She hasn't changed.
Her hair is back to the natural brown colour it was before papa preferred blondes. I remember she died it to make him happy.
Her eyes rested on me with a small gaze, no judgement despite me curled in Asher's lap, my husband sitting beside us.
"You've grown up to be so beautiful." She says, her voice bringing nostalgia and memories back to me. I'm so emotional recently i think i need to see the therapist again.
But as i stated at her, and i looked at the beautiful woman beside her, and a smaller girl pressing into Gia's leg, i felt jealous.
Extremely jealous.
Upset.
Lonely.
Because she's got her happiness. I'm so glad she's got her happiness. But because she left, because she left me alone, i was never given a shot at mine.
I pressed my cheek into Asher's chest, trying to steady my breathing.
He brushes my hair away from my face, "What is it?" He asks, his voice gentle and soft.
"This is sister Ari?" The little girl says and my eyes snap to her, her beautiful olive skin and a baby pink headband pushing back her long brown hair. She's beautiful.
Mom crouched down, "That's sister Ari."
Afra gently lets go of Gia's hand and starts approaching me. She gives Asher a weird look and i get off his lap, but stayed crouched to the floor.
She couldn't have been only than 10. She puts her hand in her pocket and pulls out a small coin, "I'm Afra." She gives the coin to me.
I take the coin in my hand, looking at its shiny details and i see it had been customised. With two A's on it. "I'm Arabella."
She holds her small hand out, "We're sisters."
Tears threaten my eyes, i couldn't help but smile. "I've always wanted a little sister." I shake her hand lightly.
She has one singular dimple which made me warm inside. Then she put her attention onto Roman behind me, "Hello Uncle RoRo."
Uncle RoRo.
"Hello Afra." He says back, his voice warm.
I noticed one thing about Roman, considering his bad boy act. Roman Reign has a soft spot for children.
"Mommy." Afra turns around, "The pretty boy is making me nervous."
"Which ones that?" Mom says.
Afra points to Asher and i let out a small chuckle, looking up at Asher. He shoots me a wink, a small smile over his face before setting his gaze back into Afra, "My names Asher."
"Afra." She points to herself, "Arabella." She points to me, "Asher." She points to Asher. "We're the best." She 'whispers.'
I smile, standing up again and looking back at my mom and Gia.
"Afra, do you want to see Arabella's bedroom? It's pink." Roman stands up, holding his hand out.
Afra grips onto Romans hand. He nods at Luca and Asher and they both stand up, following after her, Gia following them too. They gave mom and I our privacy.
I wipe my hands on my sweatpants and nod my head over, leading her throughout the house that she's probably been in before and into the nice, cosy living room.
I sit in the corner of the corner couch, pulling a blanket over my legs. She sits my feet, pulling the blanket over my feet. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, one of us deserved our happy ending." I smile a little bit.
"No, Arabella. I'm sorry for leaving you with that dick head." She says. I don't know if she was talking about my father or Roman.
"Roman or dad?"
She thinks for a moment, "Both?"
I smile, "Did you always keep an eye on me?"
"Always." She puts her hand on my ankle. "Always did, except when you escaped to travel the world."
"Roman was mad at that, huh?"
"Oh yes, he never stopped searching for you though. Took him a while to realize that you weren't even in the country. First time Roman was ever defeated."
Crazy to think it will be a year since i got that phone call soon.
I fiddle with my bare nails on top of the blanket, "Are you happy?" I ask.
"Very. Happier than i ever was with your father. I have a wife, and another beautiful daughter. I... I would have took you if i could but-"
"It's okay, don't apologise. We all need to sacrifice ourselves sometimes, that's the act of survival." I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
"It was selfish of me to go alone though." She chews on her inner lip.
I shrug, "It is what it is."
She's silent for a moment, before she takes a deep breath. "I tried my hardest to make Roman be nice to you."
"I think he's incapable of that."
