Aaron's POV

I've been staring at Charlotte's face from good two minutes, running her words over and over in my head. My heart feels like it has stopped running and my mind feels like it will explode any moment. No one has uttered a single word ever since, and Charlotte just cannot take off the smug look off her face.

"Err.. I didn't mean to intrude you know." She finally speaks, still amused with the whole situation as she fixes her gaze on Diana. "The air is too thick inside, so I wouldn't bother to enter. See you around, Aaron." She winks at me before stepping forward and dragging the front door close as she leaves.

I'm finally forced to look at the Diana, my thoughts running at thousand miles a second. She doesn't meet my gaze as she kneels down in front of the little girl, choosing to ignore me as she puts on a smile on her face.

"Hi kid." She runs her finger across her cheek and then presses a kiss on her forehead, "Why don't you go play in your room?" She suggests but the little girl pouts.

"But I want to play with you." She says in her high pitched yet the sweetest voice.

Diana sighs, but doesn't let the smile off her face, "How about I join you in a while?"

"You pinky promise?" She holds up her tiny pinky finger and Diana grins.

"Yes love, I pinky promise." She tangles her finger along with hers before getting up and carrying her in her arms, going down the hallway to the bedroom.

Before she disappears, she turns to me, "Don't leave, please." She begs, almost looking on the verge of crying but I don't respond back.

I just stand there, staring at her while she turns the doorknob to the room and gets in there. My mind isn't responding to me right now, I want to think of something, I want to make sense out of things and yet I'm standing like a mum person, with no sense at all.

Diana has a daughter!

Is she really her daughter?

Oh my fucking god!

Just as I'm about to move to the door, she appears in the living room, her arms crossed in front of her as she stares at me with a blank face. Apparently, that's not what I need. I need answers, but the thing is my mind is unable to comprehend any questions at the moment.

I feel so fucking stupid!

"Aaron, I know you must be confused but-"

"Are you her mother?" I ask, uttering the words that I don't really understand myself.

"You heard Charlotte, of course she's my daughter. But I can explain everything to you!" She pleads, stepping forward but I take a step back from her.

"Don't. Don't try to make this okay."

"But-"

Before she can complete her sentence, the front door opens and Connor steps in, "We come bearing groceries." Ella announces behind him as she moves to put the bags on the kitchen counter.

I need to leave. I can't be around them right now.

"You two sneaked out on us last night, not fair." Connor complains as he removes his coat. When none of us respond back, he studies our faces, "Are the two of you fighting already?"

We don't get a chance to respond to him as the room to the bedroom clicks open and Diana's daughter comes running out, going straight into Connor's arms.

"Con-Con." She lets out a shriek and he holds her up in his arms.

Both Ella and Connor turn to Diana, "When did you tell him?" Ella asks.

"She didn't." I finally speak up and they stare at me before focusing their gaze back on the best friend.

"Charlotte." She responds and Ella lets out a loud sigh. Diana turns to Connor and looks at the little girl in her arms, "We agreed on staying in the room."

Her patience is wearing thin, I can tell. She's furious at Charlotte but she's upset about the situation between the two of us, which is what I don't understand. She lied to me! She could have prevented all of this, yet she chose a path that would lead us here.

"I.. I heard their voice." The girl almost cries under her look, her speech unclear but clear enough to understand and Connor shoots a glare at Diana.

"It's not her fault, Dee. We'll take her out for a while, you guys should talk." He says and Ella nods, following right behind his step as she collects his coat and they both begin to leave.

"Wait." Diana calls out and then sighs before disappearing back in the room for a second and coming back with a small jacket in her hand. She puts it on her daughter while she's still in Connor's arms and then gives a little smile, "I'll see you in a bit, okay baby?"

The girl lets out a big smile, "Bye, mommy!"

When the door closes behind us, I turn to Diana, "You have a daughter, Diana." I finally yell, knowing that we don't have any company anymore.

"I know." She sighs, rubbing her temples, "This isn't how I wanted you to find out."

