Shortest chapter and the most emotional for our favourite couple. I'm so sorry!
On the first anniversary of his father's death, Francis stays in bed for most of it. Eventually, he pulls himself out of it, grabs a shower and brushes his teeth at the same time. When he's done, he finds out that his mother and brothers have gone out to the theme park to get their mind off it with a promise to light candles in Henry's honour in the evening and Leeza has gone to her boyfriend's with Claude spending time with her friends at the shopping centre.
He heads into the kitchen but stops when he hears his brother's broken voice.
"...hear him all the time. I expect him to walk through a door and ask me how my day went. Those times I was annoyed at him for dropping by at my place unexpectedly? What I'd do for him to drop by now and just chill out..."
"I don't know what to say, Bash," Kenna's voice says gently. "I wish I did. Last time I offered you my body but I can't even do that right now... I'm sorry." Her tone is light and teasing but even Francis doesn't take it that way as he winces.
"Why are you sorry?" Bash asks, bewildered. "Kenna, I don't want sex to get over my dad's death. I'm sorry for using you especially after everything..."
Kenna sighs, then pauses and says after, "You don't have to apologise. I don't understand anything if I did I'd help you through it. But you're the one that your siblings look up to now, the one that Catherine leans on to help her with the restaurants. I know it's cruel and you have no time for yourself or to grieve it out because you have A, B and C to deal with but that's life, I guess."
"I didn't want to run the restaurant," Bash tells her. "Nor did I want to do Economics." He laughs wryly. "I wanted to be a cop. Dad showed us cop dramas when we were kids and he'd roleplay with us, him as the baddie and us as the good guys... He got us water guns and we'd spray him whenever he let us catch him. I thought doing Economics would make him proud, would show him that I wasn't a failure or that I wasn't depending on him or my birth mother too much... She never cared, divorced my dad then married some rich guy and threw money at me whenever she stopped by. So, if I could please him, I'd be at peace at least that one parent cared."
"Maybe it's time to do what you want and not be the expectation of others," Kenna says softly.
"But the restaurants-"
"Aren't the only thing in your world. There's so much out there, Bash!" Kenna tells him. "So much to do, so much to see and explore and you're still young. It's not too late." She pauses again and then says, "Talk to Catherine about it. She's like your mum and you can trust her, gain her advice and insight and she might surprise you."
Bash groans a little, sighing heavily. "I don't want to let my family down-"
"Bash, the only person you can ever let down is yourself because it's you who feels everything. Not them."
Francis shivers when he hears her say that and he leans against the wall, thinking about his own degree. To be honest, after temporarily filling Bash's shoes as the manager for La Rose of Italia for those two days, he felt some sort of tingle and excitement at the prospect of that becoming real one day. If he takes over the family business, he could fulfil his father's dreams of opening one of their restaurants in England.
Francis will admit that he and his siblings are parent-pleasers. But they've always been scared to tell them what they want to do and where they want to be at in the future. But as Kenna says, he'll only be disappointing himself if he doesn't work towards his goal.
"You're beautiful and really insightful, you know that, Kenna?" Bash says after a while. "You deserve so much better and I'm sorry your parents can't see that. You're probably going to hate me-"
"Just say it."
"But forgive them. Trust me, it's not worth it and you'll feel it a lot more when they're buried six feet under," Bash replies. "Just forgive them, let them go and you'll be better for it."
Francis goes to enter the kitchen and sees Kenna press her lips against Bash's own. As much as he wants to leave them to their privacy, his stomach betrays him with a rumble and they spring apart, Kenna getting up and placing her finished mug into the dishwasher.
"I've got some revision to do," she mutters. "Francis, there are still leftovers in the fridge and I made eggnog if you want some."
"Thanks," he says before she leaves for her place. He grabs a meal-box and mentally thanks Kenna again as well as Mary before he stuffs it into the microwave and punches the timer in before starting it. "A cop, hmm?"
"I knew you were listening."
"See? Already great at it," Francis teases him as he takes a seat beside him at the island. "At least Mum will have a reason to gloat at Church. Her stepson defending the realm."
Bash laughs. "We're not in the 1500s."
"The point still stands," Francis laughs, nudging his shoulder lightly. "Dad would have been so proud. Remember that the family business wasn't the restaurant business. Greatpa was a gambler, his father was a doctor and his father was a police officer too. And the resemblance between you and our great-great-great-grandfather Louis is uncanny. Do what you want."
