"Everyone gets tired of me at some point. Then eventually they'll leave. They all do."
Dawn tapped the pen on her desk nervously, her eyes darting from the man infront of her to the pen quickly. She was a little afraid to make eye contact, the man infront of her could sense this, but he also knew that whatever he would say would end up backfiring.
Dawn's eyes flickered to the side as she watched Maya focusing on her work diligently. She heard the chair creaking as the man on it moved a little.
She looked up and her heart almost stopped when her eyes met his and she gave up. The confrontation was here.
And there was nothing she could do to avoid it.
"Why are you here?" She asked, putting down the pen.
With a heavy heart, the man let out a sigh and withdrew his hands from her table, not maintaining eye contact with her.
Dawn hated it that her blue eyes resembled his so much.
"Dawn," The man began and Dawn could see the hesitation in his gaze. He was thinking something, Dawn could feel that but couldn't put her fingers upon it.
Not that she wanted know what was going on inside his head.
Impatient at the dillydallying, she sat up straight and looked straight into his eyes to exert her dominance. "Mr Jones," She said in the most respectful and business like tone she could muster,"What do you need?"
The man looked a little hurt and Dawn ignored it. He ignored her when she was a child and even though she was okay with him now didn't mean she had to forgive him. The years of emotional turmoil she had to go through would never be undone even if he shows up and tries to make amends now.
"Dawn," The man began again, his fingers interlocked,"Hannah speaks so highly of you-"
"Mr Jones," Dawn cut him off,"I am at my office and these small talks ruins my time. So can you please get to the point."
Richard Jones nodded. The impatient girl he had approached all those years ago had grown into such a refined, but still impatient woman. "I wanted to thank you for the flat here in Viridian City. It made commute to the Viridian Hospital easier and cheaper."
Dawn raised her eyebrows. "That flat is for Hannah. And no one else can have control over it, I hope that is clear."
Richard nodded,"I know. It really help-"
"Mr Jones," Dawn breathed out,"You might be my father but you will never be my family. I consider Hannah as my only family, even if she is just my half sister. You don't have to thank me everytime I do something for her. I will continue taking care of her as much as I can even if you don't tell me to. If that's all, you can leave." Her heart was heavy as she said that and her heart filled up with all past memories she had kept sealed. Nostalgia always hurts like a bitch.
Richard shifted in his seat and Dawn could sense his discomfort. All she wanted right now was for him to leave. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard him clearing his throat to speak. "You don't agree to meet me if its not something related to Hannah."
Dawn rolled her eyes, not caring how unprofessional that looked. 'Are you really going to play the victim card now?' She thought to herself and sighed in annoyance. "Do I really owe you my time? I don't think I do, Mr Jones."
Richard winced and looked down. Dawn heard shuffling and looked sideways to see Maya getting up. Understanding that she was going out to give her some privacy, Dawn spoke out,"Maya, make sure no one comes in."
"Yes Mam."
Richard let out a sigh and started again,"Dawn, I can't talk to you when you are like this."
"Like what?" Dawn hissed,"Pissed that you showed up unannounced?" 'I am overreacting? That's what you want to say, right?'
"I know what I did was wrong-"
"Yet you did it anyway." Dawn said, her voice a lot calmer than before. Richard could sense the malice and hatred behind her words and for a second, he couldn't come up with anything to counter that.
Taking the most obvious route out of all, he tried to apologize,"I shouldn't have cheated on your Mom-"
"And?" Dawn breathed out. She was bored and exhausted to hear this everytime he came here. The same old excuses made her nauseous. Most of the times it was when Johanna used to manage the company so she didn't have to talk to him. Heck she didn't even stay in the same room as him whenever he visited. But now, when he visits her after Johanna retired, she couldn't do anything but face him.
She could only imagine how hard it must have been on her Mom whenever he visited.
"And I shouldn't have used," Richard looked down, feeling extremely guilty,"Ash to contact you that time."
The name brought back so many memories that she had to close her eyes for a moment to control herself. "You," Dawn cursed herself on remembering that stuff,"You really are a scum, you know."
"Daw-" Richard tried to reach out to hold her palm but she withdrew it in a flash, her face scrunched up in disgust at the gesture.
"The moment you came to know about Ash dating me you approached him and took advantage of his integrity." She ran her fingers through her hair, scratching her scalp in the process. The sheer audacity of the man always surprised her.
