𝐌𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒, Damon Salvatore [under editing]

2.23 | THE EXCHANGE

This whole thing ran deeper than just her parents dying. She already knew they were dead before, she knew there was a possibility something terrible could have happened to them and that there was a possibility that they could have loved her. She supposed she just truly realised for once that everything was hopeless. She was hopeless. Yeah, she had Damon and people who cared about her but she questioned if she could ever truly return their feelings. She already knew she could never love Damon and she was being incredibly selfish not telling him that.

Hell, she was hiding a whole part of herself from him; a part she could never tell anyone... Everything just flooded through her, every painful emotion over the years that seemed to dissipate into the air or be buried down somewhere deep within her; hollow and lost. It all came back, every flicker of doubt or fear, every ounce of pain and she hated it.

Emotions were difficult for her to comprehend but she was learning. They seemed to be returned to her a little at a time and she was okay with that; it was bearable. In fact, she often longed for more. But now... it was too much. There were too many feelings welling up inside of her and for someone who'd struggled to feel something real her entire life, a flooding rush of overwhelming pain was enough to make her want to end it all. The only way she could get everything to stop was to force herself to feel empty and hollow and exhausted and by not consuming any blood or food, that was exactly what happened.

Damon looked over at her with a soft expression. "Olivia ⏤"

"Damon, I don't understand why it hurts so much." She cut him off briskly. "I don't even know who they are. I... I don't even know who I am." She expressed with another exhausted huff of air leaving her lips.

"I'll tell you who you are," he began, placing his hand gently on her cheek and pulling her to face him. "You're Liv. My Liv. You're not who you're parents made you to be, you're who you made you to be. The girl that makes everyone smile, the one who makes the best out of the worst situations, the girl that everyone can't possibly not care about... You're everything that any person could ever need to be happy... okay?" He paused for several moments. "You're everything... You're my everything."

Olivia's eyes glistened slightly at his words. No one had ever said anything like that to her before ⏤ let alone truly meant it like Damon did and in response to the meaningful look in his eyes that began blurring out with materialising tears due to her drowning silence, she couldn't help the next words from slipping out of her mouth. "And you're my everything."

She'd felt more for him alone than she'd felt for anyone or anything in her entire lifetime. She still didn't understand it all, or really know what her feelings were or where they came from but she knew they were real. She knew she could be happy with him and if she really wanted to, if she really tried... maybe, just maybe, they could work.

A relieved breath seemed to leave Damon's lips as he grabbed her hand. "Then we can do this together." He expressed firmly. "One day at a time."

What felt like a lifetime of silence passed between them as he waited hopefully for her response which eventually came. "One day at a time." She nodded and Damon immediately wrapped his arms around her, hugging her softly yet comfortingly and it was at this moment where he was unsure if he'd ever before been so genuinely happy.

⏤⏤⏤⏤