Chapter 55 - 55

Brandon took Reiner out of the theatre and went for a walk. The male was still shaken up from opening up to Brandon. He held Reiner's hand and guided him down the street. He spotted a cafe not fat from them and thought a good cup of coffee would warm Reiner up.

He took him to the cafe and took the seat far away from everyone else. Reiner was emotional and he couldn't stop his shaking hands from shaking.

"Is there anything else that you would like to get out of your chest?" he asked him. He wanted Reiner to let out all the things that he kept in his heart so he would be free from them.

"I woke up in the hospital after the incident, all my family members were there. They spoke to me and looked after me but I was too tired to care or bother to respond. I could find no joy in being around them or in anything for that matter. It was as though a part of me did drown in the pool. Everything was dull around me I lost the desire to do anything," he uttered in a dazed state as though replying to the memories of that time as he narrated it to him.

"That was expected I mean I too went to such a place when I lost you so it is understandable," Brandon said and placed his hand on top of Reiner's shaking hands.

The waiter returned with the coffee that he had ordered. He gave a cup to Reiner and urged him to drink it. Reiner took the coffee and held it in his hand.

"I was so cold and exhausted. I stopped going out and talking to people. I remember that I remained without saying a word to anyone for six months," he said causing Brandon to spit out the coffee in his mouth.

"You didn't speak for six months?" he questions in shock. The longest he had ever remained quiet for was a week but even then he felt the itch to talk to someone. He couldn't imagine what it could be like to be quiet for months.

"When I spoke no one listened to me and I had no one to talk to so I got used to just being quiet. My family got me to see different doctors for me to open up but I could never get the words out. I didn't have the energy to say anything to any of them. From then they just made themselves a part of my life no matter what I did. My dad agreed to everything I wanted no questions asked. My sister opened the cafe and forced me to work there in the hopes of bringing life back to me. My mother called and visited once in a while but..." he halted his voice breaking, he crashed the coffee cup in his hands spilling all the hot contents out. The coffee poured on his hands but he didn't even flinch from the burn.

Brandon took his hand and wiped the coffee fr them and blow hot air to the spot the coffee poured to. His heart was heavy with pain from the suffering that Reiner had gone through in his life. He found himself feeling guilty for not being able to give him all the love that he deserved and lacked from his family. Reiner dropped his head on the table and closed his eyes. They were red from all the crying and they were beginning to hurt him keeping them open.

"I made it a habit to smile at the customers and offered to those who came in looking sad. I would do my best to cheer them up and make them smile and that in return made me smile. I had practiced having the perfect smile on my face for such a long time that I couldn't even tell whether the smile on my face was real or fake. I just smiled," he continued. Brandon couldn't hold back his tears. He too started crying. 'If I didn't have music and my fans in my life back then would I have gone through this ?' he asked himself in his mind.

"It's all over now. You are safe," Brandon said and took Reiner into his arms. He wanted so bad to hit himself, he sucked at cheering Reiner up and he knew it. While Reiner always knew how to make him smile and cheer him up when he was sad.

"One day I saw this boy walk in, he was looking so sad and was crying too. I approached him and asked him what he wanted but he didn't say much, I knew that being alone was the last thing he wanted so I got him green tea and came to cheer him up," he said. He kept going without pause like he couldn't bring himself to stop talking. "He greedily ate it all, I smiled when I saw and took a seat to talk to him and he started crying when I asked him if he was okay. I hugged him and wiped away his tears but then he went from sad puppy to a cute puppy."

"Hey," Brandon said in between listening to him. He could not believe that he was just called a puppy. "I am not a puppy, if anything I am like an alpha," he said as a joke but Reiner didn't react. He was still with his eyes closed, tears flowing from his eyes.

"I could see myself in him, the signs were all there, I could not bear to have him walk down the path that I walked on so I made a promise to make him so happy that all his pain would go away. It just so happened that we went to the same school so it was easier to keep an eye on him. I made sure to watch him carefully so notice when he would need me so I would be there for him. Like I would have wanted someone to do for me," he added surprising Brandon. He had no idea that all that time Reiner was always just looking out for him.

"That must have been tired.."

"It was all going well and I could see him becoming lively again. With that he also started to bring life back into my life, I thought of him as the light in the darkness that was my life. I loved every minute that I spent with him and how he reacted to me being close to him. He was my hope but nothing good ever lasts in my life," he let out sadly. Brandon could feel his heartbreak apart as he could already predict what the next part of the story was going to be about. He could already feel guilt crawling up his bones.

"One day I caught him with another boy and everything fell apart," he said narrating the story as though Brandon was not the subject of the story but a third party.

"My heart was broken and all my hope shattered at that moment. It felt like I was back in the pool, he was teaching me to swim out of the darkness in my life but then a phone call came with the other boy's name on it and he left me in the pool and went to receive the call. I was drowning and he was the reason. It felt like the scenario with all my loved ones repeating itself all over again with him," he confessed.

"Reiner, I never meant to.."

"I ran away, I ran as fast as my legs could take me to get away from him. From the pain and the pool, I didn't want to die in the pool. I wanted to live," he said his body shaking so much. He was trembling and his hands were getting colder, his breath was becoming heavy.

"But he wouldn't leave me alone, every time I turned around he was always around that other boy just like the others. He never missed an opportunity to show me how much he preferred that other boy over me. And every time it felt like a push deeper into the pool, I was losing it but he just wouldn't stop. Because he was the victim and I was the villain. I tried to ask him to stay away from the boy, not to answer the call as I wanted to live but he wouldn't listen. I guess deserved it for thinking I could be loved," he said and went silent. His body was shaking more than before, other customers were attracted to them. They surrounded them.

One customer who was a doctor took a close look at Reiner. "Call an ambulance, he is having a seizure," he shouted and got Reiner from his seat and laid him down on the jackets the customers had lent. He kept his legs raised and covered him up. Brandon stood shocked, he was in disbelief at everything that happened. He was shocked by how the talk with Reiner led him to break down completely.

The ambulance came, the doctor and Brandon went with Reiner to the hospital.