It's been close to three months since Seth ended things with Leonardo.

The second the attending had read Seth's text message he couldn't stop ringing his phone and knocking on his apartment door for four weeks back to back. He was desperate for answers. Sadly his efforts were in vain. Seth ignored every call, voicemail not to mention emails and billions of text messages he'd left for him. As if that wasn't enough, Seth made himself invisible to the world. He became a living ghost. 

The resident officially moved to Moneda where he was now staying with his mother in a decent two bedroom apartment. Elizabeth had tremendously recovered though she was still on full time therapy. It was a dream come true for Seth.

Ed and Marianne had been so sweet to him, they'd helped him get through his heartbreak. A part of him missed Leonardo and he hated that he couldn't see Mia either. He'd come to love her like her own in the course of their "relationship".

Seth appreciated how Marianne and Ed were cautious around him. During the first month they'd come over to inform him how sad and miserable Leonardo seemed to be, how the man was not taking any major surgeries and all that crap about him looking lost most of the time. Seth had then politely told them he didn't want to hear anything to do with Leonardo and they quickly got the hint. No one spoke about him, ever again.

In between working in general surgery at St Patrick's, Seth felt like he'd finally found his call in medicine—pediatrics. In only a year's time Seth would've completed his general surgery residency and starting his official two year Peds fellowship program.

His mentor, Dr. Evelyn Quinnell had given him a pleasant review saying Seth possessed special skills needed to operate on the smallest of patients. His ability to communicate cheerfully with kids was outstanding even if the situation was challenging. She also went on to say Seth was very capable of working effectively under pressure and still gave objective judgment even in emotive situations. It was a huge stepping stone for Seth in his career. So far he was doing okay, but not really.

He couldn't stop thinking about who shall not be named every single day and night. The man practically haunted his head as if he was paying rent to be there.

The last time he'd tried hooking-up with a random guy he met on Grindr, Seth couldn't help himself but imagine his hookup as Leonardo. When the guy caressed him down there, Seth had completely freaked out. It felt—wrong, not forgetting embarrassing since he couldn't even sprout a hard-on.

"I'm sorry, I–I can't do this." He told the guy and Seth was surprised with his level-headed demeanor. His hook-up had taken rejection maturely. "I'm sorry for wasting your time. I'm so sorry, I can't—"

"Hey, it's cool." The guy chuckled breathlessly. "Not cool that I'm not getting laid but I get it, it's fine really. Don't beat yourself too hard. I'll get over it, eventually."

"I'm sorry." Seth winced.

"Dude stop apologizing, it's getting awkward now."

Seth rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I should probably stop talking now." He said pulling up his briefs and discarded jeans lying somewhere on the floor.

"So who's the special person?" The guy shamelessly pried as he secured his own boxers back in position. "Or you were just tasting the waters to see if you're really into dick?"

"There's no person." Seth shrugged. "And I wasn't trying to taste any waters."

"I don't believe you." The guy smiled.

He really had a beautiful smile and he was incredibly hot too. Seth had noticed. Those sparkly electric blue eyes, messy toffee blond and a sexy scruff that nicely framed his chiseled jawline. The guy was Seth's type on any normal day. Added bonus he was a vers-bottom. It would've worked perfectly since Seth was a vers-top himself.

"I'm Oscar by the way." The guy offered Seth his calloused hand to shake which he did.

"Seth," The resident cleared his throat. "Just Seth." He said out of habit.

Oscar went on to grab two chilled beers out of his fridge then he passed one to Seth. "I'm ordering pizza too."

Seth thought the idealistic thing to do after depriving this guy a hookup he was obviously anticipating was to leave his apartment like any normal person would've done. But Oscar had other plans in mind.

"Umm... I'm not sure if I should be here honestly." Seth stated warily, not meeting the guy directly in the eye.

