I felt a tug at the edge of my shirt and I sat right up. It was still dark all around taking me awhile to adjust my eyesight. Turning my head to the side I found Eric dressed in pajamas, his fingers clutched my shirt and low sniffs escaped.

"Daddy" he croaked rubbing his eyes. I immediately got off the bed pulling him off the ground. My arms cradled him close to my chest as he buried his face into my shirt. Not wanting to wake David up I carried him out of the room as we headed downstairs.

"What happened baby? Did you have a bad dream?" I asked softly rocking him on my lap. He nodded quietly rubbing his nose against my chest. It was a thing he always did whenever he was scared or worried.

"Want to talk about it?" I questioned pulling him away settling both of us on the couch. I rubbed the tears that had managed to escape from the pretty little eyes.

"You left. Again." He whispered sniffing in between the words. He looked at me with pleading eyes as if asking me for a promise to never leave again ever. He shuffled himself more in my lap so as to wrap his tiny arms around my torso which barely even hugged one third of myself. In that moment I felt so terribly guilty for leaving him like that. In the haste of the situations, with Lauren and David, unknowingly I had almost abandoned my child. I had punished him for something he wasn't even responsible for. I was so damn selfish.

"I am so sorry baby, I am so sorry. Daddy will never leave like that ever. I promise.". He immediately held out his palm intertwining his little finger with mine.

"Pinky swear!" He chirped making me smile at his antics.

"Pinky swear" I replied earning a sloppy kiss on my cheek in return.

"Now let's get to bed." He clung onto me as we walked back up. Tucking him under covers I sat at the side, running my fingers through his hairs rubbing circles with my fingers.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm" I hummed.

"Can we be like before? You me and mum all together." He requested quietly. I had dreaded the question but I didn't expect it this soon. I loved Lauren but I couldn't deny the fact that it was after Eric that I loved her with my everything. It was the want, the need to provide my son with the perfect upbringing, for him to have a family that I finally gave up my ways and settled down. And I didn't regret a single part of it.

However here we were again. Probably I couldn't give him the best and here now at this moment, with his simple small question I finally understood what David meant. Failing. Failing to be the Dad you always wanted to be. Failing to build the family you always dreamt about.

"Um I don't think so buddy. Some grown up stuff happened between me and mum and we can't stay together now. But this doesn't mean either of us loves you any less and neither of us are going to leave you okay. Both of us will always be there for you no matter what. You don't need to worry about it okay?" I tried to explain pressing a kiss on his forehead. He crunched his brows thinking. It was probably a lot to take in for my little kid.

"Get some sleep, we will talk about it in the morning. It's late. Come on". After few pats and some coaxing his eyelids drooped pulling him into slumber.

Returning back to my room, I found David missing from his side.

" David?" I called peeping to find an empty washroom.

"David" I called once more getting worried now. Where the fuck can he disappear in the middle of the night.

"David?" I raised my voice further walking into the terrace finding him standing at the edge.

"What the fuck are you doing here? And I was calling you couldn't you answer? What's the matter with you David?" I spoke. I was getting all worked up and I find him casually strolling here.

"We shouldn't do this. Me and you this isn't right. Its not fair to Eric. I am destroying something beautiful, a marriage, a family. If I hadn't walked into that night you could have resolved the differences, you people could have got back together. I am providing fuel to all this." He grumbled.

"Not again, David! We already had this argument. And this isn't just about you, it's also me. As much as you are stumbling into this, so am I. For a clap we require both palms to connect, never can it be produced with just one. So we are in it together, and I don't know how to work this out if you decide to run at every obstacle. I need you by my side, I can't do this alone. I don't know from where you are getting these ideas." I reasoned with him making him turn towards me.

"But Lauren said, she could have won you back if I didn't come into the picture. You would have given her another chance and you could be a family. And now when I hear Eric asking about the same thing, I felt its not really meant to be. If there are so many obstacles, if being together means hurting the persons we love, how can it be right? How can we be happy knowing that people close to us are unhappy? Isn't this selfish?" David questioned his voice trembling with emotion.

I ran my hands through my hair desperate to grab answers for his questions.

"I don't know. I don't have answers, babe. Yet. But I am willing to find them. With you. Can't we just go with the flow?" I whispered grasping his hands into mine.

"Move with the flow and reach where, Simon? There is no destination for this." He disagreed.

"You don't know that. I am in the same place as you or even worse. I have a fucking wife and a son, you don't have to deal with that. So why can't you just get your shit together and maybe help me." I burst off and instantly regretted it.

His face dropped immediately and I knew I had hit the worst. His eyes watered with unshed tears making my stomach turn into knots.

"David I didn't mean it!" I tried reaching him but he slapped my hand away.

"You wouldn't say it, if you didn't mean it. And I think I will help you." He breathed and stormed away.

I stood there frozen in my place. My legs were no longer prisoner of the mind. As much as I wanted them to move, to carry me toward David to try and stop him, they remained fixed to the ground, not moving an inch. The loud thump of the door closing marked David leaving my house.

Standing there alone, somewhere in my heart it finally crept.

Are we really not meant to be?