Emily's PoV:

The morning at the La Jolla Funeral home was dark and cold. Physically and emotionally. The gust from the coast was deafening, but not distracting because all of our eyes were shedding tears for the unfortunate demise of Mrs Stella Browne.

Though I tried wrapping my thick woollen fur coat around my body, the penetrating chillness was painful. Unconsciously a tear or two dropped down my eyes.

Chris placed an arm on my shoulder, "Don't cry Em. Stella was happy to lose her life for her son. She didn't die, she left herself in Nick."

The more Chris talked about Mrs Browne's death, the more I wanted to pathetically burst out into tears, "I'm not in a mood to have a therapeutic conversation Chris. Leave me alone." Chris was really good at reading minds which was the only thing I didn't want at that moment.

"If I wanted to give a therapy, I would have gone to that guy first," Chris pointed at Nick who was seated alone at a distance, apart from the funeral gathering, "You know he has become completely deaf to the world. I came to you because I knew you are the only person who can revive him from the misery."

"I don't want to Chris. Look what I've done to her," I blamed and thrashed and hurt myself for the death of Nick's mother. Stella Browne slept peacefully in the rosewood coffin filled with sweet smelling lilies and carnations, "I could have saved her if I had gone a little sooner. It's all my fault. I can't lose Nick too."

Chris grazed his stubble with his fingers, "Hey hey, surrendering herself to a murderer was Stella's choice. If you have a son, wouldn't you wanna be his first line of defence? That's what she did! She died with no regrets. You can't blame yourself for a choice that she voluntarily made!"

"I feel like...like a bad luck charm to Nick. A kryptonite. The more he...he comes closer to me, the more he is getting... getting hurt." I stuttered miserably in distress.

"Are you kidding?" Chris snorted with a smirk, "Nick has been on top of the world since he met you after twelve years. He was like a lovestruck teenager always thinking how to surprise you everyday. He wanted to relive the twelve years with you again and would have confessed his sincere feelings for you, if you hadn't foolishly fled the country. He has been broken ever since you left without a notice. Your insecurities makes up the kryptonite Dumbo! Go speak to him already!"

Chris had a point. Not expressing my true feelings to Nick would be like typing a long essay and hitting the exit button without saving. What is the point in having all those profound feelings in mind, when I was not going to save him when he needed me the most.

"You're right Chris. Don't worry I will take care of him" I assured and walked up to Nick. Nick's eyes were open but had no trace of tears or puffy eyes from crying. He just sat there at the last, like a stone cold spectator.

"Shall we go out for a while? Feels too stuffy in here." Nick never refused whatever I've asked of him. Slipping his hands inside his coat pockets, he walked out the funeral like an anonymous person.

Basically I was not the comforting type of person. I wished I had souls swapped with Chris for awhile. He was always good at making the talk. Nick and I walked out the funeral home which was located by the coast and made a small visit to the beach.

It had been over ten minutes since we came to the beach but I hadn't uttered a single word. I had no idea what to talk. Nick stood by my side and fixed his gaze at a long distant point on the horizon. His watery eyes and the wind at his hair made him look like a fragment of Greek tragedy. I wondered what should I say to make Nick feel better.

Sorry for the loss?
No, that's too formal.

I'm always there for you?
No, that sounds like charity.

Your mom is always with you?
No, that sounds too typical.

I ran thousands of possibilities in my mind but none of them sound appropriate. At that moment I wished all languages in the world cease to exist and only telepathic conversations to prevail. Maybe I could've let him know how I really felt through a mind e-mail or something of that sort.

Why talking had to be this difficult?

Adverdently, I gave a comforting squeeze to his hand. It's an universal fact that actions speak better than words. Since I've got nothing coming up in my word box for a long time, I resorted to the next option.

Nick didn't hold me back. I was trying to save a drowning person and take him away from the water, but the drowning one didn't want to be saved and sink into the depths of the water. I also noticed that Nick's hand was heating up like flame, "Nick are you sick?"

I touched his forehead to check temperature. His body was burning with fever, "Nick you have a fever. You should go rest."

Nick rudely pushed my hand from his forehead, "As if you care."

I was totally frustrated, "Why are you acting like a dork! All of us are trying to be there for you but you are pushing us away like trash! Why can't you be normal? If you feel bad, cry! If you feel alone, talk to someone!"

Nick gave a empty laugh, "Look at you talking like a complete stranger. Few days back, I thought I had you back. Thought you were mine. But now, I hear words from you like 'talk to someone?'. Why didn't you say talk to me? Am I too despicable? Or did you not want to involve yourself with a troublesome family where the father kills the mother?  This is exactly why I don't want anyone to fucking console me like I'm a lost puppy or something."

I was speechless, "Nick... I...I didn't mean like that." I can't believe I became more of a stranger by my consoling talk. This is why I don't start conversations. It usually ends with me screwing it up.

"Why people have to make empty promises if they knew they would break it eventually? I had too much trust. She and you, do I look like a play toy? You all play with me and break me in the end. Don't pull the sympathy card on me anymore. I will disappear from your life like I never came after twelve years." Nick walked away not only from the beach but also from my life.

Though he was just two steps away, it felt like two lightyears. He seem to have already made the arrangements for leaving all of us and live like a stranger at some remote corner of the world. I tried to reach out for him but a binding pain in the side of my torso held me back.

"Ouch" I groaned and curled up on the sand in seething agony. I wished Nick would run up to me and carry me in arms like the protagonists of romantic novels would do.

But my life seemed to be a horror story. By the corner of my eyes, I could envision Nick walking out on me like a heartbroken heartbreaker. It was too soon for us to become strangers who don't care about each other.

I lay down in the sand, waiting for the pain to subside so that I could get on my feet. By the end of the day I realized something,

Nick Tyler was dead on the inside.

Not everytime the knight in shining armour would show up on his stallion to save the damsel in distress. Sometimes the knight could be such a rude jerk that he is preoccupied with his own issues.

And my knight never turned back.

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A/N: Hey guys, I've made some modifications to this chapter. It's nothing different from the previous version but just made to be a little lively.

Hope you like the edited version.

Thank you for reading ❤️

Happy reading:-)