Anthony's Angel ✓

XXXIII. Don't Break

I can't believe Anthony's words.

"Mio Cuore, this contract doesn't matter anymore because I intend to keep you and our family by my side."

"Our family?"

"Yes, our family."

Words are just words.

"I love you."

"Love has no time constraint. Time doesn't measure how you feel about someone. When you know you love someone, you know."

I almost fell for a sweet man's word.

Like my mother.

The man who was unfaithful to my mother used to be a sweet man too. He promised her the world only to enter the sheets with another woman.

Anthony can do the same thing.

While he sat there, in a complete daze, I walked toward our bedroom and slammed the door shut. My body slides down the door, and I wrap my arms around my legs. "Now he thinks I'm crazy," I mumble on my knees as the tears drip down. I probably annoy him with my sudden twisting thoughts. I'm not surprised if he throws me out in the street right now.

A knock, "Mio cuore?"

I ignore it.

The door clicks open, and I mentally curse him for having the key to every room. He slides it open causing me to move away from the door. Anthony crouches down and lifts me which is weird looking because I'm in a fetal position. He sat me down on his lap. "This is quite refreshing," he said.

I look at him wondering what he meant.

"You are behaving spoiled."

My watery eyes widen. "I'm not!" My voice completely cracks.

He ran his thumb across my wet cheek while I took a sniff. "I don't enjoy saying this, but I will smoke again in the future - just not as much previously."

"Then why did you tell me you will quit?"

"I want you to be happy."

"I am not happy right now."

A hearty chuckle left his throat. "I can see that." He wipes more of the tears away from my eyes with his sleeve. "I won't make any excuses. I want to be your ideal man, so I agree with anything that makes you happy."

"You're not exactly my ideal man."

My ideal man is someone like my father, not the biological one of course but the man who is an actual father to me. He is sweet, kind, and gentle. He knows how to make me laugh when I'm on my moody week and understand when I need space.

He smiles, but it looks quite sad. "I know," he wraps his arms around my waist, pressing his forehead against my shoulder. "I'm not a good man, mio cuore. I can be quite selfish."

"Like?"

"Forcing you to stay by my side even when I know you'll be happier without me."

I stay quiet.

He presses me farther into his body. "I know you don't believe my words. You're not angry at the fact that I smoke. You're feeling scared. Afraid that everything I said is merely words - words to coat you to stay beside me" he hit the target.

"I want to believe you, Anthony," the tears continue falling.

"I know."

"But...I just can't."

"You don't have to believe me," he whispers sweetly. "You just have to stay by my side."

"Until you get sick of me?"