Remember the Time || Bruno Mars

[2] the parents

"You!" she screamed and pointed a finger directly at me, disregarding the turning heads that went along with her as she stomped along the hospital corridors. "How come you were not able to protect my daughter?"

"Ma'am, I'm so sorry," I said softly, raising my arms up in defence. "I didn't know this was going to happen."

"No one knew this was going to happen! You're her boyfriend!" she exclaims, inching her way closer to him and met him eye to eye. I felt that squeezing sensation on his chest when she practically yelled my status with her daughter which was months ago. "Aren't you supposed to be there for her?"

"Honey, please give the boy a break," her husband tells her with a sigh, holding her arm and attempting to calm her down.

"No!" She pulls her arm away from his grip and gazes down at me madly once more. I felt more like a kindergarten pupil who got yelled at by her teacher for getting into a brawl with one of my classmates. "Bruno, I don't care how big of a pop star you are, I am going to hold you responsible for this mess."

"Woah, woah what?" I raised my hands warily in front of me. "Hold me responsible for this? Ma'am, your daughter and I broke up two months ago. Besides I never wanted this –in a million years – to happen to her."

"How come?" she asks and folds her arms across her chest furiously, referring to my statement about the breakup. "It was your drug case, isn't it?"

It took me several self-reminders to not roll my eyes and lose my temper on my ex's mom. Any normal person would figure bringing up someone's mishaps from the past was severely offensive. I inhale deeply, holding back the outburst that was about to come out me. "It wasn't, ma'am. It's just that I was really busy with everything."

"Oh and you decided to leave her because you were busy?" she raises her brow snottily which I completely understand – she was here worried sick about her daughter face-to-face with the man she thought was the love of her life and he was saying things unwanted to be heard in this time.

The circumstance made me start questioning myself. This was exactly how my conversation with Elise went before she walked out of my life. "I don't have a choice, ma'am. This is what I wanted to do. This is what I love to do."

"So you love music more than my child," she scoffed, half-asking and half-stating. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Okay Ma'am, she's the one who left me," I said with so much conviction the words I was saying almost made me break down and cry. "I didn't want to be away from her, but she insisted she'll leave me instead."

"Please, honey..." Elise's dad interrupts her again.

"Just let me talk to him," she tells him, pissed and looks at me again.

"Joanne!" her husband shouts, making her attention divert to him. "Leave the boy alone. Let's go."

She does a weak nod and moves her face intimidatingly closer to mine. "Get out and leave my daughter alone. I don't want her to see you ever again."

She turns around arrogantly and walks away with her husband.

"Ever again? Dude, that's impossible. You're like a huge pop star, she said so. How can she not see you?" Dwayne jokes, lightening up the moment.

"Stop it," I spat coldly, clearly frustrated with what just happened. Me? Leave her daughter alone? I knew it was easier said than done but the mere fact that I came all panicked like they were had had to prove that I didn't stop caring for her.

"Sorry. I was just trying to lighten up things."

"Not the right time, Dugger," I said, exhaling and calming myself down. "Not the right time."

"Man, I gotta be honest with you. Your ex-girlfriend's mom is really scary." He shook his head and turned to look at me. "How'd you manage spending the holidays with her?"

"Tell me about it," I joked him with humourless laugh. "Oh they loved me when they I first met them. Until a while ago, that is."

He sighed and softly tapped my back – a gesture of true friendship. "So what are we gonna do? She doesn't want us to come near Elise."

I shrugged and stood from my seat. "Come with me."

We walk to the nurses' station quietly, not wanting to see another sight of her mom. "Um, excuse me."

"How may I help you, sir?" a plump nurse who seemed to be in her late 30's approaches us.

"Can I reserve a private room for Miss Elise Burton?"

"That's not a problem," she said and smiled brightly despite the gloomy cloud that was directly above me.

"I'll just be paying for everything she needs for three days right now but if she stays longer, please call me so I can add."

"The medicines, the tests, the doctor, the room?"

"Yes, everything." I signed some papers quickly and I handed her the cash. "Oh, and please don't tell anyone it was me."

"Alright sir," she nodded and smiled once more. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome."

Dwayne and I walk back to our cars in utter silence to give me time to think. "Wow, you still love her," he said, breaking the hush.

"Tell me about it."

e l i s e

It took me a couple tries to open my eyes with my vision starting off blurry, I had to blink the fogginess out. I see a white ceiling and hear consecutive beeping noises from God-knows-where. I turned my neck slowly, seeing a nurse, my friend Kelly and my parents whose attentions were to whatever gibberish the nurse was saying. I managed to breathe out a, "Where am I?"

My mom gasped in shock, tears snaking down her cheeks as she dashed towards me and scooped me up into a warm embrace. "My baby, you woke up."

"Mom, I—" I said, too speechless and overwhelmed with the situation. "What happened here?"

"You're in the hospital, Miss Burton. It's good news that you survived the car crash and a local citizen called the ambulance right away," the tall Asian nurse tells me with a comforting smile.

"It was reported to our company and I rushed here to see you. You've been asleep for two days." Kelly strokes my arm and looks at me compassionately. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Yes, honey. Your father and I were notified immediately so we booked the first flight we can find and flew here to see you," my mom kisses my forehead and smiles. "I thought I was going to lose my only daughter."

"Mom," I whined like a three year-old but couldn't help but admit I was moved for what they did. "What about your jobs?"

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you this but our employer only allowed us three days and by what Kelly told you, you have been sleeping for two days," dad tells me dejectedly. "I'm afraid we have to leave in an hour to catch up with our flight."

"That's okay, dad." I gave him a weak smile. "I can take care of myself."

"I really hope we can stay longer but we can't."

I hug my mom back sideways tightly and turned to the nurse. "Did I break any bones or anything that needs to be fixed?"

"Nope." She eases up which earned her a sigh of relief from me.

 "Although," she starts off hesitantly. "There's just one more common thing that actually occur to survivors of accidents. We'll just see if it affected her..."

.

A/N: Boring, I know. But I hope you'll tag along as the story progresses. Thank you all for your support and I have to be honest, I was really scared to post this. But thanks to a few encouragement from a few loving people, I finally did it. That's all for now, I'll try to update as much as I can.

Music: How Long Will I Love You // Ellie Goulding