“I’m sorry,” I murmured again, the words pressed into her skin. “I missed you so fucking much. I was miserable without you.”
She still didn’t say anything, but she didn’t pull away either. Her arms slid up and around my neck, chin resting on my shoulder, breath brushing my ear.
“The only thing that made it bearable was Honey,” I whispered. “But even she—she misses you. She keeps walking around the apartment, crying at the door, waiting for her mom to come home.”
Aurora’s shoulders trembled against me, and I hugged her tighter.
“Please don’t leave again,” I whispered, desperate, voice cracking raw. “Please don’t. I won’t mess it up this time, I swear to you. I won’t tell you to leave again. Just… don’t hate me. Please forgive me because I love you. I—” I swallowed, eyes burning. “I love you, Aurora.”
She froze.
For a second, she didn’t move, didn’t even breathe.
Then, softly, barely a whisper against my skin, “I love you too.”
Everything in me went still.
Her lips brushed against my collarbone as she breathed the words again, as if she were afraid they might fade if she didn’t say them twice.
“I couldn’t stay away,” she murmured, voice cracking halfway through. “I didn’t want to be away. I—I tried, Joshua, I really did. But I couldn’t. I wanted you. To be with you.”
My throat closed.
I cupped her jaw and tilted her face up just enough to see her eyes. The way she looked at me made my chest feel too tight to hold.
“I didn’t think you’d come back,” I whispered. “Didn’t think I deserved it.”
She shook her head, her nose brushing mine, her fingers curling around the back of my neck as if she were anchoring me there.
“That’s not up to you to decide—it’s up to me,” she said softly. “And you deserve me, Joshua. You really do. So please—please don’t ever say that you don’t want to see me again. I…can’t take that.”
Something inside me broke then, quietly, like the sound of a knot coming undone after being pulled too tight for too long.
So I held her closer.
Pressed my lips to her forehead, then her cheek, then her hair, whispering, “I won’t.”
I brushed her hair back, kissing her shoulder softly.
“I’ll never say it again.”
Her fingers drew slow circles over my heart as she melted into my chest. I leaned my head back against the couch, her weight soft against me, and let out a shaky breath.
She came back.
She choseme.
So I whispered it one last time, barely louder than a heartbeat, “I’m not letting you go again.”
She nodded, small and trembling. “I don’t want to leave,” she whispered. “I want to stay. I want to be with you.”
“Then stay,” I murmured. “Stay with me, Princess.”
We stayed quiet for a bit, taking in everything we said and letting it linger in the air. But then I felt her nuzzling her face closer towards the crook of my neck, making me believe she was falling asleep.
I lifted her up; her weight was light in my arms. Her head rested against my shoulder, her hands wrapping loosely around my neck like she still didn’t quite believe she was allowed to hold on.
Our clothes trailed behind us on the floor, forgotten, unimportant. All that mattered was that she was here. That she wasn’t walking away this time.
