For the past two weeks, Rian has taken time off of work from the hospital. We've been visiting him nonstop since we found out that he was in the hospital, and I'm currently listening to one of the many stories about Rian.

"We would just go out. It didn't matter where, it was just so that I could spend time with my boy." Daniel says, and his smile is wide.

"What would you guys do?" I ask.

"I would just talk to him and teach him about all of the things that were going on in the world, and I'm sure he's told you of my lessons." Daniel says, and I nod.

"Yes, the most famous one being about chivalry and basic respect." I reply, and he chuckles.

"He used to look at Emmanuelle and I and ask so many questions about love and other things that he was still a bit too young to understand. He was much smarter than other little kids I knew, and even I was fascinated at how he'd explain things to me." Daniel explains.

"He's a very smart man, Mr. Peterson."

"He'd ask me things that most kids wouldn't even know about, and I considered him my little Einstein." Daniel says, and I can practically see the memories flash in his eyes.

Daniel goes on to tell me about how Rian had straight A's in school, and how much he wanted to overachieve. His parents were still proud of him, and he began to save up his allowance to start buying medical literature.

When Rian said he was serious about becoming a doctor, he wasn't playing.

"I really have taught that boy well. I just wish Brendan turned out like him." Daniel continues, sounding very disappointed.

"You know, Brendan actually told me why he acted the way he did." I say, and his face lights up in amusement.

"Yeah, I'm not afraid to admit that Brendan has been an asshole lately. I should smack some sense into him, though, because my patience is running thin with him." Daniel says, and I nod.

"I know, I wasn't going to deal with it for much longer. He told me why, but I have a feeling that you're not going to like the answer."

"Why is that?" He asks, sitting up right in the bed.

"He told me he did that to hide how upset he was about you. Brendan's hiding how he really feels by acting like he's a—"

"Douchebag?" Daniel finishes, and I hesitate before nodding.

I find it funny that even Daniel found his own son to be a pain in the ass, but he didn't even know why he was that way. Now that Daniel knows, that should at least make him realize how much Brendan really does love him and is worried sick.

"Just because I'm not in the best shape doesn't give him an excuse to be disrespectful, Alex."

"Y'know he was almost in tears when he admitted this to me? If that doesn't make you realize how much he worries about you and how much he loves you, then I don't know what will." I exclaim, on the verge of raging.

I frustratedly run my fingers through my hair, and try to bite back a few more words. Not hurtful words, but words that'll sting enough to make him think.

Think about his family and how they feel, not how he needs to act all nonchalant so that they don't worry.

That won't help one bit. Especially for Emmanuelle.

"Mr. Peterson, you are a wonderful man and I like you very much, but what you're doing isn't very healthy. Holding in all of those emotions inside just makes it worse and worse, and then one day you'll explode. I can't make you say whatever's on your mind; only you can make that decision."

With that, I stand up from the chair, sashaying away from the hospital bed and out of the door. I see Rian standing there, and he looks me up and down.

"What's wrong, Alex? You look upset." Rian says, and I shake my head.

"It's nothing, Rian." I say, still shaking my head.

"Are you sure?" He asks, and I roll my eyes.

"Yes!" I snap, and his eyes widen.

I don't know why I've been so angry lately. It's either because of the stress that Rian and I have had lately dealing with the fact that his father is still in the hospital, or that Xiu is going across the country in a couple of months.

Xiu and I haven't contacted each other much lately, but when we do, she won't stop foaming at the mouth about how excited she is to go to New York for college. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for her. She's my best friend, and if she's happy, then I'm happy. I'll just miss her because California and New York are almost 3,000 miles apart.

I know that I'm probably overreacting a little bit, but I can't help it. My hormones have been all over the place. Rian's been trying to comfort me, but that won't help either.

Damn.

I step away from Rian, and I sit down in one of the chairs while chewing on one of my hangnails. Rian stares at me, and the warmth travels throughout my face. He walks over to me, crouching down so that his eyes are level with mine.

Suddenly, his lips meet mine. It's a brief kiss, but it is still enough to make myself instinctively kiss him back without hesitation. My lips still carry his warmth even after we separate, and my lips are tingling with the sudden surge of excitement.

