herophine - Trouvaille

Chapter 24

Crosby, Liverpool - England, 2026

They've been sitting down on the bed for a while now. In complete silence. Both of them are afraid to be the first one talking. It scares them that, if they continue with the conversation, they will say words as harsh as the last ones.

Josephine doesn't want to apologize. It has taken so long to understand that when you are depressed you are not always yourself and you can't avoid how you feel. She tries to forgive and not to blame herself, because she couldn't do anything to avoid feeling that way towards her pregnancy. Nevertheless, she knows that she has also acted wrong. So, maybe she should start apologizing. To Sofía. To Hero.

- I'm sorry. - She breaks the silence. - For taking so long to react.

Hero doesn't want to analize deeper what Josephine said earlier. He always thought that taking the responsability seven years ago was the correct thinG, and now thinking about it as if it was the wrong thing, makes him think that maybe his sacrifice was not worth it. His career, his friends, his old "I'm not famous" life. Everything he left behind.

He then stares at the picture laying on his bedside table: a smiley one-year old Sofía playing with the sand at the beach. Maybe, seven years ago, a part of him was scared because the After era was ending and he forgot to trust in the love they felt for each other. Fear is never a good counselor of love. However, no matter the reasons that led them to the initial situation, it will always be worth it.

- I didn't know I was so afraid of losing you... - He finallyconfesses, taking part of the blame. - But, I cannot regret what happened. Sofía is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

The connection with Sofía that Jo feels, is still slight to completely understand what Hero is talking about. About that kind of love, selfless and unconditional love. Perhaps, she can learn to love Sofía the same way that Hero does. Or not. Love is not the same for everybody, not the romantic love and maybe neither the love for your children. Maybe Josephine has to learn that there isn't just a way or a correct way to love, and she has to find her way to love Sofía.

- Do you think we would have made it?

Hero doesn't need to ask what she means. If she hadn't gotten pregnant, would they have continued together? He wants to answer that yes, without any doubt, that they loved each other. Yet, he knows how fragile relationships are in the show business and even more with the kilometres that separated them, from Los Ángeles to London. He knows that the relationships that endure are the exception and not the rule. Despite it, giving a negative answer to the question even it is a realistic one, it seems for him that he is putting more pain to the one they felt before.

- I want to think that yes. - He says honest.

- Hopefully so. - It sounds as a wish, a wish for something that now they won't never know.

Josephine can barely say these words before breaking down. She cries for the 23 year old girl who lost the boy who loved her and for everything she wasn't since she got pregnant. She cries for the woman she wasn't for herself, for Hero and for Sofía.

She has a lot of hidden tears, but mostly emotions. She is surprised when she feels him near, she feels his smell. Without stopping crying, she feels Hero pulling her close to him. They fit into a hug that their bodies still remember. Just like perfect pieces of puzzle and, even though their edges are worn-out by the passage of time, they are still fitting perfectly. It has to be truth what is said about the muscles' memory, cause it is the first time that their bodies touch in seven years and it feels like it hasn't been more than seven minutes.

Jo doesn't realize, until she feels the wet drops on her head, that Hero is also crying. They spend some more minutes like that, before they stop crying. They don't dare to move, fearing that the moment turns strange and uncomfortable. Carefully, they start pulling apart without making eye contact. Once they are separated by a prudent distance, they look at each other. They are not sure if they signed one more truce or the definite peace. But, undoubtely, they are back on the same side.