The man violently shook his head, his eyes wide like saucers. He retorted with his full energy,"No! I mean I did use him to get to you but I met him purely by chance."
"Waiting outside his cram school for days wasn't just a fluke, Mr Jones," Dawn's voice lowered down,"He didn't deserve all the hell he went through because of that."
"I really met him by chance!" Richard spoke out, trying to get it through the girl,"I was stressed because Hannah had been diagnosed with cancer and he listened to me. And when I saw the news that you were dating him, I approached him again so I could reach out to you-"
Dawn let out a groan, averting her eyes as she knew how calculating that move was on her father's part. It would always amaze her how some people could lie to their convience to seem like a saint. She might have believed him if she hadn't heard all this before.
"Dawn," Richard looked really apologetic but Dawn didn't budge. "Hannah is alive because of what I did and if it wasn't for Ash, you would have never listened to me. I-"
Dawn slammed her fists on the table, irritated. Her face was turning red as her eyes pricked with tears. "You will never understand. You don't have the capacity to understand what you did wrong. The roundabout way you took was wrong. You should have just reached out to Mom if you needed help. You didn't have to ruin your eldest daughter's relationship to have your way again."
"I didn't mean to-" He raised his hands and tried to calm the hysterical girl but Dawn got up quickly, getting his attention.
"Please," She pointed towards the door,"Leave."
"I didn't ruin your relationship, Dawn," Richard said as he got up too,"Your ego did that."
Dawn glared at him, her teeth grinding on hearing those audacious words. "Get out." If looks could kill, he would have been dead by now.
Richard winced on hearing that threatening tone. "All I wanted-"
Dawn could feel a tear roll down her cheeks as the truth of the situation seeped deep in her bones. She knew her father was right but hearing it from him added insult to injury. She growled again, saying every word with as much force as she could muster,"Get out." Her heart felt so heavy and her chest shriveled up in pain. God she hated feeling this low. Why did he have to bring up everything from the past?
"I am sorry."
"Get out," Her voice went down a lot and she wiped away her tear laden cheeks,"Please. Get out."
Johanna opened the door slowly and the door creaked a little. Glancing inside the room, she found the 23 year old girl lying on her bed on her back, her right arm covering her eyes. Making her presence announced by giving a small cough, the older Berlitz entered the room,"Dawn?"
Dawn hummed without getting up or uncovering her eyes. She could tell her mother was standing at the foot of the bed as the slight slapping noises of the slippers against the marbeled floor stopped.
The mattress shifted a little and Dawn felt her mother sitting beside her. Johanna ran her fingers through the younger girl's hair. "You're back home early," Johanna muttered cautiously, wondering how the girl was going to react. There was something with the way how exhausted Dawn looked that was rubbing her the wrong way. Dawn sometimes came home early, she knew that, but it happened only a couple of times when she was sick or Johanna was sick.
Dawn took a deep breath, uncovering her eyes and slowly opened it to look at her mother who was smiling softly at her. Her Mom's fingers on her hair calmed her down from whatever was troubling her and she closed her eyes again, putting her head in her mother's lap.
Every motherly instinct of Johanna was screaming how fragile her little girl looked at the moment. Dawn was aware her Mom was watching her and tried to dismiss it nonchalantly. "Was done with work sooner than usual."
Johanna wasn't buying it. She had known her daughter for 23 years and knew whenever her little girl was lying. "Dawn," She said, her tone stern and Dawn opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling. Johanna could understand how Dawn was going through her options of sharing everything or keeping everything to herself.
Dawn knew that there was no escaping whenever her Mom got like this. "Dad said some hurtful things today. Been thinking about that actually."
What concerned Johanna more was the way Dawn looked.. so fragile.. like one more push and she would break.
She knew that Dawn had been engrossed in too much work that any normal sane person would take a lot of time to complete. Working to the bone just to keep away intrusive thoughts out of her mind was something she did when she was younger too and she hoped the same wasn't the case with her daughter.
"What did he say?"
Dawn breathed in deeply. What was she supposed to tell her Mom when she couldn't figure out things she was feeling? "I just-" She blinked and her eyes glistened, making Johanna even more worried as it seemed that her daughter was slipping away from reality. "I don't know Mom. Talking with Dad brought back so many memories. I can see what went wrong so clearly now."
"Tell me about that," Johanna desperately pleaded so her daughter would share what was eating away her thoughts.
"Do you remember the big fight I had with Ash the month before moving away to Slateport?"