"If you would have knew him before he met you, you would think he was a monster. He's calmed down significantly since he's been with you, it's because of you. Whether he likes to acknowledge it or not." She says, adamant.
"He told me loved me." I pick at the pick covering over the cast. "I... I don't know if i believe him."
"He does love you, trust me. Roman... his mind works in ways that ours don't, surely you've noticed that?" She waits for my answer, i nod my head. "He does things for you that you wouldn't consider love, but he does."
"Like fuck his best friends?"
She smiles at my bluntness, "Yeah, though they treat you right, don't they?"
I nod my head again.
"He allows you to wear the clothes you want to wear, if you were married to any other man he would have hit you for that." She says, and it's the brutal truth as well. I like showing off my body, Roman allows me to do that. "He lets you feed the ducks, go to a farm, he bought you a dog even though he's allergic."
"I know he can do nice stuff, but that doesn't prove if he loves me." I look in her eyes, "You should know that. Papa spoiled you while you were pregnant, treated you like a rag doll when you weren't."
Her eyes darken a little bit, "I can't prove that he loves you, Arabella. But know the Roman that i knew three years ago isn't the Roman i know now."
"I want to divorce him-"
"Arabella." She sighs a little. "Darling you know that is impossible."
The door opens and Roman walks in, "Talking about me?"
"Yes." Mom says.
He slouches down on the couch beside me, snakes his arm around my waist which makes me stiffen under his touch. "Roman." I warn him.
He doesn't say anything, just shuffles closer, pulls the blanket over his legs too and turns onto his side. Weird enough for him to get under the blanket too, he always lays on top of it.
I think mom could see my shocked face because she laughed, "The old Roman wouldn't voluntarily snuggle up to someone."
His eyes close and i look at his pretty eyelashes and beautiful lips. "Ro, we're trying to talk."
"My love. I am, for some reason, in a very touchy mood. I don't know when it will happen again, you want me to try, here's me trying. I'm exhausted love, and i feel the need to touch you, so i'm going to do that." He says calmly, draping an arm over my stomach. "You may continue talking."
I look at my mom and she just smiles, "I can leave you?"
"Perfect. Arabella needs to rest too. Her medication makes her drowsy." Roman says, a slight mumble in his voice.
"I haven't took my medication yet." I poke his arm.
He sits up, "I'll be back."
Then he leaves.
"So... We'll stay the night, and you do look awfully tired darling. We have plenty of time to talk." She stands up too.
I stand up, hugging her without asking.
She wraps her long arms around me, we both breathe in each other's scent and she kisses my forehead. "Don't hate the guys for keeping this from you. I needed them too." She pulls away, hands on my shoulders.
"They lied."
"I asked them to. I needed them to. If they could have, they would have. I can't count the numerous times Reid or Armani have knocked on my door and asked me for permission to tell you."
I feel Romans presence in the room again and it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand. "I'll see you tomorrow." I smile a little.
"Rest well, darling. You rest well too, Reign." She kisses my head again and then walks off.
Roman held my bag of prescriptions in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. He looked really tired, his eye bags dark and his stubble coming through. He was even a little paler.
He sits with me, he pops all the pills into my hand that wasn't casted and opens the water for me. I couldn't move my thumb in the cast, he realized that and held the water to my lips as i swallowed down the tablets. He makes me drink a little more and then leaves the open bottle on the coffee table.
I lay down, he lays beside me.
We were just kind of laying side by side for a while, just our arms brushing.
I like being held, no matter who it is. I'm constantly craving physical contact.
"Hold me." I say quietly, not even sure that he's awake.
But when his arms wrap around me and he brings me closer to him, then moves us so i'm squashed protectively between him and the couch, draping one leg over me. I knew he was awake.
He kisses my neck, "Is anything else, love?"
"Can you stay the whole time?" I ask.
"Yes." He kisses my neck again. "Get some rest."
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AHHH I LOVE THIS ROMAN
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