Chapter 10
706 Words
I stood outside Adrian’s door longer than i was supposed to
The city lights behind me blurred as I could stood there my fingers curling into my coat like I could still turn back. He was leaving in less than forty-eight hours for Korea which means another distance, another silence andd this time, if I didn’t speak, I knew I would lose him for good.
So I knocked.
The door opened after a moment.Adrian stood there, sleeves rolled up, hair slightly messy, his face tired but now owned completely.
His eyes widened the moment he gained consciousness
“ Natalie? Why are you here?”
I gulped. “Because you need to know the truth.”
He hesitated. then stepped outside without a word.
From outside, I noticed his suitcases were already packed.
“I’m not staying out long” he said, closing the door, “Just go straight to the point”
“I was wrong,” I said immediately. The words came out raw, unpolished. “About you. About everything.”
He didn’t respond. Didn’t even look at me.
“I doubted you,” I continued. “I let fear and someone else’s voice poison what we had. And when you needed me to trust you, I pushed you away.”
Finally, he turned to me,staring like he could see right through me
“You didn’t just push me away Nat,” he said quietly.“You chose to believe the worst of me.”
The truth of it hurt more than his tone.
“I know,” I whispered.“And I hate myself for it”
There was silence. Heavy,honest.
“You know what hurt me the most?” Adrian said. “It wasn't the accusations or the fight but realizing that i was willing to stay… and you weren’t willing to believe me even though I tried to make you”
Tears slid down my face unchecked. “I see it now–everything you did. for my father, for me and yet,you never asked for credit. You just stayed.”
“I stayed because of you,” he said. “I came back because of you.”
That broke me.
“I was afraid,” I said. “Afrraid of losing control–,afraid of loving you the way I always have.”
His jaw tightened. “Natalie, you hated me.”
I laughed nervously.“Noi didn't. I hated that you saw through me even when we were kids. I hated that you mattered so much to me.”
He looked at me then and something in his expression cracked.
“I loved you when you hated me,” he said. “I loved you when you chose someone else. I also loved you enough to walk away when you told me to.”
I stepped closer,stopping just short of touching him.
“I’m not asking you to stay because I’m scared to be alone.I'm asking you to stay because I now know who I want beside me.”
He searched my face,like he was afraid hope might betray him once again.
“If we do this again,” he said slowly, “there will be no games. No third voices. No doubt.”
I nodded. “Only us.”
I reached for his hand but didn’t force it.
After a long moment, he took it.
The contact was grounding. Real. Like something finding its way home.
He pulled me closer, resting his forehead against mine.“I’m tired, Natalie.”
“I know,” I whispered. “Let me be your peace this time.”
His breath shuddered. Then he kissed me–not desperate, not rushed,just certain. Like a promise finally kept.
When we pulled apart, his thumb brushed away my tears.
“I’m supposed to leave in two days,” he said.
“Then let me love you honestly for every second before that,” I replied.
A small smile tugged at his lips. “You always did fight unfair.”
I smiled back through tears. “Only when it mattered.”
Now, the future didn’t scare me; because this time, I wasn’t watching him walk away.
I was standing right where I belonged—beside him.
- Writer