"Well, if I'm not getting stuffed at least I get a story, right?" There was mirth in Oscar's tone. Seth already liked the guy but not in that kind of way. He seemed to be a very cool guy in general.

The resident chuckled. "I guess I kinda owe you that."

From there Oscar and Seth chatted with each other and they became very good friends. Oscar went on to tell Seth that he was back from Iraq, where he was serving in the Navy and he wanted to lay low for a while. He was planning on opening a bookshop in town which would serve coffee and cake, something along those lines and Seth had told him the basics about himself too. Their conversations flowed and they had a pure understanding for each other—as friends.

. . .

It was a lazy Wednesday afternoon when Seth received a text from Oscar.

[Oscar, 2:12PM] Boys night out? Military friends coming over, crew is pretty chilled too...

Seth stared at his phone for a while, biting his bottom lip as he mused. Then he quickly typed in a response.

[Seth, 2:14 PM] Hell yeah I want in!

[Oscar, 2:15PM] Good choice. See you soon;)

Seth smiled before pocketing his phone inside his lab coat and continued with his rounds.

"Dr. Mickelson, we have a problem." An intern was practically having trouble breathing as he addressed Seth. "A five year old kid in ER 3 has a fractured bone but she's not allowing anyone to touch her. What a brat, right?"

Seth cocked the intern a brow. "What a brat?" He repeated. "Maybe  you might want to put yourself in that kid's shoes and try to understand how she feels. She's in so much pain and obviously scared too. Now get out of my way."

"I–I was just kidding, jeez." The intern stuttered awkwardly. It wasn't helping.

"I don't kid with interns. You're officially off this case Dr. Asshole." Seth brushed past the intern and started for ER 3.

"It's Dr. June but okay." The intern mumbled, shuffling his legs pathetically.

. . .

"I want my daddy!" The child with a fractured bone wailed above her lungs. "Call my daddy! Please call my daddy!"

"Someone tell me they've already called the child's dad." Seth mentioned as he walked into the room and the interns who were trying to examine the child but failing miserably did nothing but blink. "Don't just stand there doing nothing, call her dad. Now." Seth wanted to roll his eyes but he reprimanded himself. 

"Hi, I'm Seth." Dr. Mickelson introduced himself to the bawling kid with a bright smile which started to falter when he recognized her.

Mia Bravucci.

"S-Seth," She stuttered in between heavy tears. "You came to see me? Is my daddy coming?" Mia forced a clipped smile on her face but pain was taking over most of its splendor.  

Seth wondered if Medical ethics allowed him to touch his ex boyfriend's child though technically speaking he wasn't exactly his ex since they were never real but—

Seth's mind raced a thousand miles per second. This was the worst scenario ever. "Yes, your daddy is coming soon Sweet pea. What happened to your leg?"

"I fell when I was walking on a balance beam. I joined gymnastics at school." She informed him sheepishly, wincing when Seth tried to touch her leg for observations.

"I'm sorry about that. Now we need to get you an x-ray. You like space ships Sweet pea?"

Mia slowly nodded still teary eyed. "You have space ships here?"

"It's a secret. I only show it to my best friends." Seth spoke in an inconspicuous voice which heightened the little child's curiosity.

"You don't love me and my daddy anymore." Mia muttered and Seth felt his heart constricting inside his chest.

"I love you Sweat pea, always."

"So why don't you come to visit us anymore?"

"Because—"

"Oh Dio, Topolina are you okay?"

Seth immediately recognized the owner's voice then he chose to excuse himself from the room. He wasn't ready to act civil, he wasn't there yet.

"Dr. Mickelson."

That halted the resident's steps.Taking in a deep breath Seth stopped walking but he didn't turn to face Leonardo. He felt dread as heavy footsteps approached him from behind.

"I'd like to request for another doctor, if you don't mind." It was within the patient proxy's legal rights to request for another doctor but Seth couldn't help but take huge offense.

"Actually, I do mind. We're short of Peds stuff today so I'm your only option." He lied through his teeth.

