Love me tender

Chapter 17

Stefania POV:

"I love you" I hear her say shyly, looking at me with a tender smile. I can't help but smile, before I say anything, she interrupts me. "And it's okay if you don't feel the same way, I mean, I don't even know what we are doing or if we are dating, I don't know what to call... us, but" she stops for a moment to collect her thoughts, taking a deep breath before she continues. "What I do know is that you are my favorite person in the entire world, I knew I loved you before I even got the privilege to call you mine... So I just couldn't hold it in any longer." I can feel myself tearing up by her beautiful words, looking at her in adoration as she opens her heart to me.

I quickly put my hands on the sides of her head and lean forward to press my lips on hers, I place a gentle yet passionate kiss on her lips and pull away for a moment to look at her. Our faces are just centimeters away and I grace our noses together, which makes her smile. I caress her hair gently as I say smiling "I love you too", I smile as I press together our lips once more. The words flow out of my mouth with such ease, like no truer words in the world could ever be spoken.

All my life I've lived to see the wonders of the world; I've known happiness, I've known sadness, I've known grief, I have traveled, seen the most beautiful landscapes. Some may say that I've lived a full life, an exciting life, but there was a hole that I never knew I had, a void that I didn't even think existed, it was love, her love was the one thing that I never knew I needed. And now, thanks to her, I feel as alive as I can feel, I feel whole.

We share a tender kiss, the outside world melting away with every touch, every move of our lips pressed against each others. As we part our lips, I put my hand on her face to get a close look to every single one of her beautiful factions, I can see her mesmerizing eyes glistening, and a gentle tear rolls down her left cheek. I caress her face delicately as I wipe off the tear with my thumb and I put it back again on the side of her neck, she then leans on my hands, never loosing eye contact. 

 "You do?" she whispers as another tear slides down her face as she smiles tenderly. It's like she doesn't believe me, why wouldn't she believe me? 

"Yes" I whisper as I caress the locks of hair that briefly cover the side of her face.

I look at her for a moment as she tries to take it in, Even as I see the joy in her eyes as I say it, I can also see a certain look of disbelief that her face tries to conceal. "I love you, Danielle Savre. Why do you find that so hard to believe?" she closes her eyes as a few more teardrops leave her eyes. I take her hand and lead her to the sofa.

I can tell that she is trying to find the words, but now, her tears of joy and love have turned into tears of sadness. "Hey" I whisper looking at melancholic eyes. I pull her into my embrace and kiss her head "It's okay... shh... It's okay". There's nothing that I want more than to read her mind, ease her pain. I gesture her to lie down, and we both do, cuddling for the longest time as a comforting silence fills the room.

After a while, I hear her voice "It's not like I don't believe you when you say you love me, Its just hard to believe that I'm not dreaming, its hard to believe that this is real." She says with a raspy voice.

"Why?" I ask. She proceeds to sit and I do too "Because I thought that I knew what love was, how it was supposed to feel. But it turns out had it all wrong." She pauses for a brief moment. "The last person that I ever said I love you to, he hurt me... in so many ways... He made me believe that the only love that I deserved was his love. But his love was painful, his love was frightening." I can see the pain behind her words, her voice trembling more and more as she continues which makes me feel this knot in my throat while tears begin to fill my eyes. "Don't get me wrong it wasn't always bad, there were some good moments, brief but good moments, which I would hold on to, to convince myself that it was all worth it. So when things ended... as relieved as I was, I never really stopped seeing love that way and I never thought of myself as a person worthy of a different kind of love."

Tears fall freely down my cheeks as I listen to her, she doesn't look me in the eye anymore, her head faces the ground as she talks. "So now, when you tell me that you love me, there's this voice in my head, his voice, that tells me that there must be something wrong" her teary eyes meet mine and she shakes her head as she bites her lip to stop herself from sobbing "It tells me that I don't deserve you... I don't deserve your love."

"But you do... hey, listen to me," I say as I put my hands to cup her face when she tries to look back at the ground. "You deserve love, you deserve the butterflies and the excitement, you deserve the complements that you do not know how to receive" I say as we both chuckle. 

"yeah I'm terrible at it" 

"You are... but you deserve every single one of them. You deserve the admiration, the corny dates, the roses and cheesy pickup lines that I'm terrible making cause I never understand them."

When she doesn't know what to answer, I continue "I am in love with you, Danielle, I am in love with every single part of you, that is the truth, that's the one thing that I'm certain of. This is real, you and me, we are real, okay?" She nods briefly and I take a deep breath as I wipe away her tears. 

"in fact, now that I realize, we haven't had a proper date" I say smiling, Her face lights up a little in a gentle smile as she starts to blush  "so, Danielle Savre, would you like to go on a date with me tonight?" She chuckles as she pulls me close, our lips connecting briefly before she answers "I would love to, Stefania Spampinato" 

Authors note

Hi wonderful people! I think this was my favorite chapter to write, i know its a bit short but i couldn't wait to publish it

When writing about danielle's relationship i couldnt help but cry, i't is a very sensitive topic so don't know if i should put a trigger warning at the begining . 

Also, this was the playlist that i was listening to when writing this chapter, if you guys want to give it another read with all the feels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGeEqcVyGM

Oh and also, how did you guys feel about danielle's live yesterday? I thought it was amazing, her her adoration for her fans and for the station 19 family is amazing, i just love her with all my heart. 

Remember If you like the story or you have any suggestions, my dms are always open. Love you wonderful people <3

Hope you like the story so far and have and amazing day 😊

C.