"Mrs. Foster, he seems better now" Daniel informed Beca as he glanced at Ryan who was finally sleeping comfortably there. "Don''t worry he is at my place. I will take care of him," he assured her before hanging up.

It was hard to tell how Daniel felt in the midst of all this. Ryan was his best friend, and he had always shared in his sadness and troubles as if they were his own. But today Ryan''s suffering seemed so justified that no matter how he hard Daniel tried, he couldn''t bring himself to feel his pain.

Not because he didn''t know what Ryan had lost, but because he knew Ryan had brought it upon himself.

Watching Ryan sleep, Daniel couldn''t help but sigh. "Ryan, brother, even realizing your mistake now won''t help you change anything. Arwen has moved on. She has someone else who treats her the way you should have treated her —or even better. There is no way you are getting her back. I truly hope you accept this sooner, pr else you will just keep hurting yourself."

He muttered softly, and though Ryan was asleep, his brows creased faintly as though he could hear him in his dreams.

Daniel noticed it and shook his head before getting up to leave the room, leaving a small light on in the corner.

The next day, late in the morning, Ryan''s brows furrowed in irritation as his phone blared, disturbing the peace he desperately wanted to hold onto. He ignored it the first time, but when the ringing didn''t seize and continued relentlessly, he finally reached out to check who it was.

His eyes barely opened, but as he squinted at the screen, he saw Delyt''s name flashing. The furrow deepened between his brows. If he had still been drunk like last night, he might have ignored it again, but now sober and rational, he remembered everything he had left behind in a moment of weakness. Pinching the space between his brows, he accepted the call and answered it.@@@@

"Hello!" He rasped, his voice came hoarse and dry.

"Ryan," Delyth''s voice came through, full of relief. "Finally! Finally ... you have answered the call. Thank goodness. You don''t know how scared. I simply didn''t know how to —" she trailed off purposefully, leaving an ambiguity in her words, her emotions lingering in the air.

"I will be there. Just rest for now and don''t think too much." Ryan said before hanging up the call.

Once done, he heard Daviel''s voice from the door. "So, you already have plans for the day?"

Ryan looked up to realize that Daniel had been standing there for some time. He might have heard his conversation. "I can stay here like this forever," Ryan muttered, more to himself than to Daniel, as he sat up on the bed.

Nodding, Daniel stepped into the room before handing him the medicines he got for him. "Of course, you can''t," he agreed, adding, "Though you could always head back to the bar and drink yourself into insanity, pretending the world has wronged you in the worst possible way."

Ryan shot him a dry look, clearly not in the mood to discuss all that. Taking the medicine, he said, "I am not pretending."

"Oh really?" Daniel asked as if surprised. "You are not pretending, then do you mean you are actually been wrong?"

"Dan —"

"Ryan, be a man and face the consequences of your actions. You can''t escape it just because you think it''s not your fault. Think back and reflect on your actions, you will see how you deserve everything that''s happening to you. Crying and drinking in oblivion are for kids, not for a grown man like you."

"You mean this all is my fault?" Ryan asked as if he couldn''t believe it.

Daniel was even more surprised. "Is it not? Brother, don''t tell me you are blaming this on Arwen again."