"Then please get me the discharge papers, I'm transferring my daughter to another hospital." That did it for Seth.

"Are you insane?" Seth swiftly turned full body to face the man who he now loved to hate. "What is your problem? Your daughter needs an x-ray and most probably a cast. I am going to give her that."

"I don't want you near her, big deal?" Leonardo growled at him.

Seth's brows furrowed, shaking his head. "Seriously, are you going to risk putting more damage on that leg only because you can't stand me? Grow up please."

The Italian had never been this infuriated in his life. Three months of nothing but pure torture. There was never a day that passed without him staring at his phone thinking and hoping that Seth would message or call him. Seth had no idea how much the man was hurting. Seeing him at St Patrick's evoked so much pain inside. Leonardo was far from getting over him.

The Italian watched Seth as he shuffled down the hallway, picking up a menacing pace. On the other hand Seth needed air, space to think. He stormed out of the hospital unsure of where exactly he was headed. The resident was now hyperventilating. He couldn't believe even after all those months the man still had that effect on him.

"Seth!"

"Stop following me!"

The resident mentally cursed himself for acting irrational at that moment but hell, who could blame him? He felt hot tears stinging his eyes then he quickly wiped them using the back of his hand.

"Stop running Mickelson. I said stop!" Leonardo spoke through his gritted teeth, curbing Seth into a wall and leaving him with no choice but to stand down.

"Let go of me you piece of shit! I hate you so much. How could you say that about me? After everything?"

Leonardo's eyes widened in uttermost shock. "What the fuck did I do? You're the one who destroyed me when you told me you were seeing someone else! A text, Seth? Why would you do that to me?"

"I was not seeing anyone you dick, I was drunk, broken and feeling pity for myself." Seth wiped his tears in a haste. "I heard you talking to Aiden that day. I was a good lay that you just fucked huh? There was nothing serious between us? Was that it?"

The Italian stepped even closer, closing the remaining gap between them. There was literally no space between them now. "That's why you ended things with me like that?" Seth refused to respond as he was already falling apart. "You are the biggest dipshit I've ever met my entire life." Leonardo stated as matter of fact shaking his head. Then he gripped Seth's hands into his.

Seth swatted his hands away from him. "Don't you dare touch me."

"What else did you hear me saying to Aiden?"

"Does it even matter now? I heard everything I needed to hear. You meant the world to me but you wrecked me, Leonardo."

"I wish you had stayed longer and heard everything I said to Aiden that day. At least you should've confronted me about it but you chose to end what we had. You ended us, Seth."

Seth couldn't move. Leonardo's gaze was sharp, burning into his core and his slightly cold fingers were now tracing Seth's jawline eliciting cold shivers down his spine. The resident's mouth parted open to say something but he failed.

"That was me being sarcastic with Aiden. I went on to tell him how much I loved you, Seth. How on earth could you even believe there was nothing serious between us anyway? What the hell made you doubt us like that?"

"I–I...thought... God I'm so stupid." Seth's face buckled in tears, again. "I'm so stupid."

"I never stopped loving you even after everything. I tried calling you, texted you every single day and God I used to come to your apartment begging you for answers but you never gave me a chance. You didn't even bother breaking up with me properly. Your last text crashed me, Seth."

"I never stopped loving you too." Seth croaked, grimacing at how rough his voice sounded.

Leonardo wiped the tears streaming down Seth's face. "We could've fixed us but right now..." he trailed on his words, pulling away. Then he started strutting back to the hospital's main entrance.

Seth watched Leonardo leaving then panic started settling within him. Leonardo was walking away from him for good.

"You said you never stopped loving me!" His voice wavered, halting the Italian mid steps. "So you don't love me anymore?"

Leonardo's gaze arrested Seth's expecting reddened eyes for a while, his jaw clenched tightly but not even a single word slipped out of his mouth.

Instead, he left.