Johanna muttered a small yes. How could she forget? Ash and Dawn fought a lot, she knew that, but the two of them would always make up before the day ended. But that fight- Johanna shuddered.
"I shouldn't have said so many hurtful things to Ash that day," Dawn closed her eyes again,"We broke up and patched up but our relationship was never the same again. It was like-"
"Like what?"
"We just ignored the different opinions we had when we got back together. But those brought trust issues and now when Dad said I was being dictated by my ego it hits the spot. I should have let go of the ego and talked it out instead of ignoring the elephant in the room." Dawn let out a shuddered sigh,"I keep thinking what would have happened if we had talked it out then? Would we still be together and-"
"Dawn, there's no point in thinking about what could have been," Johanna whispered softly, as if talking to a ferocious canine. Dawn wiggled in her lap, biting her lower lip as she listened to her mother intently. "Dawn, you and Ash broke up years ago. You both have grown now. If you want talk about it with him."
Dawn shook her head,"I am not expecting another relationship with him, Mom."
Johanna nodded, running her fingers in circles over Dawn's temples. "I am not telling you to spark another relation with him. Talk about what you did wrong so you can start off afresh without all the baggage from the past."
"Lets see," Dawn closed her eyes again,"Can I get some alone time?"
"Sure."
"Mom?" Dawn looked up at her mother, smiling,"I can't believe you talked to Dad about Hannah everytime he came over in these years. Must have taken a lot of courage."
Johanna gave her daughter a genuine smile,"Dawn, time cuts you open then heals you just fine. All I saw was a father begging for his daughter's life instead of a cheater."
"But I can't ever forgive him," Dawn felt her eyes getting cloudly,"I can't be like you."
"You don't have to be like me," Johanna said and pressed a kiss on Dawn's forehead,"Get some rest okay. I'll call you when its time for dinner."
"Okay."
Dawn stared at her ceiling, all past memories flowing into her like a cascade. Playing chess with Ash on the same bed, sleeping with May and Leaf on it, cuddling with Ash as they watched a horror movie during summer vacation, making out with him behind closed doors, him helping her pack as she had to move to Slateport, her coming back here as soon as college ended, taking down the fluorescent stars on the ceiling, bringing Ray and her other boyfriends home and in this room, everything rushed back to her.
She picked up her phone and quickly scrolled through her recent contacts to find Lyra's number and dialled it.
"Oh god, are you okay?" Lyra's voice beamed from the other side and Dawn could feel a small smile of gratitude forming on her lips.
"I am okay Lyra."
"Everytime you call me this late, I get a mini heart attack because you always have bad news. "
Dawn chuckled. "Was thinking about a lot of things. How's veteran training treating you?"
Lyra groaned,"Tough but I am alright. Fantina is such a big role model even though she doesn't give me a single second to waste. "
"Well you did say that you can work best under pressure."
"Don't remind me, " Lyra groaned,"Are you going to attend Gary and Leaf's wedding?"
Dawn nodded, muttering a small yes.
"And will you be okay on seeing Ash there?"
"Well I already came across him twice this month so I think I'll be fine."
"WHAT!"
Dawn chuckled on hearing the scream. She would have screamed too if Ethan reached out to Lyra too.
"Stop laughing and give me the details."
"Well," Dawn calmed down,"Saw him at the hospital where Mom goes for her regular checkups. Had lunch with him and his Mom. Then saw him at the mall when I was out shopping with Hannah."
"And you don't recall anything? Like re-experiencing past attraction or anything?"
Dawn rolled her eyes. Lyra could be so romantic sometimes. "I just wanted to not see his face again. That's all."
"Hahaha! Poor Ash."
"Oh please."
"Well Dawn, I am gonna hit the bed soon. Take care okay."
Dawn smiled at the fondness and whispered a goodnight back to Lyra. Then keeping down her phone, she tried to scurry away all the thoughts away. She knew it was going to be hard but what else could she do. How could she forget their first big fight when every single detail was engraved on her soul.
[Flashback]
Dawn couldn't believe it. Even after knowing all these he had the audacity to tell her that.
She scoffed at his confused face,"You caved in, didn't you?"
He looked hurt, she could see it on his face but she didn't care. She was hurt too and this was the reason why she didn't want to make friends in the first place. Everyone leaves.
Everyone fucking leaves.
But she could never imagined that Ash would be the one to do so too.