A bitter laugh escapes my lips, "Did you ever planned on telling me? A guy who's apparently your boyfriend." I shoot back.

"I did, Aaron!"

"Where was she all this time? I've known you for three months now, I've never seen her before, no one has ever mentioned her and then there she is, living and breathing." I say, disliking my bitter tone but not being able to keep it in.

I'm mad at Diana, so fucking mad! This isn't the thing you hide.

"Not many people know." She sighs, stepping towards me and I take a step back.

"Don't. Please don't."

She gives me a look, "I need you to come with me. I want to show you something." She says, taking my hand and as much as I want to back away, I don't.

We walk down the hallway and she halts in front of the door, that I believe is apparently her bedroom. She takes in a deep breath before turning the knob and opening the door wide. Her hand still in mine, she makes me step in and I almost hear myself gasp when I do.

I've never been in her room before, she has never let me. But now that I look at it, I pretty much understand why. The walls of her room are white, but the one just behind her bed is black. Her bed is set in the middle of the room, two side tables on the each side but that's pretty much like a normal bedroom.

What catches my eye is the dark wall. There's a huge framed photograph of Diana and her daughter hanging just above her bed. It's a captured memory, I can tell just by looking at the way Diana's smiling with the crinkles by her eyes and her lips stretching into a huge grin as she stares at the beautiful baby she holds in her arm, who's staring right back into her eyes with a toothless smile, her finger almost reaching her mouth as Diana's holding it from her free hand.

"It's beautiful." I whisper and she smiles at me.

"I know."

"What's her-"

She cuts me off with a small smile, "Emily. Her name's Emily." She says and I just nod back.

"This isn't right, Diana." I look at her, almost forgetting about my anger after looking at the photograph.

"It isn't supposed be." She gives me a sad smile as she walks over to her bed, taking a seat before motioning me to do the same, "Come, sit with me." She requests and as much as I want to leave her apartment just this moment, I also need to know.

I move to sit by her side, "I need to know everything, Diana. Everything."

"And I'm going to tell you. Just ask whatever you need to know first." She says and I sigh, looking around in her room. It smells like her, except it doesn't look like the Diana I know outside this apartment.

"How old is she?" I ask, trying to start from the basics.

"Three, well, she'll be three next week." She says and I nod.

"Who's her father, Diana?" I ask, almost sounding vulnerable as I look at her, "Do you have a secret husband as well?"

"I wish." She gives out a bitter laugh. "He isn't a part of our lives, he never was. And no, I have never been married if that's what you're wondering." She says, clearing out my doubt and I run a hand through my hair.

"How old are you?"

"I didn't lie about my age when we met. I turn twenty one next week." She tells me and I frown.

"Close birthdays?" I ask.

"Same day. Ironically, my eighteenth birthday was my worst and the best day of my life all mixed up together." She laughs.

"So, you and your daughter have same birthday?"

She nods, "Yup."

"Why the best and the worst part?"

"I got her, Aaron. She's the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know it doesn't seem like it, considering the kind of a person I am, but she is pretty much the only one I have." She gives out a sad smile and I look away.

"You have a daughter, Diana. No offence but you don't look that responsible to me, you party and have sex pretty much all the time." I don't try to keep out the harsh tone.

"It may seem like it. And I never said that I'm responsible or a good mother for that matter but my daughter doesn't have to witness that side of me, ever. It hasn't effected her in the last three years, it wouldn't in the future either." She tells me, clearly defensive.

"But you get drunk and you go to parties, how do you manage that with her in the house?" I ask, almost mad at her for being who she is.

She has a child, for god's sake!

"Open your fucking mind, Aaron. How many times have you witnessed me partying on a week day? You don't know shit about my life, so mind your tongue before you get all judgy on me. Just one weekend or most, twice a month! That's all I take to myself to party, and even then I make sure she's in pretty good hands. You know what that means? Just two days a month I'm the crazy chick who sleeps around, but that's just how you know me." She back fires and I shut up.