"You too," Bash tells him, getting up and putting his mug in the dishwasher before patting Francis's back. "I'm going to head to bed, I'm still tired."
"You're okay, right?"
Bash nods a little. "I will be. Call me if you need me."
"I won't need you because I'll let Mary in," Francis promises.
"Good, because she loves you," his brother replies before heading out and leaving him in silence before the microwave beeps.
...
"...lazy to revise," Mary bemoans, closing her textbooks and notebooks before turning to Francis who is studying himself beside her in the seat he stole from Greer's bedroom.
"Yeah, I can't stick anything else inside either," Francis replies.
With a sigh, Mary brings one leg up and her thigh pressed against her chest as she bites her bottom lip nervously. It's now or never, better to rip the plaster off whilst Francis is still sad enough to eventually move on.
"Promise me you won't get mad?"
Francis frowns, looking away from his flashcards to give her a small quirk of his lips. "I can never get mad at you."
"Don't be so sure," Mary replies. "Just promise me at least?"
He rolls his eyes playfully and nods. "Sure."
"Late last month, when you were called to work at the restaurant," she starts, picking at a loose thread on her mother's cardigan. "I was going to the bus station to meet Kenna and Leeza. At the underpass, a group of drunk guys were about to attack me-"
"Oh, my God," Francis says, checking her over as if she went through it a second ago. "Are you alright?"
"They didn't get far because Louis punched one of them and scared the rest off," she tells him.
Francis blinks and nods. "Right. I should thank him-"
"He kissed me. I froze."
Francis just stares at her in shock, drinking in her words. He can't quite believe what she's just told him. But Louis has never shown any interest... Oh, Francis thinks, sinking into his seat defeatedly.
"How long has it been going on?"
Mary frowns, looking at him with confused eyes. "Has what?"
"His little crush on you?"
"Well, h-he's kissed me on the cheek before and we've talked about our late relatives and he was really helpful after I was ill that time..." It dawns on her and she tries to reach for Francis's hands but he flinches and shifts away from her, getting up to run his hands down his face. "Francis, I didn't know that he-"
"You're not exactly the worst looking girl in the world," her boyfriend states tightly. "I see the way other guys look at you. You never realise it because you've never been a position of having a boyfriend or dating or whatever... So, that's why you avoided me."
"Francis-"
"Because you didn't want me anymore," Francis says, his voice breaking. "You found someone better."
Mary stares at him in disbelief, standing to grab his forearms. "Francis, that's not true-"
"Make up for lost time," he continues, not meeting her eyes. "I'll make it easy for you-"
"Francis, just-"
"We're done," he says and she closes her eyes, sighing heavily because she knows he's just hurt. Today is his father's death anniversary, the first one of many and he's just emotional and doesn't know how to process everything. She'll give him time to sleep it off and- "You should have the full uni experience, Mary. I don't want to hold you back. You should date other people, go to student parties, visit the campus nightclub... You won't regret it."
Tears slide down her cheeks and she tries to hug him but he manoeuvres himself out of her grip. "Francis, I want you."
"Maybe it was too soon for us to get together," Francis tells her brokenly. "A year's not so bad." He laughs self-deprecatingly. "I hope you enjoyed what we had just as much as I did." He presses a kiss on the top of her forehead, grabs his stuff and heads out, back to the main house.
Numbly, she heads out of her bedroom and stalks to the living area to grab some water from the kitchen to handle her shock. She sees Kenna eating her dinner and scrolling through her phone and when her friend raises her eyes to meet her tear-filled ones, she eyes the closed front door and Mary again. She puts two and two together.
"I told him," Mary whispers. "And he dumped me."
Kenna's eyes widen, her fork dropping onto her plate. "Mary, he's just grieving-"
"He meant it. I know he did," Mary sobs, sinking onto the seat beside Kenna's. "I didn't know Louis liked me. It's that fucking lecturer's fault if she'd just paired me up with a girl or anyone other than him... The universe hates me."
"Shit, come here," Kenna says, hugging her tightly.
"I love him..." Mary croaks against her neck.
"I know you do. And he'll snap out of it and you'll get back together in no time," Kenna promises. "Just let him sulk for now."
Don't hate me, I always have a plan.