this is a filler chapter and such a disappointment. it's super short and im so sorry guys :p

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I had probably slept for hours and the throbbing seemed to lessen after a few tablets of paracetamol. And to add to the fact that Mila was here? And she kissed me? Well my forehead but, you get the point. The world made zero sense to me right now. I opened my eyes slowly and smelled the aroma of the chicken broth or soup. What's the difference anyway? I sat up on my bed and glanced at the clock. 11:24am. What? That meant I slept the night.

My thoughts were quickly interrupted when Camila entered my room quietly. She sat down beside me. "Feeling better?"

And those two words made everything feel better. I hugged her and noticed her body tensed for a second before returning the hug. I squeezed her a bit, grinning. "Much, much better, Mila." Then I heard giggles as I opened my eyes to see my sister snapping a photo. I quickly let go as my cheeks reddened immediately after realizing she was going to post it on social media.

"Aaliyah, no." I commanded, "don't you dare..." Before she knew it, I practically pounced on her and grabbed her phone. And being way taller than Aaliyah would ever be, had the advantage of getting a hold of her phone to delete the photo without much problem (not before sending it to me though but that's just a secret). Of course I'd save it for myself.

As I deleted the photo from her gallery, the next photo slid into view. It was a photo of me and my dad when we were younger. I slid right, and right, and right again. They were all pictures of our family—our broken family to be exact. The last photo was the only family picture we ever took completely. That was the only picture that had all of us, me, Aaliyah, my mom, my dad, my grandpa and my grandma, in it. That was the last time I have ever seen my dad. He left for Puerto Rico for a business trip but his flight went missing a few hours later. That was four years ago, yet the pain still hurt all the same. The pain in my chest was still there. My body tensed up as I felt my eyes starting to water.

No. I will not cry. I have to be strong. I have to be strong for Aaliyah and me. I fought back the tears and took a deep breath. Calmly, I gave back a jumping Aaliyah her phone only to find her getting mad when she found out I had deleted the photo.

"Dad," she murmured softly, staring at the only family picture we had. "I miss him, Shawn. I miss him so much."

I gently pulled her close as I heard her begin to sob. "I miss him too."

Camila stood up from the bed. "I'll leave you guys for your moment. Just call me when you guys need help, okay? I'll be right over." She pulled Aaliyah from me and wiped her tears away, "Shh. It's gonna be better in time, okay? Everything will be okay." She kissed her cheek as she exited my room.

"Shawn?" Aaliyah asked innocently as she wiped the remaining of her tears. "When is Mom coming home?" I didn't know what to answer at this point. Should I tell her or not? She deserves to know but at the same time, she's already hurting so much.

Instead, I lied. "I don't know."

But I do know. I know everything. I know every single detail that happened. I know, because I was there.

I tucked Aaliyah to sleep that night in my room as I made my way to the living room where Camila was waiting for me.

"Hey." I greeted.

"Hey," she smiled back.

"I'm sorry for the trouble earlier and yesterday," I said as I scratched the back of my neck.

"It's okay. I should be the one sorry in the first place."

"Let's just leave that behind." I tried changing the topic. "But Mila?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be shocked, okay?"

"Why?" she gave me a questioning look.

My heart started to pound faster and louder as the seconds ticked by. I took a deep breath before mustering up my courage.

"I like you."

She snorted. "You must've hit your head really hard yesterday. I like you too, Shawn. We've been best friends since we were children."

"You don't understand.", I looked upon the floor.

"What do you mean?"

"I like you but not as best friends...I—I wanna be more than just best friends with you."