She's right, I've never seen her on a weekday party. There was just this one time when she showed up drunk on my doorstep on a tuesday, but that was it. Now that I think of it, the only time I've actually spent time with her is during the office time in the day and on weekends. And everytime I showed up at her doorstep unannounced, she never let me in because Emily was there. It all makes sense now.

"Is that why you only work half day, and made me promise to not meet you on weekdays?" I ask, connecting the dots in my mind.

"Yes." She sighs.

"How can you not tell anyone?" I ask, the question that I just cannot get out of my head. This isn't a thing people hide, so why?

"It's better this way, easier. No one needs to know, she's my daughter and it doesn't concern anyone else." She shrugs and I almost give out a bitter laugh.

"You do realise that you're hiding your daughter from the world, don't you? What kind of a mother does that makes you?"

"A mother who cares enough about her daughter to keep her safe from the prying eyes of the world."

I frown, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I don't lock her up in the apartment, Aaron. She goes to playschool, she meets Ella and Connor all the time. Marcel and Shelly take care of her when I cannot. She knows Lucy too, despite my very against decision."

"Lucy, really? She knows and I don't?"

"She takes half of my shift at the office, Mr. Wilson had to explain my situation to her."

"Does Derek-"

"Ew, no! That's the thing you don't understand, she only knows the people I want her to know."

"Was I ever going to make that list?" I ask, almost sounding hurt despite my efforts to not show any emotion of vulnerability.

"You were, once I knew that-"

"Once you knew that we were stable enough to keep your secret." I complete her sentence and she nods.

"You need to understand where I'm coming from, Aaron. Being a mother isn't easy! I need to protect my child from any kind of possible hurt." She pleads, looking deep in my eyes but I scoff.

"How could I possibly be a threat to your daughter?"

"Kids are sensitive, babe. If they can latch onto the emotions of attachment to a toy so easily, when they grow a bond with a person, it just doesn't go away. When she meets a new person who's a part of my life, I make sure that it's permanent enough. That way, she doesn't have to endure the pain of losing someone."

"Just like you endured the pain of losing whoever her father was, and your parents." I whisper and she nods, looking away.

"Yeah." She mumbles, tucking her hair behind her ear before she meets my eye again with a fake smile. "You can hate me all you want, Aaron. I wouldn't blame you, but I need you to trust me that all I ever did was to protect her."

I give out a nervous laugh as I back away from her and stand up from the bed, "That's the thing, Diana. You talk about trust! From the first day we made this thing official between us, all you've talked about is how I need to trust you, and how much you trust me. But, do you really? If you trusted me enough, you wouldn't have hidden things from me. And if you really, really wanted me to trust you, you would have confided in me. But you didn't."

"Aaron, you need to understand, please! I do trust you, more than anyone but-"

"I can't do this, Diana. Not anymore."

My words shut her up immediately, as she sucks in a breath, wiping a finger below her eye to remove the little stain of tears that had spilled and she stands as well. She looks away for a second before meeting my eye.

She looks heartbroken.

But so am I!

I start walking out of her room, and she follows me silently into the living room. As I reach for the knob of the front door, I look back at her just one time.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, you should know that. But I cannot change the reality! I hope I gave you all the answers you needed." She speaks, her voice awfully calm.

No, she didn't give me all the answers! There's so much more I'm craving to know, so many questions flooding my mind. But the more I know, the more I'll be compelled to not make the right decision.

"Your secret will be safe with me, you won't have to worry about that." I tell her, and she nods.

"I know. You know, I can stop you from breaking up, convince you to not leave me, Aaron. But, that's your choice to make. I ain't in the position to tell you what to do. I just want you to know that I never lied to you about my feelings."

Her words are making it so hard for me to leave. But, this is the right thing. She lied to me, she hid a thing from me that impacts her life so majorly and that's not how you make a relationship work. I was willing to give in anything to be by her side, but not anymore.

When I don't respond to her, she speaks again, "This is it, then?" She asks, her face lacking any emotions.

"This is it." I respond with a nod.