He was silent, almost in deep thought. His eyebrows were creased, lips were parted and his breathing was heavy. He was nervous, it was apparent. "I am so-"
"Oh for fucks sake, shut up," her tone wasn't too high but the hostility was eminent. "You met up with my Dad. Now you're telling me to meet him."
"He was begging to-"
She let out a snarl, a disappointed smirk on her lips,"Ash, you know what? I don't even care."
His head snapped up, his pleading eyes meeting her. He could see so much hatred in those eyes that he forgot what he was going to say for a moment. "Dawn, listen to me. He-"
"What? You're his assistant now?" She felt ridiculous. She wasn't suppose to fight with him like this. This wasn't suppose to go like this. Heck, she was here to spend some time with her boyfriend but.. maybe god hated to see her happy. She didn't want to waste her time like this before she moved away to Slateport for higher education.
"You are overreacting," Ash tried to reason, sitting on his bed as he watched her walking aimlessly in his room.
"Oh really?" Dawn crossed her arms over her chest. Her teeth were clenched together and she could feel hot tears brewing. "I am not allowed to even react while you can go behind my back and- for fucks sake. You are so pathetic, you know."
He had enough. He knew that he should not have gone behind her back to meet her Dad but the way she was demeaning him was getting on his nerves. "Watch your tongue Miss.". He returned her glare with full force.
If looks could kill, Dawn would have killed him by now. "Go away."
"You're being irrational." Ash went quiet for a second. "And you are in my house, for your kind information."
"Does it look like I care?" Dawn rolled her eyes and flipped up her middle finger,"I am not doing this anymore. Its over." She got up and opened her bag, dumping her phone into it.
"You're breaking up because of this?" Ash couldn't believe it and he got up, walking up to her,"I always knew you were unreasonable but this really tops every damn thing!"
"I shouldn't have gotten involved with you." She wanted to cry but all that came out was dry laughter. Maybe she really had no tears left to cry. "I thought maybe you will understand. Clearly you don't."
"What am I suppose to do?" His stern voice didn't falter. "That poor man was begging me to persuade you to talk to him."
"I don't need toxic people in my life Ash. Including you."
"Excuse me?" He was taken aback at that statement and pointed at himself. "I am toxic?"
Dawn averted her eyes away,"You know the answer."
He grabbed her arms tightly, shaking her slightly. His eyes were focused on her and he looked for any signs he could find. Did she really think he was being a pain. "Answer me Dawn," he said as his hold on her increased when she tried to break free. "Am I really-"
"You're not the boss of me." With a swift motion, she broke free from his grip and snarled,"You can not control my life. Get it engraved in your puny mind."
"I was not dictating your life for you."
"Sounds like you are!" Dawn snapped," Telling me to meet my father-"
"Well forgive me if you thought that. I still have humanity left in me unlike a prick like you." He opened the door for her, signalling her to leave.
"You scoundrel.." She took a step out of the door, tears running down her face. Never had she ever thought Ash would kick her out of his room. Well she didn't imagine most of these things happening so nothing surprised her anymore.
"Stop with the name calling," He straightened up, having enough of everything,"Your half-sister is sick. That's the reason he wanted to meet up with you. But you are so stuck up in your own world that no one else matters to you. Well have fun with your lonely life because I'm done too."
And she stood there, watching him slam his door on her face.
"You are the worst. The absolute worst."
It sucks. She knows that it shouldn't but it absolutely sucks.
She never thought that she would be crying over a boy like this. Not after everything that they had gone through. If she had known things would turn out like this, she wouldn't have gotten involved.
That was a lie and she knew it.
She knew that she had already forgiven him. She really couldn't stay mad at him for long. She couldn't even stay mad at anyone for a long time. Her Dad being an exception.
Her Dad. The reason for this whole mess.
She buried her face in the pillow and let out a loud scream, sure enough that no one was going to hear it. She didn't know why the thought of her boy- exboyfriend hanging with her ex father was so revolting to her. She hated it, she hated it with all she had but no matter what happened she couldn't just stay quiet.
Maybe the idea of him going behind Dawn's back to indirectly contact her was making her mad.
"You are a mess," her mother commented as she watched thr younger girl rising up. Their eyes met and Johanna's eyes softened to see Dawn's face. The poor girl had been crying for a long time.
"Shouldn't you be at work?"
"Nice way to say I don't want to see your face."
Dawn rolled her eyes, sitting up properly.
"He called you, didn't he?"
