The Only Exception

38.

Late update? Yeah I know. I'm so lame :(
Serena is WAY OOC in this chapter. You've been warned.

Enjoy!

"I think we should break up."

Serena furrowed her eyebrows at him. Her lips were quivering and she felt tears forming in the corner of her eyes again. "A-Ash... No.. please.." She cried.

Ash felt like he was about to cry too. He loved her. He cared about her. But not in the way she wanted him to. He realized that he wasn't in love with her. He thought he was, but maybe he fell in love with the way she was there for him when Dawn wasn't. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, "I-I'm sorry..."

She cried. She cried into his shoulder. She had a little bit of hope that he'd still stay. He'd say he didn't mean it and that they would fix it like they always did. But, that didn't happen...

Ash started crying too. He never wanted to hurt her. Not like this. Never like this. But how could he bring himself to love her when he didn't really feel that way? He didn't want to lead her on. "I-I'm sorry, Serena... But look at us. We're not happy. Can you honestly say that you're happy with me?"

"We can always try. We can get better-"

Ash shook his head at her. "Serena, we've been trying and it's always the same outcome. You know I'm not wrong."

No, he wasn't. He was right. She wasn't at all happy. She put in so much effort to try and get the raven haired trainer to fall for her and make their relationship work only for it to become worse each day.

But she didn't want to give him up. She loved him. She really did.

"Ash, I don't want to give you up." She cried.

Ash stared at the girl with furrowed brows, tears forming at the corner of his eyes again. "I-I'm sorry, Serena. I really can't love you back the way you do. I... I just..."

Serena felt hopeless. She had really messed things up between them. She then thought about Dawn. The way Ash talked with her, the way he laughed with her, even the way he stared at her. It hurt to see the love of her life looking at someone else that way. Why couldn't he look at her the same?

"You... You really love Dawn. Don't you?" She asked.

Ash gulped.

Serena looked up at the boy who didn't say a word.

And that was her answer...

She got up and walked over to him. "I'm sorry, Ash. But I really can't let you go." She said as another tear made its way down her cheek.

"Serena-"

He was cut off by Serena pressing her lips to him. He pulled away from her in shock. "Serena, stop it."

"A month." She muttered.

"What?"

"Give this relationship one more month before you decide anything. I believe that we can both fix it. That there is still hope for us so please, give it one more month. If there is no way of fixing it by the end of the month, then... I'll let you go. I promise." She said.

Ash averted his eyes. He didn't want to continue this relationship for another month. He already knew that he didn't love her, what more does she need to know that?

"I can't-"

She put a finger to his lips to shush him. "If you truly want me to let you go, to be with Dawn, then you will grant me this last month with you to see if we can fix it."

Ash sighed as he furrowed his eyebrows at her. He tilted his hat down so he wouldn't have to look at her any longer. It was sad, it was pitiful to see Serena try so hard at making this work.

"F-Fine. A month." He said as he started walking away from her.

Serena watched as he walked away from her and smiled. You will fall for me Ash... You'll see.

***

Ash made his way back to the Pokémon center to see Dawn and Bonnie sitting in the lounge. Dawn was the first to notice Ash walk in and waved over at him. He smiled lightly at her as he sat down on the couch opposite of the two.

"Hey, how'd the training go?" Dawn smiled.

"It..." He averted his eyes. He didn't want to tell her about the fight he had with Serena. He also didn't want her to know about the agreement they made. "It went okay. I was able to get some good training." He lied.

But Dawn wasn't stupid. She saw right through him and furrowed her eyebrows at him worriedly. She then looked over at Bonnie and patted her shoulder. Bonnie nodded at her as she got up from the couch and left the Pokémon center to check on Clemont.

"So what's really bothering you?" Dawn asked.

"Huh?" Ash asked, surprised by the sudden question.

"I know that something is bothering you, Ash." She smiled lightly. "So what's up? Is it Serena again?" She asked.

He let out a small chuckle as he looked up at her with a smile. She always surprised him with the way she knew how he was feeling. It was one of the many reasons he loved her. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked back down at the ground and sighed. 

"Yeah, it is..."

"What happened?" 

Ash went on to explaining about how Serena and him argued (again) and how it escalated into her slapping him in the face. He explained how he decided that the two should break up seeing as they're both not happy with each other. He also told her how Serena wasn't able to let him go and that they decided to give this relationship another month. He told her all that but left out the part about his feelings for the blunette.

"Ash, are you alright?" She asked as she went and sat next to the raven haired trainer.

"I..." He could barely let out a word as he felt tears form at the corner of his eyes. 

And in that moment... Ash Ketchum broke down. 

Dawn pulled the boy into a hug as he cried into her shoulder. "I'm not fine, Dawn. I don't know if I'll ever be fine. I'm not happy, Serena's not happy. We're both not happy! I feel like I can't do anything right when it comes to relationships. How can I love her the way she loves me when I don't feel that way about her? I hate how I always have to put up a front around her, I can never tell her how I really feel or even train the way I want with her." 

He cried into her shoulder, his shoulders tense, his body shaking.

Dawn didn't say anything, she let him cry into her shoulder not caring whether his tears soaked her clothes. She let him pour out all his feelings. All the weight he's been carrying. She tried to soothe the trainer, he rubbed his back comfortingly and pulled him closer to her to let him know that she was here for him. 

Because in Ash's worse moments, she was there and she always would be.

She pulled away from him and placed her hands on his cheeks and let out a reassuring smile. He looked up at her, tears still streaming down his face. 

"You don't always have to put up a front. You don't always have to be strong. It's okay to cry once in awhile and let those emotions go. You can always be yourself around me, Ash. I promise." She smiled. 

This time, he pulled her into a hug. "Thank you, Dawn... I love you."

She blushed at the words he said and let out a small smile. She didn't know whether he meant to say it in a romantic or a friendly way but she didn't care. Because she loved him too just as much. 

"I love you too, Ash." 

BOOM, I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE ALRIGHT? I've been stuck doing a lot of art so yeah D: Q-Q 

Again, I'm on Ao3 so check me out there as well! (another reason why I haven't been updating)