Hot Chocolate

fourth - accident

A caring father and a loving mother.

He feels his heart clenching in pain, his chest heavy with pouring and guilt and nostalgia. Sudden images of his thirteen-year old self going through grief flashes before his eyes. He sees blood-shot eyes, and puffy cheeks. He feels the emptiness inside. He hears muffled screams, and yelling arguments.

Stop.

Slowly, he tunes back in to Alison's soft voice, wavering yet stern at the same time, " . . . explains why she's acting like that. She seems normal, because that's what she thinks. And we need to keep her that way, or else it could harm her." She pauses, allowing him to process the information. "Were you listening to what I was saying?"

Swallowing thickly, he meets her gaze and asks weakly, "What kind of accident was it?"

Squinting her eyes a little at the sudden change of his behavior, she replies quietly, "Car accident."

With a sharp intake of air, he shuts his eyes tight. Not again.

He can't imagine the sound of the tires screeching, and the black marks being roughly drawn on the ground, and the horrified looks on their faces, and their widened eyes that showed fear as clear as their fate that was being revealed to them only at that unfortunate moment.

When he opens up his eyes again, a set of hazel ones stare back right at him silently.

He knows that she must've figured out something by now, and that if he was, in any way, a close friend of hers, then she would've asked what's wrong right away.

He's thankful that she doesn't.

"How did it happen?"

Her face twists into a slight grimace. "She was late for an appointment so she basically went over the speeding limit."

He can't help but roll his eyes, because he should've expected this. Louise hates waiting and making people wait. Going over the speed limit has never been a big deal for her, because she's reckless like that.

"Plus, it was raining heavily that day. So when she took an abrupt turn, the wheels kinda went out of control, and bumped pretty hard onto a tree."

Thank God no one else got hurt, he thinks in relief as his body relaxes for a bit. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this then? How am I just knowing this now?"

She gives him a look. "According to my memory, you left her."

"I didn't leave her. I—"

"I'm only telling you this now, because you two met. Coincidence or fate, I don't care. Just know that you can't keep cornering and bugging her about the past, okay?" she says, her voice suddenly getting stern. "I know what you two went through high school." No, you don't. "You meant a lot to her at that time, and if you try to remind her of the past—of your relationship—it could hurt her."

His lips part, eyebrows knitting in confusion. "You think she can't take it? Remembering how we used to be? Remembering who she used to be?"

"I'm just saying," she grumbles, gritting her teeth, "that she doesn't need to be reminded of the past anymore. It's been three years, Uriah. You can't bring anything back so you might as well just give up now. Why can't you just let her be happy?"

"You think I don't want her to be happy?" he asks incredulously. He's fully aware of her thinking of him as an asshole, but does she really think he wouldn't want Louise to be happy?

His suspicions gets cleared as she answers with a straight look, "Occasionally."

Slowly straightening up, he inches closer to the table, and admits, "I'll have you know that I can do anything to keep her happy."