" I ask, he looks at me.

"No. I can't tell her. She would go mad, leave the house. She wouldn't have a place to stay, and I wouldn't want her living here," he says. "You can't tell a soul about this. Especially not the police.They would have to arrest my dad, I can't let that happen."