I look up at him slowly, my vision blurring with unshed tears.
His eyes softens, his thumb brushing lightly along my thigh again.
“I can’t bear not being able to look into your eyes when we’re apart.”
That’s it.
That’s all it takes.
I throw my arms around his neck, pressing my face into him, my lips finding his cheek as I hold on to him tighter than I probably should.
“I love you,” I whisper against his skin.
I feel the way he exhales, and then his arms come around me instantly, like he was waiting for that.
“You know,” he murmurs quietly. “I love you more.”
I pull back just enough to look at him again, and then my attention drops to the box beside him.
“What’s in there?” I ask, softer now, trying not to cry like a big old baby.
He places it in my hands. “Open it.”
The lid lifts easily, and inside…I don’t even know what these are.
Notes.
So many of them.
Folded. Worn. Some crumpled like he wrote them fast and shoved them away without thinking.
My fingers tremble a little as I pick one up, unfolding it carefully.
They’re his handwriting. So messy and rushed.
Desperate.
I look up at him again, confused. “What are these?”
“All of my thoughts,” he says simply. “From when I was looking for you.”
My chest tightens again.
I swallow and start reading.
She’s still out there. I know it. I don’t care how long it takes.
She needs me. I know she does. Will she remember me?
I keep thinking about her laugh. I wonder if it’s the same all these years later?
Tristan is stupid and Winter should murder him in his sleep.
I read that one out loud, and Sebastian snatches it out of my hands and sheepishly tosses it behind him.
“Wrong box,” he says, which makes me laugh so hard that the tears I was holding back fall, running down my cheeks. He wipes them away, kissing me gently before I pull another note out.
Every time I close my eyes, I see her scared. I should’ve protected her better. I will fix this.