Dawn's question alarmed Johanna. Sensing her mother silent, she asked again,"Who called you?" Then realizing what could have happened, her eyes went wide,"Mom! Who called you? Ash or-"
Johanna exhaled,"Ash. It was Ash."
Dawn stared to find if her mother was lying or not. She wasn't.
"What did he say?"
"Why don't you ask him?"
"He called you not me."
"Would you have picked up if he did?"
Dawn rolled her eyes again. She really didn't want to hear this.
"Young Lady, its not polite to roll your eyes at your mother."
"Its not polite to barge into a girl's room without permission."
Johanna would have said something snarky but stopped,"No sarcastic comments till we finish talking."
Dawn breathed out, a groan escaping her throat at her mother's words. Johanna sat down at the edge of the bed and said,"He explained why he had to meet up with your Dad." Dawn glared at her and muttered,"Ex dad."
"Anyway," Johanna ignored Dawn's glare,"I heard everything and decided to help your Dad.. ex dad."
"Seriously?!" Dawn couldn't believe it. " But-"
"Hannah," Johanna spoke again,"That is the name of your half-sister."
"I don't remember asking."
"No sarcasm young lady."
"Whatever."
"He desperately needed money, Richard I mean," Johanna said and Dawn was a little glad she wasn't referring to him as her dad, ex dad, whatever, anymore.
"Hannah is sick and they needed to operate on her quickly. The only problem was money so I helped them."
"You know that they are using your kindness, right?" Dawn asked, trying not to sound a judgemental prick.
"Dawn, Hannah did nothing wrong. I've nothing against her."
"She has my Dad you know. I have something against her."
"She is the only sister you have Dawn," Johanna groaned," Even though she is basically your half-sister, she is your only relative except me."
"Did it even cross your mind that I don't need one?"
"I know you don't. But it's not her fault okay. The one who wronged you was your Dad. Anna did nothing wrong. Don't let the mistakes of someone else cloud your judgement."
Dawn let out a scoff,"You met Dad?"
"I sent Delia to do it. She went to the hospital and took care of everything."
"Your PA deserves a raise."
"And my PA's son deserves an apology."
"I didn't say anything I didn't mean."
"So you meant to break off with him."
"He agreed to that. FYI."
"And who provoked him?"
Dawn really wanted to tell Johanna to get out but didn't.
"He walked away."
"Dawn-"
"And he knows his name is a taboo. Why would he even say THAT!"
"Dawn-"
"He said I was.. I was insensitive, lonely and.." The tears rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them with her sleeves,"I hate him."
"Really?"
"No."
"So, talk to him."
Dawn felt her nose clogging up due to the tears. God she hated it.
"No."
"That's unreasonable."
"I know but no, I am done."
[End of Flashback]
Dawn breathed out and got up. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks and wiped them away, exhaling out to calm herself down. There were so many things that she wanted to change. She wanted to go back in time, shake some sense into her younger self.
Her mother was right, Ash deserved an apology and even when they got back together after the fight, they shouldn't have ignored this.
If she could redo that, she would do it in a heartbeat. She would apologize for calling him pathetic, she would explain her younger self that sometimes you have to make peace with the situation. She would have not ignored Hannah in the beginning.
But..there was nothing she could do now. Her time to reprimand herself was gone.
Who knows what would have happened if they just talked it out like before? Would the next fight not have happened at all? Would they have understood each other?
She would never know.
.
.
How are you guys? My uni decided to take our final semester exams and I got busy with them for the last month. The exams just ended a day ago and I am finally done with all the college stuff. All that's left is getting my graduation degree. DOBBY IS FREE!
ahem. Back to the story. I wanted to make this the initial reason why the two of them broke up but ended up having another idea. :P Writing this chapter was fun and damn I missed writing stuffs like this.
Umm.. darkrai(guest reviewer of ch 3), I am not the author of The Double The Trouble but the author updated ! Twice! So hopefully you are happy!
As usual, leave your reviews and I'll see you guys next time! Bye!
Edit:- So a guest reviewer kept asking me when I am going to update next or whether I have any fixed update schedule. I don't have one and I am currently unable to work on fanfiction because I have to take care of the two kitties, take care of my Mom because she has heart issues, cook and clean the house amd take two online classes every evening. As a result, at the end of the day I get way too exhausted and can't write anything. I will update as soon as I can so please don't get impatient. I am only human. Hopefully you guys will understand.
~ DarkestLightOfHope
