how you get the girl! ➵ shawn peter raul mendes

prologue!

eleven years ago

"hey, buddy. it's time for bed," shawn announces as he walks into the unnecessarily grandiose living room that came along with the huge mansion he purchased with hopes of a happy family he'd call his own.

when he sees his four year old son running around and jumping on the couches, he can't help but laugh to himself. at least he was having too much fun being a kid to notice that his mother wasn't there.

"sebastian, you ready for bed?" shawn asks his son. sebastian's head turns and he immediately runs towards his father. sometimes shawn thinks that his son is so small that he'll crush him one of these days.

"will you sing me a story?" sebastian requests in that adorable four year old voice that you can't really say no to.

"of course," shawn replies and picks up sebastian. "which story would you like daddy to sing tonight?"

shawn lightly kicks the door to sebastian's room open and carefully lays his precious son down. he collects the guitar that he keeps stowed away in his son's room because this was the only place he ever really played it now.

shawn decided to take a break from writing songs and touring. he could write about the heartbreak he couldn't seem to get past, but those songs would be so dark and that's not the image he wanted to give his fans. he could write about the joy his son has given him, but that would lead to him writing about his heartbreak and he didn't want to go through all that trouble. he found that taking a break was not only good for him, but also good for his son because a child always needs all the attention.

"will you sing about mommy? i wanna know about her," the two foot tall boy asks. shawn feels a sharp pain go straight through his heart and he knows he has to sing about her.

'maybe this is part of letting her go,' he thinks to himself.

"sunrise with you on my chest. no blinds in the place that i live. daybreak open your eyes 'cause this was only ever meant to be for one night," shawn angelically sings. falling all in you is off of his third and most personal album. ed sheeran wrote it based off of a phone call he had with shawn one night telling him about rosalinda. shawn truly thought she was the one at the time. if he'd only known the trouble she would bring him.

when shawn finishes, sebastian claps like he always does. it makes his father miss the feeling of performing and hearing the crowds roar his name and the lyrics he wrote. but he knew that giving it up was the right choice. family comes first; even if it's only part of your family.

"daddy, when's mommy coming home?" sebastian asks with a sadness in his voice. he longs for a woman he'd never get to know.

"i don't know, seb. but, think about this instead. you and me, we're gonna make it big. just us and that's enough for me," shawn kisses his son's forehead before closing the light. "goodnight, bubs. i love you."

"love you, too," sebastian says with a yawn as he closes his eyes and drifts off.

"i guess it was too soon to assume that he didn't notice his mom was gone," shawn mutters to himself as he walks down the hall to his bedroom where he'll stay up all night wondering where it all went wrong.