The Only Exception

6.

"Fine? Like.. how fine?" He asked.

"Just fine. But, it's not gonna happen between us because we don't like each other that way." She said.

Ash's eyes widened at her. They weren't in love with each other? Then.. who does she really love?

"Oh.. sorry."

She shook her head at him. "Don't worry about it."

He scratched the back of his head as he looked down at the floor and asked her, "so.. who you like then?"

Dawn didn't know how to answer that. How could she tell him that he was the guy she liked when he already had a girlfriend? It would just ruin their friendship and she didn't want to face that kind of pain.

"Some guy from.. another region." She said.

"Really? What region?" He asked.

"Uh.. J-Johto." She lied.

"Hmm.." Ash thought for awhile about who the guy could be from Johto. No names nor a face was coming to mind. "Do I know him?"

"Let's just say.. you do know him. For a long time." She said.

"Well then.. who is it?" He asked her.

"I can't tell you. Not yet at least.. but, someday soon I will and.. we'll see from there." She said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked confused.

She didn't say anything. She got off from the couch and walked towards the door, "you'll see." She said as she walked out of the room. Ash thought about it for awhile.. who could Dawn like from Johto? I barely knew anyone there.

Just then, Serena walked in and smiled at Ash as she sat down next to him. "Everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." He said.

She placed her hand in his as she lay on his shoulder.  He was still not comfortable holding hands with Serena, he felt a little weird about this but tried his best to go along with it anyway.

"Boyfriends also kiss their girlfriends on the cheek." Serena smiled.

"They.. do?" He asked confused.

"Of course." Serena said.

Ash was still unsure about it but went along with doing it anyway as he planted a small kiss on Serena's cheek. She smiled and blushed as she turned and did the same to him.

"What's that for?" He asked.

"Girlfriends can do it too, of course." She smiled.

"Oh, sorry." He said.

"Don't be. In fact, you're turning out to be a great boyfriend." She winked.

He smiled lightly at her as he let go of her hand and got up from the couch. He then walked out of the room and proceeded towards the lounge when he heard Dawn talking with Clemont and Bonnie. He hid behind a corner and eavesdropped on them.

"We're so sorry, Dawn." Bonnie said sadly.

"We didn't think this would happen." Clemont said.

"Don't worry about it guys. As long as he's happy then it's fine." Dawn smiled.

Bonnie went and sat next to her, "but what about you? You deserve to be happy." Bonnie pouted.

"I am. Really. No need to worry." Dawn smiled as she placed a hand on the blonde little girl's head. "I won't let this get in the way of me wanting to compete in Showcases."

"That's great." Clemont smiled.

"Anyways, I'm going to go out for a bit. You guys wanna come?" Dawn asked as she got up from the couch waiting for two of them to answer.

Bonnie nodded her head at the coordinator as she got up and went next to her. They both turned towards Clemont. "You guys go ahead. I just came up with a new invention and I really wanna get started on it."

Bonnie sighed as she wished her brother good luck and left with Dawn. Clemont began walking to him and Ash's room with Ash following behind him. Clemont looked behind him and jumped in surprise when he saw that Ash was following him.

"Ash, what are you—?" Clemont was cut off by Ash pushing him into the room and locking it.

"Clemont, what were you guys just talking about out there?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"Come on! I know you know who Dawn likes so please tell me!" He pleaded.

"That's not for me to say, Ash." Clemont said as he looked through his bag and took out a few tools.

"But, you've gotta tell me! She sounded really hurt because of this guy."

Clemont slammed one of his tools down on the table, shocking Ash. Clemont then turned to him angrily but tried his best to maintain it. "She is hurt because of him. How would you feel if the one you love was in love with someone else?" He asked him.

Ash was silent. He didn't know what to say. He's never seen Clemont angry. At least, not like this.

"If you wanna know about the guy, then I'm not the one you should be asking." He said as he continued to take more tools out of his bag.

Ash hung his head down in shame as he walked out the room and made his way towards the lounge.

Who could've hurt Dawn?

Sorry if this is a boring chapter ;( Update ya soon! I love updating for my pearlshipping family.