I'm never gonna give up on you.

38. Why did it have to be me?

Charles opened his eyes and yawned tiredly. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened between him and Caroline. Even though he had been sure, that he won't love any other women than his mother and sisters, he loved her so much. She had been his only friend for a long time and their bond was even stronger than before.

He glanced at the naked girl, who was peacefully sleeping with her head rested on his chest. His right arm was still wrapped around her body, so he assumed, they had been sleeping like this since they fell asleep. He softly brushed Caroline's hair from her face just to admire her beauty for a while.

Suddenly, his smile faded once he reminded himself, that if they keep doing this, he will hurt her. He couldn't deny, that what they had done was amazing and he would always remember about it, but it wasn't who he was. He couldn't give her what she wanted the most. Charles wasn't able to love her in a way she would've always wanted to.

He carefully slipped out of the bed and grabbed the new pair of boxers, right before heading into the bathroom. He turned the shower on and closed the glass door right behind him. He splashed the cold water all over his face to wake himself up completely and let the emotions go.

Even though Charles had told her, that he didn't want to hurt her, he was afraid, that their actions may affect their friendship, which he valued the most. On the one hand, the thought of losing her was driving him insane, but from the other, she wanted it to happen even more.

Oh God, why everything needs to be so complicated? It was all too much for him. His best friend was lying naked in his bed after they had spent a night together wasn't the only reason why was he so stressed. He needed to finally talk to Chic and end up the things with him for good.

He walked out from the bathroom and saw Caroline wasn't asleep anymore. She turned her head to glance at him right before she stretched her arms and yawned happily. He smiled shyly at her and from his facial expression, she could think, that something was bothering him.

"Charlie? What's wrong?" She asked calmly with her voice as soft as possible, but deep down her heart she was terrified. The fact, that they slept together could be the reason for the heavy atmosphere in the room and she was afraid, it may affect their friendship.

"I fucked everything up, again," Charles said quietly staring at the floor to avoid looking in her eyes. Caroline covered herself with the sheets and came closer to him forcing him to say what he wanted to.

"I didn't want to hurt you. I will always love you, but I can't fall in love with you. I don't want to lose you." He whispered the last words enough loud for her to hear them. She shook her head and grabbed his cheeks into her palms, stroking them gently with her thumbs.

"Hey, you are not going to lose me, alright?" She assured him and he just simply nodded. She thought that him worrying about their friendship even more than she was sweet. Charles was one of the most important men in her life and she didn't want to end up their relationship just because he felt different than her.

"Look, yesterday night we made our decision and I don't regret it. I understand, that we won't be together, I do. But I didn't want to be like your parents." She said and Charles raised his eyebrow when Caroline mentioned Alice and FP. To be honest, he didn't know what she was trying to say, but he was curiously waiting for her to explain what was on her mind.

"I didn't want to lose the opportunity to show you my feelings towards you like they did. Even though nothing will change, I know I did the right thing." Caroline explained smiling softly at him. He smiled back and just chuckled while looking at her breathing out the sigh of relief.

"So, are we good?" Caroline nodded while hearing his words. He couldn't help, but just pulled her closer into his arms and placed a sweet peck on the top of her head while wrapping his arms around her.

"Come on, we need to end up this whole Chic thing." She poked his back playfully and walked into the bathroom leaving him alone in the room. Charles was so grateful to have Caroline as a friend. She was a friend, who was standing by his side no matter what and he loved her so much.

The main thing he was grateful for was that they were in this together. She was supporting him and tried her best to help in every possible way o get him out of this shit. She was the part of his life and he would do anything to keep her close, so would she.

Caroline was so damn right. It was the highest time to finally get rid of the past and move on. As far as he knew, breaking up with Chic won't be easy for him, the thought of admitting that fact in front of his family was driving him insane. But everything will be alright, right?

***

"Please, take a sit." Dr. Ross pointed at the chairs next to her desk once she sat down behind it. They gladly took a sit with their faces pale. FP was holding Alice's hand to show her his support. To be honest, he knew that they won't hear the good news and it was terrifying him.

The woman saw Alice's results and to be honest, her health was getting even worse than she could even think. Her heart was in terrible condition and there was nothing more she could do about it at that moment. She needed to think about another way of treatment.

"Ms. Smith, we need to call your boss and explain everything to him. You need to stay at home for a while because working in your condition is too dangerous." Dr. Ross started carefully and Alice raised her sight from the ground immediately. She knew, that Dr. Ross wouldn't forbid her going to work if everything was fine with her results.

Her eyes slowly started to fill with tears and anger. The work was one of the most valuable things to her. She loved being a RIVW reporter and now, she needed to stop working, because she was too weak. Alice Smith, the badass girl from the wrong side of the trucks was too weak.

"I need to tell you the truth, the results are even worse than I thought they will be." Dr. Ross sighed heavily while searching through the papers to show them how Alice's condition was declining for the past days. You could say months while taking into consideration every other test she had.

FP squeezed his girlfriend's hand, drawing little circles on her fingers with his thumb, while she was glancing at the papers with her eyes wide open. Even though she knew, that it wouldn't be as good as she wanted it to be, she couldn't believe that her health declined that fast. She wasn't expecting the results will be that bad.

"I need to think about other possibilities of treatment but I can't promise you it will be easy. I don't take out of the equation the possibility of surgery." Dr. Ross said calmly while looking at her patient. It wasn't easy for her to announce, that there is not much more she can do about Alice's heart and she felt nearly as hopeless as Alice.

"Stay at home with your family and try to chill. I will call you when I will figure out the best solution. Please, take care of her, Mr. Jones." Dr. Ross glanced at FP who just simply nodded and watched the pair leaving her little office. She hid her face into her palms and tried to calm down a little just before heading into the library to find books which may help her to find the solution.

Alice and FP were silently walking down the corridors and once they left the building the sun greeted them with it's warm. The birds were singing and they could see some people strolling down the park with ice creams and children running to the playground. They were laughing and just enjoying that beautiful afternoon.

Alice was standing in the middle of the empty street, just watching the world around her. FP noticed that she was no longer by his side and came closer to his girl. He could see the tears already streaming down her cheeks and pulled her into his tight embrace immediately.

Seeing all of the people being happy, not worrying about anything important made her feeling even more hopeless than before. She was afraid, she would never spend a beautiful afternoon like this again. She started to cry into FP's chest while his hand was running through her hair, pulling her even closer.

"Why did it have to be me?" She sobbed loudly into his chest while crying so hard, he couldn't calm her down in any way. She needed to let the emotions go. She was broken and the worst thing was that nobody could do anything to help her. She could only pray to God and have hope. That was all she could do.