𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 (𝐖𝐋𝐖)

𝟏𝟔

♕
𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑟𝑎'𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑣

A week.

Seven days.

One hundred and sixty eight full hours without her.

It's crazy really.

You become so close with someone in the span of a few months and when they're gone you miss them more than anything.

I miss her; her smile and the dimples that came with it, her reassurance, her relaxing presence, those delightful swirls of chocolate that she referred to as her eyes.

I miss all of it.

I wanted to fix what was broken. To talk about this misunderstood situation and to see her beautiful face again. All I wanted was to hold her close to me while comforting her.

After trying her phone for two days, I put my faith in the universe with hope that all she needed was time. When that time was up, she'd willingly hear what I wanted so desperately to tell her.

But it's been a week.

And it's Christmas Eve and I'm so tired of waiting. As condescending as it may seem it's the truth.

So yes, I'm standing in front of the brunette's door with a sleeping Ariella cradled in my arms. And yes, it's three in the morning the day before Christmas. And yes, I am restless as hell from the lack of sleep due to my thoughts. But my mind has done enough spiraling.

I'm ready to make things right.

I knock on the wooden door with a trembling hand.

Once.

Twice.

And at first I start to think that I'm not knocking loud enough or perhaps not everyone has the ability to wake up from their sleep so easily. I mean it was early— very early in the morning.

But then the door swings open, and the sight in front of me makes me nauseous.

"Oh cara," I spoke.

Iris was wearing an oversized band tee that hung off of her shoulders. Her eyes were heavy and eye bags were prominent. The slight sniffles that left her nose and the glossiness that coated her eyes alerted me that she had be crying. Recently. Her well-kept dark tresses were thrown in a makeshift bun. Though all of the above were a heartbreaking sight, the peeks of red, bruised skin shattered my heart into pieces.

"Ro." she spoke lowly, her voice cracking with a rasp, "You shouldn't be here."

My eyebrows furrowed, "No. You won't push me away again—"

"That woman." her small frame began to tremble and her arms reached up to hug herself, "You and her. I thought we had something."

"We do!" I flinched slightly at my outburst.

Iris pressed her fingers into her reddened skin before looking away from me and to the sleeping child in my arms.