Always Only You (Rewriting)

11| Undecim

The most important things is the world are family and love
-John Wooden

Ryan's Pov:

"Can we go out for ice-cream?" she quips and the puppy starts howling in approval as he jumps onto my lap, nearly making me drop my laptop as I sit on the sofa to work on a project that I have to present during a meeting scheduled in two days.

"Dexter needs a walk too, don't you need one? Yes you do, good boy," she coos, opening her arms and motioning him towards her. He jumps off me immediately and runs to her instead.

He covers her face with sloppy wet kisses, but Leah doesn't mind. She loves the hyperactive fur ball and even named him after her favourite cartoon show.

Ever since he started living with us, she has been kept occupied by him and she isn't alone at home anymore because of him. I need to train him to protect her soon.

"Please-" she begs, holding little Dexter to my face and I stare into the puppy dog big brown eyes and sigh.

"Fine, we'll get icecream."

She kisses my cheek before I get up to grab Dexter's leash. "I love you." 

"Yeah, I love me too." I sigh as she slaps my shoulder.

I gently place her on a wooden bench in the park full of kids. "Stay here with Dexter, I'll get the ice-cream." I tell her before walking to the tiny white truck parked nearby.

"One raspberry sorbet and a vanilla cone." I order her usual swirl of vanilla topped with rainbow sprinkles and a big fat cherry on top. I am not a big fan of sweets, unlike Leah. I'm more of a savoury guy.

"Easy there on the sprinkles cuz, too much sweets might give you a tooth ache." I turn to glare at Alexander. I didn't even hear him approach which isn't surprising, he is a trained killer after all.

"Why are you here," I bite out, trying to control my anger. I'm furious at myself for not taking any precautions and being so careless to have him follow me.

"Why are you never happy to see me? Did you find another happiness?" his mouth curls upwards into a sly smirk and I find myself panicking at the hidden meaning.

My eyes instinctively go to where Leah is and to my relief, I find her where I left her- on the bench with the hyper golden puppy leaping in her arms. They look unharmed.

"You know what is a man's weakness?" he whispers into my ear as he casually takes the sorbet from my frozen hand and takes a large bite out of it.

"Devushka."

His emotionless eyes bore into my dilated ones, "Why do you think I have no wife or girlfriend? What have I always told you to always stay away from, Ray?" I cringe as he calls me by the familiar nickname he called me when we were kids. When we were close. Before we both chose different paths.

"Because they are a man's weakness. If you have no attachments, you are strong." He points to my heart with his cold finger, "You've become weak brother. You were always kindhearted but now you have become so careless that you didn't realize that you were being shadowed. This is what love does to you."

My eyes harden, "If you touch her, I will not hesitate to kill you."

He looks at me in mock shock as he staggers back, clutching his chest, "My, my. My own blood who I have known since birth wants to kill me just to protect a woman who he barely knows."

He scoffs as I grab his collar, "I mean it."

Alexander's eyes narrow into slits at my threat and pries my fingers away from his crisp dark blue coat, "I saved your life that day and now you are threatening mine?"

I swallow, "I didn't need any saving that day. I could have handled it, without any bloodshed."

He scoffs, "Sometimes blood needs to be spilled." He turns to look at Leah, who fidgets in her seat uncomfortably, as she wonders why it's taking so long for me to return. I glance at the melted waffle in my hand and the sad looking red fruit on top.

"I'm not here to hurt your girlfriend though, I've come to make a deal instead." He continues, making me stare at him in surprise. "If you come with me," he starts before grabbing a small card from his pocket and holds it firmly between his fingers. "- your girlfriend will get her eye sight back." I stiffen and my entire body goes rigid as I slowly process his words.

"She'll be able to see again?"

I lay on top of her, enjoying her chest heaving heavily as she pants breathlessly. I kissed her again, happy to have satisfied her.

She gives me a beautiful smile as she places her small soft hands on my cheeks, carefully tracing each imperfection on my face.

"Solnyshko, I love you," I murmur as I take the back of her hand and softly press a kiss on her wrist.

Her eyes flutter, and she gives me a ready smile, "I wish-"

Her voice shakily cracks, making me frown. I hate seeing her sad, "What do you wish?" I urge her to continue.

"I wish I could see," she tells me softly. "I want to see the clouds in the sky, the trees dancing in the wind, the stars twinkling in the sky. I want to see the world Ryan, and I want to see it with you," she finishes, tracing the frown that my lip forms.

"The doctors can't fix it?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "They said that even with donor eyes, my vision wouldn't be restored because of the severe damage of the optic nerve. It's irreversible and impossible to repair."

I pull her in a tight embrace, "You'll be able to see the world through me, Leah. I'll be your eyes."

My hand instinctively reaches out for the card but my cousin is too fast for me and he swiftly stuffs it back in his pocket. "Not yet. This is the contact of the best Ophthalmic surgeon in the world. He has developed a method for neural regeneration with stem cells."

My throat goes dry, "So she'll be able to see?"

"His success rate is 94%, but that's not the best part- the whole operation's expenses will be covered by me, you won't even have to spend a cent." He smiles, knowing that he has me in the palm of his hand.

 "Now ready to listen, aren't we?"

Author's note:
I was occupied with exams for two months. 😪😫😭😭😭 I don't know how I survived that. Anyway,  thank you for being patient with me. Don't hesitate to spot out errors.

Love you all 😊
Don't forget to check that star orange!

Glossary:

Solnyshko- my sun
Devushka- women