Chapter 39: Goodbye, My Love

                                    

                                          
Note: Strap in, this will be good. 
                          
*Serena's POV
                          
The day I had feared for a few days now finally came, much to my dread. The thought of what was going to happen today caused me to feel sick to myself as butterflies crashed against the walls of my stomach. Stress..... stress like I had never felt before. Today, Ash would leave me..... again.....
                          
We had a surprised goodbye party planned for him, and I absolutely hated it because my friends forced me to be the one to take him to it. And they expected me to be happy but that couldn't be further from what I felt
                          
I almost burst out in tears when Ash answered the front door to his house, but thankfully I was able to hold myself back
                          
"H-Hey" I greeted, not being able to meet his beautiful eyes and instead looking down towards the ground 
                          
"Hey Serena.... wh-whats up?" He asked
                          
"I um... I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me for a bit" I lied
                          
"Sure! It's my last full day after all" Ash agreed with positivity
                          
The positivity I loved so much about him, but this time..... I hated it. I wanted him to feel what I was feeling. My heart slowly breaking apart as the seconds passed by through the day
                          
We walked together, side by side at the exact same pace, neither of us saying a word to each other. I wondered what was going on in his head. Probably just more stupid Pokemon battling....
                          
------
                          
"Where are we going?" Ash asked as I forcibly pushed him into a dark room, and when Ash's voice echoed off I heard the voices of my friends echo back at him "A party?"
                          
"A goodbye one at that" Kiawe corrected
                          
Yeah..... goodbye. The word left a bad taste in my mouth. I almost wanted to punch anyone who even dared remind me that the word existed or that I would be saying it later today, to the boy I love
                          
The party went on and we were all having a good time, except for me. But thankfully no one noticed because today I was really good at hiding it. I thought I was safe but the boy who always questioned me to my playful annoyance asked me the question I didn't want to hear. I wanted to yell my answer angrily back at him but I chose not to
                          
"Serena? Are you alright?" Ash asked me
                          
"I-I'm fine" I assured 
                          
"You don't look fine to me" Ash said
                          
Normally I would tease him for saying something like that. "I don't look fine?"  Is what I wanted to tease him with
                          
"I'm alright" I replied, my voice a little louder
                          
"Look, I'm sorry if me leaving is bothering you. I don't know, and I'm also sorry if I assume what your down about is. I just want you to know that our promise still stands" Ash reminded
                          
"Huh?" I asked as I finally looked up at him
                          
"We promised each other that we would be together forever, remember?" He asked
                          
"Yeah, I do..... so why are you leaving me then?" I asked back
                          
"Because I'll come back Serena! Who knows, maybe I'll win the Galar League" Ash chuckled
                          
"If you win that league then you become royalty and you can't come back, so please don't win that" I replied
                          
"I got it" Ash said and I looked at him with a sad/expectant look "I'll travel Galar, improve myself until I feel like I'm ready. Then I'll come back and wait for the Kalos League to start"