He stands back up again, stroking my cheek with his cool fingers. A shiver runs through my spine, and I quietly moan. He smiles, and I smile back.

Damn, he doesn't know how powerful a simple touch of his hand is, does he?

Rian turns around to walk into his father's room, and he shuts the door behind him. Vanessa and Emmanuelle walk down the hallway while holding hands, and they smile once they see me. We all sit down together outside of the hospital room, just waiting for what seems like an eternity. I can faintly hear the conversation from out here, but that's only if I strain myself to hear it.

The hospital is loud with the chattering of people and names being called over the intercom. Patients are taken into hospital rooms as a group of doctors and nurses follow.

I don't know how Rian does it. It looks so stressful, and I'd probably rather put myself through torture like listening to a song I hate on repeat than work as a doctor.

Maybe I'm just not equipped for the stress and responsibility that comes with being apart of this kind of career.

"Did you get a chance to speak to Daniel yet, Alexandrianna?" Emmanuelle asks, and I smile at how she still doesn't call me by my nickname.

"Yeah, I did. He's in there with Rian now." I inform her, and she nods.

The door opens, and Rian doesn't even notice his mother or his sister, he just glares daggers at me.

"Can we talk in private, Alex?" Rian asks, and I hesitatingly stand to my feet before taking his hand.

Rian and I walk for a while before we're in an empty hallway. He runs his fingers through his hair before staring at me.

I haven't seen him look so hostile.

"I've been trying to comfort you, Alex, I really have. But you're not going to take out your emotions on my father." He says, and I furrow my eyebrows.

"W...what's wrong?" I stammer.

"What did you say to him?" He asks, and his eyes become hooded.

He's pissed.

"What do you mean? We just talked about you, and then about Brendan before I left." I say defensively, and he scoffs.

"Alex, don't lie to me." Rian scolds me.

"I'm not lying!" I nearly shout, and my eyes become cloudy with tears.

Happy, angry and now I'm on the verge of crying. What the hell, hormones?

"When I walked into that room, he was crying. He told me that it was something you said to him. Now, I'm not going to ask you again."

Great, now his father basically tattled on me.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Rian reiterates again, and I look away from his dissatisfied stare.

"Listen to me, Rian. Please, that's all I'm asking you to do. I'll tell you everything if you listen." I beg, and my voice cracks.

"Okay, I'm listening."

"After we talked about you, he said that he wished Brendan was like you and—" I take a deep breath. "I brought up how Brendan acted."

"And? I know there's more to it than that, Alex." Rian says before clenching his jaw.

Fuck, I shouldn't be turned on by his anger but I am.

Alex, what the hell is wrong with you? You're in the middle of an argument right now!

Hell, maybe after this argument we can take our anger out on each other.

God, what is up with me today?

"I'm still waiting for your answer."

"Brendan told me a couple of weeks ago that he acted like a jerk was because he is hurt by the fact that your father isn't getting better."

"A couple of weeks ago? Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know why he didn't tell his own brother first, Rian! Everybody was already asleep when this happened except for me, and he just needed to confide in someone!"

Rian's eyes flash with anger, and then shock. Realization of something.

"I see what's going on." He says, but I'm still very confused.

"What?" I say, trying to calm myself down.

"I'll let you figure it out, Alex." Rian says.

He crosses his arms, and I close my eyes, trying to make sense of this. All of the events that have happened in the past couple of weeks replay in my head, and once I finally figure out what Rian was insinuating, my cheeks heat up.

Is he serious?

"You think that I'm trying to flirt with your brother?" I ask, my voice trembling with outrage.

"I don't know, are you?" He asks, and I scoff.

"Oh, my God! That's what I hate about you, Rian. You say that I'm impulsive, well that's better than jumping to conclusions and assuming." I say through gritted teeth.

"When have I ever—" He starts, but I cut him off.

"No. I'm speaking. Let me finish." I interrupt, and he raises his eyebrows before a faint smirk tugs his lips.

Why are you smirking? I'm pissed off at you!

