Beneath the safe embrace

༺𝑖𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒, 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐼 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢.༻ __________________________________________________ "by dad I'll see you tonight!" I call out while I'm already at the front door putting on my converse shoes "bye Liyah, be safe" dad says his voice Waverly and coughing "and don't forget to take you're medicine dad!" is the last thing I say before I open the door and walk out closing it behind me. the outside air blows through my hair and seeps in my nose as I breath it in while I walk down the street toward the small store my dad owns- well owned right now he's sick and can barely move so I stepped up and is right now taking it over but sadly I had to drop my plans of going to collage but I'm not complaining right now my top priority is taking care of my dad. I unlock the door to the store and step inside flipping the "we're closed" sign to "we're open" I set down my bag at the front counter and prepare everything and get ready for the whole day. it's been two hours already that I'm here right now it's 14:50 pm and a couple customers already came and bought some stuff, I hear the bell ring meaning that someone opened the door and walked inside but I don't pay attention to it so I just keep checking my phone thinking that it's just another costumer that came inside "hey mami" I hear in front me and my fingers freeze on my phone, I sigh and looked up from my phone and see..him. "Johan...what are you doing here" I say coldly while glaring at him, he just smirks and puts his hands on the counter "well I'm here for you mami, you weren't answering any of my texts and just blocked me" "blocked you? motherfucker you cheated on me, alot. I forgave you for the first couple times but don't fool me twice Johan" I respond already getting angry at him thinking he can just walk into my store and talk to me like he didn't break my heart repeatedly. "look that didn't mean anything, I was just a little out of place" he says and I swear I'm gonna punch his two gold teeth out his mouth "out of place? do you hear yourself right now? you better get out of my face and leave right now Johan or I swear to God" this time his smirk falters a little "or you'll do what huh? slap me? punch me?" he struts a little closer over the counter toward my face "I know you ain't gonna do s**t cause you're still the petite weak girl I met months ago" I grit my teeth "I'm not that weak anymore, I'm done forgiving you every time you do some dumb s**t and I'm done taking the blame for the s**t you've done!" he just licks his teeth and leans back "oh come on mami don't do me like that, you and I both know that you still love me I was there everytime you're weak ass was sad and crying giving you all the s**t you needed, brought you inside my house everytime you came crying and then screaming my name in bed" he says laughing when he finished, oh this asshole thinks he's the s**t. oke it's true, back then I was in a dark place I was so alone and felt like nobody was there for me until four years ago I met him, Johan. we met at school when he was in his last year of high school, he's two years older then me and even though he was a bad boy, a gangster and troublesome I still fell in love with him, and I thought he did to. we did everything together and the more I was with him the more attached I was and I was so attached and love struck that I didn't even see the red flags, he was toxic since the beginning but as I said I was in a bad place and I was a teenager and he was always there for me, he was the first that took my virginity...my first kiss my first everything and I couldn't let him go. and he knew that. he knew the control he had on me, and no matter how many times I caught him cheating, looking at other girls he always explained that it didn't mean anything and that he just wasn't thinking straight at those times and like a lovestruck i***t I believed and forgave him, and there were times where he was always getting in trouble for doing stupid s**t and I always took the blame for him so I was the one that got into more trouble, God I was so in love with him it was insane and nobody seem to tell me that until two years ago it was our anniversary so I went to go surprise him to his house, I had a spare key so I went in toward his room and I saw him in bed with another woman. and worse it was a girl from my school and she was my worst bully. after that I realized that all of this was a lie and that I was living in my own fantasy not even seeing the bad signs so I just ran away to my house ignoring my dad's calls from downstairs and just cried all day all week ignoring Johans calls and texts. then after a months of ignoring him I just blocked his number but still he always found a way to message me or call me from other numbers but I always blocked them and now we're here and im about to punch him in his stupid face that I thought was charming. "Johan just leave, leave me alone I don't want you anymore I don't love you any more and I don't give a f**k about you anymore just leave. go bother you're other hoes and leave me out of this" his smirk immediately drops and his eyes turn cold "come on Lili don't do me like that, look I've changed im a changed man see. now why don't we say you and I go take a walk and go to the beach where we always used to go and maybe, do more after that.." he says while his hand slowly touches mine and I instantly mentally gag and pull my hand away "leave right now Johan or I'll call the cops and tell them you're trespassing somewhere you're not welcome and I'll also tell them all the crimes you commit" he scoffs and puts his hands in his pockets "whatever mams, I'll leave but this isn't the last time you'll see me" he winks and walks away. I sigh and sit on the chair behind me rubbing my head "day started not to long ago and I already feel like killing myself" I say to myself almost wanting to bang my head against the wall. it's not 20:10 pm at night and just few more minutes and then it's closing time, I just keep scrolling through stuff on my phone while leaning on the counter until I hear the bell ring, I look up and see a guys walk in, he looks the same age as me and is wearing baggy grey sweats with a black sweater, his hair looks a little messy and tangled and he looks tired and annoyed like he wants to punch something. He walks around the store and inspects all the items on the shelf for few minutes until he finally walks to the counter and takes a pack of bubblegum and drops it on the counter, I look at him a while longer until I take the pack and beep the price tag "that'll be two dollars and eight cents" I say and he puts his hand in his pocket for few seconds and his face changes, I keep watching him as he searches his other pockets while his face turns into a small panickb "are...you oke?" I ask confused waiting for him to pay and get out of here "y-yea I'm fine I'm just.." he replies still searching in his pockets "you don't have- two dollars and eight cents?" I ask wanting to laugh but kept my face normal "yea I do! it's just that I came here in a rush so-" this guy is dumb I can tell and I can't bare to keep watching him search for two dollars, who comes a*****e with no money? moments go by which feels like hours and I just feel pity for him at this point. I sigh and take the pack of gum and hand it to him "here" he looks at me confused after I said that "it's on the house" "for real?" he asks and I sigh again "just take it, it's just a pack of gum" he stares at me for a moment his face still shocked. he then sticks out his hand to take the pack, when he holds it our hands slightly touch and for just a second we make eye contact his brown hooded eyes looking under the dimly lit store, his hand feels rough like he's fought a lot, then he took the pack out my hand and the touch went away, now a burning feeling on my hand "thanks..for this" he says and I shake my head pulling up a small smile "it's nothing, it's just gum" he stares at me for a moment after I said that and for just a second I see him staring at my lips which are still formed in a small smile until he turns around and leaves the store. that was something..what just happened but I mentally shake my head and ignore it thinking that I'll never see him again.