**“Coz I’ll still have all of your smile, I couldn’t care less ‘bout the silence—if there’s nothing, I gor fight left in me.” niki — if there’s nothing left

https://open.spotify.com/track/5UKViIqKCbWcZnGEALL3GE?si=hU1U_dmYQviORTSsP2B2LQ

It’s still surreal for me to see her in front of me, with worry written all over her face. I don’t see that Milardi boy anywhere near her, and when she reached the ER the first thing she did was enveloping me in her comforting hug.

She’s so small but she holds so much power in me—that even the slightest hug feels like it’s mending all of my broken bones.

Well, figuratively. My broken thumb is still sore.

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED, MILES SEGARA?”

Well. I’ve told you about how small and yet powerful she is—that petite figure doesn’t do justice to how loud her voice is. I glare at her, a bit panicking coz I’m not the only patient in this room. “Ssshhhh, tone down your voice, Ce. I’m okay.”

Padre shoots an understanding look at us before he leaves to take care of the administration. “You two stay here, I’ll come back soon.”

Oceanna doesn’t even look at her Padre. She’s staring at me, asking for explanation. I understand even before she attacks me with her endless questions.

“I broke my thumb, I needed like ten stitches for my wound. And I didn’t regret anything—I should’ve killed that man.”

She touches my cheek and sends a whole damn electricity down my body. “You… you hit your father?”

“That man doesn’t deserve to be called a father, Ce. And yes, I mauled him. Should’ve done it better coz instead of sending him to the ER I sent him to his fuckin bimbo instead. Fuckass.”

She doesn’t let go of her hand, it’s still on my cheeks—I want it to stay there forever. It’s warm and comforting. It heals parts of me that I didn’t know needed healing. Fuck—why did I keep on picking fight with her all this time if this could be what we have instead?

“Is your Mom okay?”

My heart sinks at the thought of my Mom. “She’s bruised here and there, and we just got the hospital to carry out a visum et repertum on her. I’m gonna put that man in fucking jail, where he belongs.”

“Where’s she right now?”

“With Madre. At your place, for the time being, as that bastard had found out where I live and threatened to hunt me and Mom down. I think I need to find someplace else… Someplace safer for her. I’m so grateful for your parents, Ce… What would I be without them and you?” I look at her in the eyes; and if not for my broken thumb, I’ll wipe those tears away already. “Why are you crying? I thought you hate me.”

“Fuck you,” she curses as she hugs me one more time. I smile—unknowingly. I return the hug with my bandaged hand, and I can feel she’s crying in my shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Miles. You don’t deserve a man like that to bear a title as your father. You deserve so much more.”

“I was angry with Mom before she left for her Europe trip,” I said as I lean closer to her collarbones, nesting my head there. She smells… heavenly. Suddenly my pain feels irrelevant to me. “She didn’t want to move out even after I asked her too. I asked her what did she see in that man that she still stays… after all these years. That she forgives him for whatever hell he puts her through. I don’t want answer like ‘he gave me you’ coz I’d rather not exist than seeing her living hell every single day. And you know what?” I draw myself from her comfort for a while, trying to find consolation within those brown irises. “She said I’m like my Father. We’re so alike that she doesn’t understand why I could never forgive him. That sentence… broke me to pieces, Ce. I want to say that I am not that man but in a way I know… I resemble him a lot.”