Celebrity Imagines

Where My Heart Is Pt. 2

Y/N's P.O.V
"D-daughter...?" Chad questioned. His eyes darted from Makayla and back to me several times, "Is this a joke or somethin'?" he turned to me, confusion and disbelief riddling his features.

My heart was ready to burst out of my ribcage. The day I've been dreading had finally arrived.

"...No." I spoke, moving to Makayla's side. "She's your daughter, Aaron." I tried to speak confidently, but seeing the falter in his nervous smile and the tears building up in his eyes, I felt like a monster. I cringed at the thought of hurting him so much.

Makayla was quiet and I could tell she was feeling uncomfortable. I excused her from the trio, leaving a gobsmacked Chadwick and myself alone again.

"Chad...I-I know this is a lot to take in so suddenly, but...if you knew what kind of predicament I was in...I am so sorry..." I breathed and tried to get my words together.

"The night that you told me about Howard was the night I was going to tell you about my pregnancy. You were given such an amazing opportunity and I knew that you would've turned it down if I told you. So, I hid it from you to protect you and give you a chance in this world. I mean, so far it's paid off—"

Chadwick scoffed bitterly.

"Do you hear what you're saying right now?" he asked, "You let me leave you behind with a child I helped create to 'protect me'? I'm a man, Y/N! It was my responsibility to take care of you and my child! I made that bed so it was my job to lay in it! What you did...that was not protecting me, okay! It's stupid and it's dammit selfish! I missed out on everything! I missed her birth, her first steps, first words, first school dance, graduations! Because you tried to "protect me"?! I didn't need saving!"

"What about your dream, Aaron?! Do you think that you would have the life you have today if you stayed here in Anderson and became a teenage father?! Another stereotype like the rest of us?! No, you wouldn't! You would be miserable thinking of the 'what if's'. Upset with yourself and maybe even me for missing out on everything you have been blessed to do today. All that you have is partly because of my decision. I loved you enough to let you go off without me and be great! So, that you could be happy. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend?-"

"Because I loved you enough to give that up! You made me happy, Y/N! I didn't need the fame, the cars, and the money. I don't need the fans and the chaos to be happy! I have all that now and I'm more miserable than you could ever imagine! I know for a fact that although I wouldn't have had this life by staying in Anderson, I would have been happy and still with you..." his chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath during his outburst,
"I would've had her. I would have my child. I could have had a family of my own. You robbed me of that and you don't even see it. You knew there was nothing I cared more about than family...why take that from me?" he was pouring his heart out and becoming more and more transparent to me. His eyes glistened from the tears. A few of my own tears spilled as well.

For years, I tried to convince myself that I was doing the right thing. That I was doing something good for everyone's sake.

"Did she ever ask about me? Who her father was...?"

"She did," I replied through a shaky voice.

"And what did you have to say to that?"

"The truth. I never lied to her about who you are and why you were absent from her life. She didn't understand when she was young, but eventually she found a way to understand...to forgive me. In the 22 years she has been on this earth, she has never looked down on you. I made sure of that. I told her that you would come one day and she could meet you that way."