ANOTHER LOVE [bucky barnes]

TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX;
╰ leah

LEAH'S PHONE KEPT ringing. Whenever she glanced at her lock-screen there was a new missed call displayed over the clear glass. The calls had started off with one per hour. At one point she started receiving them more frequently, one call after the other pouring in. Missed calls were piling up, sending her phone buzzing across the smooth surface of the marble nightstand. She didn't need to check her phone to know who it was. It was painfully obvious that it was Bucky. His contact-picture kept lightning up the small bedroom and Leah had to flip her iPhone upside down to avoid his glimmering blue eyes.

She had spent four hours driving to the secluded airport that held the five star hotel she was currently staying at. Her back hurt from the uncomfortable position she had been sitting in throughout the whole ride. However it didn't hurt as much as her heart and chest. She was still surprised she hadn't ended up having a breakdown inside the rented car or when she spoke to the employee over the hotel's desk. Leah had been running on autopilot and the moment she had gotten inside the luxurious room, her feelings had crashed into her like a wave of cold water.

The dark haired girl sat on top of the lavishly soft mattress. Her hands hugged her small frame, gloomy eyes resting over the silky sheets that pooled over her feet. Her plum bottom lip quivered clemently over her chin and Leah felt ridiculously stupid. Stupid for thinking that someone like Bucky wanted to get to know someone like her. Stupid for thinking that he was truly interested in her. Stupid for believing so quickly that they would be a part of the small group of soulmates that would last. Stupid for letting herself get comfortable around him and letting her guard down.

Leah was convinced he had spent his time unraveling every single document in said file, outlining every secret that she hadn't told him yet, invading her privacy. The mere thought of Bucky knowing the most traumatic parts of her past without her being the one to tell him made her skin crawl. She felt vulnerable in the worst way possible. Was her life insignificant enough to fit in a file? Was it just something to read before drifting off to sleep? Would he have kept it hidden forever if she hadn't forced him to tell her?

The file was made by her father and it pained Leah to know the amount of work he had put down to create it. He hadn't known he wouldn't be there once she was brought back and he didn't know for certain that everyone would be brought back, but he still created it. It was a piece of him and Leah was grasping onto it desperately. Bucky had kept it from her— the last part of her father. It was made for her soulmate, but it was about her. He made it for her in case he wouldn't make it out alive to ever meet her soulmate.

Leah laid down, her thumbs tracing under her eyes as she felt tears prickle her eyesight, sadness swimming around her dark pupils. She couldn't stop thinking about how much time her father had put to create the file. How many hours, weeks, months and years he had spent on it. He had dedicated a considerable amount of time on something he wasn't certain Leah would be alive to see and that hit her the hardest. Despite of the fact that she had been turned into dust, Tony had kept her in his mind everyday, and Bucky had hid it from her.