Content Warning
This story contains sensitive themes, including but not limited to miscarriage, emotional distress, and complex relationship dynamics. Reader discretion is advised.


Disclaimer
This work is purely fictional. All characters, events, and situations are products of imagination and are not intended to represent real individuals or real-life occurrences.

Controversies were born, one of the Skye was accused of malicous issue, which everyone knows was false accusations. Backslash, threats, anything… And there, the hiatus of the group was announced. Plans were pushed back, causing everyone distress and pressure, and Skye was the most affected of all.

That night felt like every other night since the controversy exploded — heavy, exhausting, and too loud in all the wrong ways.


They found Skye at the bar again.
Too drunk. Too broken. Too reckless.


Music thumped against the walls while strangers watched as the group’s leader, their strong, untouchable Skye, leaned against the counter, tangled with a girl who didn’t know his real name, only the headlines.

Dale stood frozen for a second.

Not out of jealousy. But because she could see it — the collapse behind his eyes.


Jared stepped forward first, calm but firm, separating Skye from the girl while Dale handled the staff, smoothing over the situation before it could become another scandal.


They got him home.


Skye barely walked on his own — mumbling apologies to no one, laughing one moment, cursing the next. They laid him on the bed carefully, Dale pulling the blanket over his shoulders the same way she always did after long rehearsals.


For a moment, she just stood there… watching him sleep. Then she turned away.




The apartment was a mess, with empty bottles, unfinished takeout, and dishes piled in the sink.
They worked in silence.

Jared gathered the trash while Dale washed dishes, sleeves rolled up, hands moving automatically. A dull cramp twisted in her lower abdomen , sharp enough to make her pause, but she ignored it. She had been exhausted for weeks. Stress. Lack of sleep. She told herself it was nothing.


Another wave hit.
She gripped the counter.


“Okay ka lang?” Jared asked from behind her.
She forced a nod. “Pagod lang.”

She kept going.


Water running. Plates stacking. Silence fills the room.


Jared stepped out to throw the trash. When he returned, he stopped mid-step. There was a dark stain on the back of her skirt.


And then — a thin line of blood trailing down her leg.



His breath caught. “Dale…”
He moved quickly, pulling off his jacket and tying it around her waist before she could even react.



“Anong—?” she started, confused until she followed his gaze downward.


Her world tilted.

The pain hit all at once. Sharper now, deeper, like something inside her was tearing apart.
Her hands trembled.




“Ja…” her voice cracked softly. “…hospital. Ngayon.”





He didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his keys while she clutched the counter, trying to steady her breathing, trying not to cry. Instructions fell from her lips automatically — which bag to get, which doctor to call, which hospital to go to — her voice professional even as her body started to fail her.





In the car, she pressed a hand to her abdomen, eyes unfocused. The city lights blurred past while she tried to keep her breathing steady, whispering updates to her OB-GYN through shaking lips. Jared drove faster than he ever had — one hand gripping the wheel, the other hovering near her shoulder like he wanted to help but didn’t know how.


At the emergency room, everything moved too fast. Nurses. Questions. Stretchers. Jared stood frozen just outside the curtain while machines beeped and voices overlapped.



He didn’t understand at first.
Not until he caught a glimpse of the ultrasound monitor.
Not until he saw Dale’s face crumple. Tears finally breaking through the composure she had held together for months.

And not until the doctor’s quiet, heavy words reached his ears.
She had been carrying a life.

Alone.
And now… losing it.


Her cries grew softer, weaker — swallowed by exhaustion and pain, while Jared stood there helpless, fingers curled into fists at his sides. It sank into him slowly.


All the meetings she attended without complaint.
All the nights she stayed late.
All the times she said she was just tired.

She had been fighting something far bigger than any of them knew.
And he hadn’t seen it.

All he could do was stay. A silent witness to the moment she lost something no one else even knew existed.


Outside, the world kept moving.
Inside that small hospital room, everything stopped.







The consent papers felt heavier than they should have.


Jared held them in his hands, eyes scanning words that blurred together — medical terms, procedures, risks. His chest tightened when the nurse explained that the d&c was necessary… that waiting longer could put Dale in more danger.

For a moment, he hesitated.

Not because he didn’t trust the doctors, but because signing anything felt like accepting that something irreversible had already happened.


“I… kailangan ba talaga?” he asked quietly.

The nurse gave him a gentle, professional look. “The patient already gave her instructions. She understood the risks. This is to prevent further complications.”



Patient. Not Dale.
Not the woman who had been standing beside them through every storm.
Just… a patient.


His hand trembled slightly as he signed.


They wheeled her past him not long after. Pale, exhausted, eyes barely open. She gave him a small nod, as if reassuring him, not the other way around.


“Ja…” she whispered weakly. “Okay lang.”
He forced a smile. “Nandito lang ako.”


Then the doors closed.
The waiting area felt too quiet.



His phone buzzed — their manager calling. Jared stepped outside to answer, voice low.

“Kamusta si Dale?” the manager asked immediately.
“Operating na,” Jared replied. “Emergency.”


There was a short pause before the manager sighed. “Nag-message siya sa akin earlier. Filed a leave. One week daw muna. Approved na ng board. Confidential muna lalo na sa members… as per her request.”



Of course it was.




Even now… she was still protecting everyone else first. “Okay,” Jared said softly. “Salamat.”


The call ended quickly. He sat back down, elbows on his knees, staring at the sterile hospital floor.
And then… Skye’s face flashed through his mind.


Drunk.
Laughing with someone else.
Throwing words like knives.
Unaware of the life Dale had been carrying alone.


Jared’s jaw clenched.


For a split second, anger burned so hot he imagined walking straight back into Skye’s unit — grabbing him by the collar, forcing him to see what his silence and recklessness had done. He wanted to punch him. Hard enough to wake him up from whatever self-destruction he was drowning in.

But he didn’t. Because this wasn’t about revenge.
It was about Dale.

Her wishes. Her privacy. Her strength.



He leaned back against the cold wall, exhaling slowly, trying to ground himself while the red “Operation in Progress” light glowed above the door.


Minutes stretched into hours.
And all he could do… was wait.


Wait for the doors to open.
Wait to know that she made it through.



Wait while carrying a truth that wasn’t his to tell and a storm of emotions he wasn’t allowed to release.





TBC