𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄, damiano david

━━𝟏𝟒.𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

"Can we talk?", I asked Damiano and immediately his expression relaxed, "I was hoping you would ask that", he smiled slightly.

"Let's go outside, I feel like I'm suffocating in here," I said honestly and he nodded again.
We took the lift to the ground floor and went out through the big glass doors onto the streets of Rotterdam.

The fresh air was pleasant and calming, my heart was beating fast and I felt like I was going to hyperventilate at any moment.
Damiano led me a few hundred metres away from the hotel to the river we had walked along yesterday and we sat down on one of the benches, of which there were several along the bank.

I wanted to say something and apparently Damiano noticed because he interrupted me before I could even speak, "Let me explain first please," the pain in his eyes was still present.
I nodded wordlessly and swallowed hard. All the things I had just learned from Vic made me want to throw my arms around his neck already.

Nevertheless, I waited and listened to the words he said in a rough voice, "You can't imagine how shitty I felt last night because I hurt you," he began and I looked up so that we were looking into each other's eyes.

"You saw me with that girl who had been hitting on me all evening and I could have cursed myself for not making it clear to her beforehand that she should leave me alone. I tried, but she was pretty persistent. She came outside just before you did and when she saw me she came straight for me, I should have just sent her away but I didn't want to be that mean, it was so stupid."

I interrupted him, "She touched you. And it looked like you wanted to kiss her."
"Fucking hell, it wasn't like that. She touched me, yes, but there was no way I was going to kiss her. I wanted to tell her to leave and then I just heard this horrible sound and I knew you were there. I hadn't even noticed that she had touched me and when you cried I didn't know why. I didn't realise you assumed I would do something with another girl, I thought after everything that had happened you realised I wouldn't get involved with anyone else."

He paused to catch his breath, "I don't even remember her name because there's only room in my head for you, Coraline. You were always the most important thing in my life and when you left, you took all my dreams with you. That's why I've been sleepless every night since."
"Damiano I-", I wanted to say but he raised his hand to stop me, "Wait a moment.", he asked me and I nodded silently.

"You left and I kept finding little pieces of you in every place I went. I just couldn't forget you, no matter how hard I tried. I wrote so many songs about you to deal with my pain, but nothing helped. When I finally saw you here again, it felt like the universe had given me a second chance, like all was not lost."

I was speechless, even if he hadn't said the three words, it was one of the greatest declarations of love he had just given to me.
"Damiano," I tried again, but my voice broke off.
"You don't have to say anything if you don't feel the way I do, but I couldn't bear it if I didn't at least try," he said quickly.

Tears shone in my eyes as I reached for his hand, which was much warmer than my own.
"When I left, I didn't just do it to escape my father," I began and Damiano looked at me carefully, "I left to protect Sophia from him and to protect myself, but I also left because I didn't want you to spend your life with me. I was different then than I am now, much more broken, even if I am still not cured now, I believe that I made the right decision to leave you then. I think at some point you would have broken seeing me as I was every day," I explained in a calm voice, but my breathing was a little uncontrolled.

"You were too good for me and you had such a promising future, I didn't want to stand in your way, with the music and everything," I continued to explain, "Still, it was the hardest decision I ever made. You can't imagine how much I hated myself for doing something like that to you."
Damiano squeezed my hand and somehow it calmed me down.

I took a deep breath and exhaled before continuing, "I never expected that we would meet again. Back in Italy I left my heart with you and it has always belonged to you, no matter how long we didn't speak and how far apart we were."

The corners of Damiano's mouth twisted into a slight smile, "You mean you forgive me?" he asked, "Because of last night?"I had to smile as well, "There is nothing at all I have to forgive you for. I was impulsive and stupid, my emotions got the better of me, if I had given you the chance to talk to me straight away, it would never have come to this," I replied.

The thought that this man in front of me was far too good for me was still pounding in my head.

"You don't know how relieved I am, Cora," Damiano whispered and put his hand to my cheek. Delicately he stroked his fingers over it and I enjoyed the feel of his skin on mine.

"After you left I always saw your face when I closed my eyes. It was burnt into my brain, I always found you again in my memories. I found the smell of your perfume and the beautiful melodies that had once left your lips, the only thing missing was the feel of your body against mine," Damiano whispered as he came closer and closer to my face."Well I'm here now, all of me.", I smiled, I breathed in his scent, "God I missed you so much Damiano."

He was about to put his lips on mine when a loud roar made me open my eyes again, "Coraline!" a deep male voice shouted and I flinched, Damiano also backed away, his eyes opening in confusion.

"What the hell?" he muttered, but by then he seemed to see something that was still hidden from me.

He stood up and pulled me with him, in one fluid motion pushing me behind him as if to protect me.

I looked past his body in the direction he was staring and every part of my body seemed to freeze as I looked into the eyes of the man who had made my life hell for years.

"Cora, everything is fine, I won't let him hurt you," Damiano said quickly, with my hand I clasped his, our fingers were intertwined and I sought to hold onto him.
But nothing was fine, a storm was brewing inside me that seemed to swallow me.
If Damiano wouldn't hold my hand, I would feel like I was falling down a cliff.

All my fears had come true, my father was here and he would get me in his clutches, he would abuse me again and i would become the little girl hiding from him.
This time I wouldn't be able to run away, because he would always find me anyway.
My life belonged to him, no matter how hard I tried to snatch it from his hands, he was stronger than me.

"He has found me," I said, even though I thought I was incapable of speaking.
"But he won't get you," Damiano's voice sounded hard and determined.

"I told you I would find you, daughter," my father wore a spiteful grin on his lips as he kept coming towards us.
Damiano's free hand clenched into a fist and I felt his whole body tense angrily as my father approached us.

"Aren't you going to greet your father properly?"