"If you seriously think that I'm flirting with Brendan, then I don't have anything to say to you. Your father is in the hospital, and you think that something's happening between Brendan and I? Do you hear how stupid that is? I'm committed to you, and only you."

"Okay, maybe I was wrong on that." Rian admits, and I smirk just to piss him off.

"Definitely wrong." I say, and his smirk disappears.

The silence between us is tense, and I wish that I could close the space between us by giving him a kiss, but I just can't.

"Was that what made him cry?" Rian asks.

If I knew, I would've told you by now.

"I don't fucking know," I spit, and I sigh.

"What else did you say to him?"

"After I told him about Brendan, I told him that he shouldn't—" I start, but we both stop once we hear the echoing footsteps approaching us.

Brendan is the first one we see, and I immediately look away from him and stare awkwardly at my sneakers. I can tell that Rian is probably giving Brendan the dirtiest glare right now, but I don't want to look.

The tension is so high that all I want to do is just stare at either the floor or the wall. I kind of want to just walk away from this.

"What's going on?" Brendan asks casually, and I bite back some words.

He doesn't even want to know half of this shit that just went down.

"Brendan, I love you and all, but if you keep flirting with Alex I'm going to twist your—"

"Flirting? I'm not flirting with her, Rian. Man, something must've been put in your breakfast this morning." Brendan says, and I snicker.

Rian looks over his shoulder at me, but I've already wiped the smile off of my face.

"Stop it, please. Rian, I already told you that nothing happened. You're blowing this out of proportion and it's immature. It's kind of annoying." I say.

"Yeah, you're exaggerating." Brendan bluntly states, and I hesitate before nodding in agreement.

I'm not disagreeing with Brendan, but I don't want Rian to get even more angry than he already is.

"You sure? You both seem to have each other's backs. Alex you're supposed to support me and be behind me." Rian grumbles.

"I am! You're acting like a baby right now, to be honest. You're whining and complaining even though I still love and support you. That makes no sense." I say.

"Listen to your girlfriend, R." Brendan says, and he mischievously smiles.

Brendan grabs my arm gently, and tries to pull me away from Rian.

Now that was on purpose.

"Let go of my arm." I demand, but he doesn't budge. He just smirks at Rian.

Rian's hands are balled into fists, and he scowls at Brendan. He still holds onto my arm, trying to walk away, but my feet stay glued in their place.

I yank away from him, and before I know it, Rian makes a swing at Brendan. He misses slightly, but his knuckles barely graze the side of Brendan's face.

Brendan slightly stumbles back, protecting his face with both of his hands. Once his eyes peek through his fingers, his eyes are hurt. Surprised.

"Babe, babe! Stop! Both of you, stop it!" I say, struggling to pull Rian away from Brendan.

"Get over here!" I demand, pointing towards a different part of the hallway.

Rian walks over to it instantly, and I can hear him breathing in and out to calm himself down.

"Babe, please calm down. I'm not flirting with him, and he's not flirting with me." I say again.

"I know that, but he intentionally grabbed you to see how I'd react." Rian growls, and I place my hands on his shoulders.

"I know. I saw that stupid smile on his face when he did that, and that's why I wanted him to let go of me." I explain, and he sighs.

We see Emmanuelle and Vanessa turn from around the corner, and both of their eyes go wide at the sight of Brendan wincing in pain.

"Oh, it didn't hurt that bad you little—" Rian starts, and I hold him back before pressing a finger to his lips.

"What is going on?!" Emmanuelle squawks, and she rushes over to aid Brendan.

"He hit me." Brendan whines.

"Only because you grabbed my girlfriend and try to drag her out like she was your property." Rian says back.

"Damn Brendan, back at it again with being an asshole." Vanessa says, and I fail to suppress my laughter.

"Vanessa, language!" Emmanuelle exclaims.

"Hey, it's not my fault that Rian has anger issues!" Brendan shouts.

"Let's just go home, okay? They're going to do another colonoscopy on your father, and it's getting late." Emmanuelle says.

