Bonus Chapter(2/2)
I still await new collections , If you like the story and want even more bonus chapters then kindly keeping on adding to the Library, and I hope you'll stick with me to the end 😇😇😇😇.
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The apartment was quiet again.
Not like the cabin — where silence felt like safety.
Here, it was the kind of silence that came after a storm. Not destructive, just heavy. Lingering. Real.
Leon had barely said ten words since they came home from the gala.
Not because he was angry.
Because something deeper was unraveling.
And Aria didn't push.
Not right away.
She made tea.
She folded away the cufflinks from his suit.
She took off her heels and sat beside him on the couch, legs curled under her, the warmth of the evening still clinging to her skin.
"Talk to me," she finally said. "You don't have to, but… I want you to."
Leon didn't look at her.
He stared at the skyline.
The city lights flickering like stars he couldn't quite believe in.
Then, quietly: "The first time someone walked away from me, I was eight."
Aria didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
Just listened.
"My mother," Leon continued. "She loved my father more than she loved herself. At least, that's how she made it look. Until the night she didn't come home."
Aria's chest tightened.
"She left a note," he said. "Not for me. For him. It said she couldn't do it anymore. That his world had swallowed hers whole, and she didn't recognize her reflection anymore."
His voice didn't shake.
But his hands curled slowly into fists.
"I waited by the door for three days. I was so sure she'd change her mind."
A pause.
Then a hollow laugh.
"She didn't."
Aria reached for his hand.
Uncurled his fingers.
Held them.
Leon looked down at their hands like he didn't quite believe they were real.
"You're not her," he said quietly. "I know that. But some part of me… every time things get hard, I wonder. When's the day you decide it's too much?"
"I won't."
"You could."
"I could," she agreed. "But I won't."
He looked at her then.
And in his eyes wasn't doubt.
It was something far more dangerous.
Hope.
Fragile.
Unspoken.
"Why?" he asked, voice barely audible.
Aria reached up, resting her hand against his jaw.
Because he had asked her to see all of him.
So she did.
"I've seen the worst of you," she said softly. "And I still feel safer with you than I ever did with anyone who pretended to be good."
Leon's breath left him in a rush.
"I'm not fixed, Aria."
"I'm not asking you to be."
"I'll make mistakes."
"So will I."
"I'll mess this up sometimes."
Aria smiled.
"Then we'll clean it up together."
They sat in silence for a while after that.
But this time, it wasn't heavy.
It was warm.
Rooted.
He pulled her close.
Kissed her hair.
And whispered, "This is what staying looks like."
She didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
Because her body was already leaning into him.
Her breath already synced with his.
Her heart already steady in its answer.
The next morning, Aria found a folded note on the nightstand.
It was written in Leon's sharp, clean handwriting.
No signature.
Just one sentence:
"If one day you need to leave, I'll let you — but I'll never stop hoping you come back."
She held it to her chest.
And whispered back:
"I won't leave."