if i can't have you || rini au

53. last glimpse

the girl looked at her aunt and felt more tears fall, shaking her head with her lips trembling, erica sighing sadly as she pulled her into her chest and hugged her comfortingly

"i-i don't want to leave." nini squeaked, sniffling as erica rubbed her hand up and down her back softly

"i know, honey, i know." erica breathed "i know."

nini closed her eyes tightly, continuing to cry into her aunt's embrace before she heard a light knock at her door again, erica pulling away as they looked over to see the curly-haired boy standing at the doorway holding a little red bag in his hand.

erica looked between the two and took a deep breath "i'll be downstairs helping the others put everything in the car." she informed, squeezing nini's arm comfortingly once more before walking past ricky and out of the room.

nini wiped her tears away, shuddering a breath as she looked back at the boy who was hesitantly taking a few steps towards her

"h-hi." she breathed

"hey." he said quietly before stopping right in front of her and looking around the room, taking a deep breath to steady himself "so...you're all packed."

nini nodded meekly "y-yes..."

they both held each other's gaze for a few moments in silence before he exhaled and just brought her in for a hug, nini instantly hugging back as she smelt his familiar warm vanilla scent, the embrace comforting yet also heart wrenching...

when they both pulled away, nini took another deep breath to try and calm herself, feeling ricky being his fingers up to her face to wipe the tears away as he smiled softly at her

"hey...if you cry i'm going to cry." he whispered, making nini manage a teary chuckle

"i'm-i'm not crying..." she mumbled, ricky raising his eyebrows

"mhm?"

nini nodded again "i'm just...allergic to having to leave..."

he chuckled silently, his sad smile on his face as he looked down at her, keeping his right hand on her cheek before he sighed, lifting up the red bag

nini opened her mouth in confusion, furrowing her eyebrows together "what's this?"

ricky grinned and shrugged his shoulders "i mean you could open it-"

he got cut off by nini taking the bag from him excitedly, ricky laughing at her reaction as they both sat down on the bed and she pulled out a wrapped object

she hummed curiously, unwrapping it while ricky watched her full of anticipation before she revealed a snow globe in her hands

but when observing it closely, she realized how familiar the decoration was inside of it...soon figuring out how it was the huge field with a willow tree - the exact one that was behind the café - and when squinting her eyes she noticed two little figures sitting beside each other next to the tree.

nini gasped in awe, looking at the boy "ricky..." she breathed

he smiled sheepishly "...i found this old place that made customized snow gloves and i figured you could...you know...have one. to remember here and all..."

nini felt her heart flutter and her eyes glimmered with the tears that had been continuously forming in them, smiling softly at him as she shook her head lightly

"it's perfect." she whispered, looking back at the snow globe before she looked up at him "...every time i miss you i'm going to shake this."

ricky cocked his head to the side slowly, his eyes searching her face before looking at her shake the snow globe weakly as she sniffled once more.

+

the ride to the airport was silent, after emotional goodbyes to her friends and kevin.

they'd arrived in too little time, erica reminding nini that benjamin was going to be at the airport himself since he'd just gotten off of a flight from autonia to take her back.

when nini got out of the car, she saw benjamin with his arms behind his back and a kind expression on his face, a genuine smile suddenly forming on her face as she rushed towards him and embraced him into a hug

"i've missed you!" she exclaimed, pulling away

benjamin chuckled "me too miss nina,"

"that's very formal." ricky said suddenly, arriving with nini's suitcase "hi..."

"this must be richard."

ricky grimaced at his full name being used, hearing nini snort her laughter which resulted in him shooting her a glare

"thank you for taking care of miss nina during her stay here." benjamin nodded

"of course, sir." ricky replied

"benny!"

benjamin groaned, exhaling deeply with a forced smile when seeing the brunette woman arrive towards him, grinning.

"erica," he greeted with a curt nod

"missed me?"

"you mean miss the abrupt noises?" he asked before humming "not really."

erica shook her head with a chuckle before glancing over to see ricky helping nini preparing a trolley for the boxes.

"keep me posted with how she is?" erica asked hopeful, benjamin nodding

"always." he assured her

nini and ricky arrived back towards them, benjamin quickly making his way to take the trolley from ricky and looking back at erica

"goodbye," he said softly with a light smile, erica's own smile widening as she waved at the man before he turned to the brunette girl "i'll be inside."

nini nodded, turning to face her aunt "thank you for everything."

erica chuckled breathlessly, pulling the girl in for a warm hug "of course. i'll see you soon, remember that."

nini nodded over her shoulder, closing her eyes as she hugged the woman tightly before pulling away, erica smiling at her once more before nini turned to ricky, who had been patiently waiting for her.

"so... this is it." he whispered, exhaling as nini adjusted the strap of her backpack and nodded

"i guess so..." she said quietly

he sighed as he leaned forward to hug her, nini letting out a breath as she held him for dear life before pulling away and feeling his lips on hers for an amount of time that seemed much too short for the both of them.

when they pulled away, he leaned her forehead against hers, nini's eyes fluttering open slowly to look back at him.

she noticed how he seemed like he wanted to say something...or that something had been bothering him so she knit her eyebrows together

"are you okay?" she asked softly "...is there...something you're not saying?"

he pulled back, his fingers playing with hers as he opened and closed his mouth a few times until he just shook his head with a breath

"...got your snow globe?" he asked in a small voice

nini nodded, reaching into her backpack and shuffling around before holding up the snow globe in front of him

"then...you have everything you need." he said as she carefully put it back in her bag safely

she looked at him, holding his gaze before leaning forward and hugging him once more until she had to leave, taking her suitcase in her free hand as she let go of his with her other, turning away to enter the airport.

he watched her walk all the way to the sliding doors, seeing her turn back once more to have a last glimpse of him until she disappeared behind them.