With that, we all follow her without another word and ride back to the mansion in complete silence.

~~~

Later on that night, I sit in Rian's old room, taking a look at the picture collage that's on his wall. One picture is of him and two guys, and they appear to be at the school dance. I smile at how young Rian looks, and how skinny he was.

There's a few knocks on the door, and my head snaps back.

"Rian?" I call out, and the door opens.

"Again, it's not him." Brendan says, and I scoff and cross my arms.

"How's your face doing? With all that damage that was done to it, you may need to go to the hospital." I sardonically ask.

"Hey, Rian is a lot stronger than you think." Brendan says, and I smirk.

I know that in a whole different context.

"Please, I've had worse than that. What you got would just feel like nothing to me now." I say, choking on some of my words.

Brendan closes the door, and my heartbeat accelerates, but not the good kind when I see Rian.

"I just came to ask you one question, and then I'll leave." Brendan says.

"Make it quick." I say.

"Why does Rian think that we were flirting?" He asks, and I sigh.

"Because you came to me and admitted why you acted the way you did."

"You told him?" Brendan asks, sounding betrayed.

"I don't keep secrets from my boyfriend."

"Woah, you're really serious about your relationship with him, aren't you?" Brendan asks.

"Duh, of course I'm serious about my relationship with Rian. You should be happy for your little brother."

"I would be happy if he didn't freak out and punch me." Brendan exclaims, and I groan.

"You're such a bitch. He barely even hit you, Brendan. You just wanted your mother to pity you and take your side. Besides, you goaded Rian on, so you deserved it." I fire back, and he's silent again.

"I just wanted to know why he thought that, that's all."

"Well now you have your answer. Can you just please stay out of my relationship with Rian? I really love him and I don't want to lose him, and you just created a huge wedge in between myself and Rian." I say, and he nods.

"I know, and I won't get in the way of your love or whatever. But if something ever does split you and Rian apart, I'm always here baby." Brendan replies with a smug smile.

Gross.

The sound of him calling me baby makes me want to hurl.

"Get out!" I yell, pointing towards the door.

I walk towards the door, opening it for him, and Rian stands on the other side.

It's not healthy for my heart to beat this fast.

"What are you doing in here, Brendan?" Rian asks, glowering at him.

"I was just talking to her. Nothing's going on." Brendan says.

"Get out. I need to speak with my girl." Rian demands, and my body warms up.

"Are you guys going to make up?" Brendan asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Leave!" Rian and I demand in unison, and Brendan speed walks out before closing the door.

I turn around so that my back faces Rian, and I hear him sigh. I try to hold in my anger that I know will transform into tears if I don't stop myself, and I bite my lip.

"Are you calm? Or are you here to harass me again like earlier?" I say harshly.

"Baby, please look at me." Rian begs, and my heart sinks.

I focus back on Rian, who looks regretful and sorry. Especially in his eyes. Underneath them, I can tell that he has a couple of fresh tears. I immediately want to take back what I just said, but the lump in my throat is making that impossible.

"I'm not going to ask you anything, Alex. I don't need to."

"Then what are you going to do?" I ask.

Rian steps a bit closer, and I almost giggle because our toes are touching now. He places his hands on my waist, and my breathing becomes shaky as he doesn't take his eyes off of mine. I reach up and carefully wipe away one of his tears with the pad of my thumb, and he takes my hand and his mouth softly kisses each of my knuckles.

"I love you so much, and I'm sorry that I flipped out on you like that. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me." Rian says.

"It's okay," I say quickly. "I forgive you."

"No, Alex, it's not okay. I saw how upset I was deliberately making you, and that's not right. I should've calmed down instead of assuming all of these absurd accusations. You can stay mad at me for as long as you want." Rian continues, and I place my hand on his chest.

The feeling of his heart thumping underneath my fingertips brings me comfort, and I'm finding it so hard to see him break down because of how I reacted.

"It's okay, Rian. Look at me." I beg, and I caress his cheek with my free hand.

His blue eyes study me intently, and I do the same to him. The urge to kiss him become so strong that I feel itchy in certain places. His eyes burn with the intensity of the sun.

I forgive you!