Chapter 8

Serah’s POV

“Mia, please listen—”

Before I could finish, her voice broke through the room like a thunderclap, filled with pain, rage, and sorrow.

“Serah, I am so angry with you!” she burst out, her eyes brimming with tears. “How dare you do that to me? Do you have any idea how much I love you? You are my sister—my only sister! Do you want to leave me all alone in this world? Answer me!”

She stood in front of me, trembling, her face flushed from emotion. Her voice cracked under the weight of her own heartache, and I could see the sheer devastation in her eyes.

“I’m waiting for an honest answer because I’m just… tired, Serah,” she continued, tears streaming freely down her cheeks now. “I’m tired of pretending to be the strong one when inside I’m falling apart. I’ve held you up for so long, and today’s incident—what you did—it crushed me. I don’t know what to do with you anymore…”

Seeing her like that—so vulnerable, so broken—it shattered something in me. My heart clenched with guilt and regret. I had been so consumed by my own sorrow and bitterness that I completely overlooked the quiet pain Mia carried all this time. She loved me fiercely, cared for me without complaint, and yet I had ignored the toll my emotional spiral was taking on her.

I felt ashamed.

“I’m so sorry, sister,” I whispered, my voice trembling. I dropped to my knees in front of her, tears flooding my eyes as I gently touched her knees, looking up into the face that had always been my comfort, my refuge. “I didn’t realize I was hurting you this way. I’ve been so lost in my own pain… Please, forgive me. I promise I’ll never put you through that again.”

Her face softened as she looked down at me, but her tears didn’t stop.

“Why would you even make that kind of choice, Serah?” she asked, her voice breaking with emotion. “Thank heavens that man was there to save you. I don’t even want to imagine what could’ve happened if he hadn’t been. How could I survive in a world without you? You’re my only family. You’re my everything, Serah.”

She reached out and held my hand, squeezing it tightly. That warmth, that familiar comfort—it made me cry even harder.

“I was just so broken, Mia,” I choked out between sobs. “Seeing Brian again… it destroyed me. I couldn’t bear it. He proposed to her right in front of me. It felt like my entire world had collapsed, and in that moment, I didn’t want to live anymore.”

Mia’s eyes filled with both sadness and anger.

“So you wanted to take your own life because of a man?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. “Serah, he’s moved on. He’s happy now—with someone else. You need to accept that. He doesn’t love you anymore, and that’s not your fault. But please… don’t ever hurt yourself again for someone who wouldn’t even blink if you were gone.”

Her words stung—because they were true. If I had died, Brian would have moved on with barely a pause. My death would not have changed his life. But it would have destroyed Mia’s.

And my baby’s.

I sat there, letting her words sink deep into my soul. I had been so selfish. So reckless. The Serah I knew—the one who valued her life, who loved deeply and dreamed boldly, would never have done this. But that version of me had disappeared the moment Brian left.

And now, slowly, I needed to bring her back.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I whispered through my tears. “I love myself… or I used to. I can’t believe I reached a point where I wanted to end it all. But now I realize—I have to live. I’m expecting a child, Mia. A life is growing inside me. I have a reason to stay strong. And I know I won’t do it alone… not while I have you by my side.”

She nodded, gently rubbing the back of my hand. Her strength was the reason I was still here.

“From now on, I’m going to live not just for myself, but for two people who mean the world to me—you, and my unborn baby,” I continued. “I’ll be the sister you deserve. I’ll also be the mother my child will be proud of. I’ll find the strength. And Brian… he’s no longer part of my future. He’s a chapter I’ve closed. It won’t be easy to forget, but I’ll try—every single day.”

Mia looked at me through teary eyes, her lips trembling. “Do you really mean that, Serah?”

I nodded. “With all my heart.”

Without another word, she threw her arms around me and pulled me into a tight, tearful hug. We held each other close, crying together—this time not in pain, but in healing. That hug said everything our words couldn’t. It was a promise. A bond. A fresh beginning.

And I intended to keep it.