breaking point ; mileven.

twenty-eight.

el dragged her suitcase downstairs with a bag on her shoulder and her purse and tote bag in her other hand with the smallest groan of exhaustion.

"what the fuck are you doing?" emilio asked, "is there another school camp thing?"

"no, i'm moving out," she simply stated.

his eyes bulge and the cupcake in his hand dropped to the ground. "you're what?" he breathed out in shock.

"i'm moving out. to live with mike," she said, "i want out."

"no," he grabbed her hands, "el, please, i—"

"emilio. please." she breathed out and squeezed the bridge of her nose, "i just want out."

he held her face and brushed her face, "no, don't go," he knew if she left, she wasn't going to come back again.

and they would never see her again.

"i don't have a choice, emilio." she whispered as he leaned his forehead to hers, "just.. just stay till after your birthday. i want to celebrate with you and you know i can't if you're gone. i'll get emerson to find you a house and maybe he'll live with you so we can see you," he begged in a pleading voice.

"please, el. i cant lose you. i cant live my life without you." he whispered as his voice cracked, "el, i beg you, please."

his words made her heart shatter. the guilt started to build up all over again.

she can't just leave them.

he didn't know. no one knew except for emerson.

she can't just leave. here it was suffocating but she can't just leave.

as she was about to speak up, he begged her again and that made her still.

"o-okay." she shakily whispered and nodded without meeting his eyes, "i— i-i'll stay." she agreed, "just," she took a breath, "i'll stay, okay?"

he smiled out breathlessly and hugged her tightly without a word.

"can you bring my stuff upstairs?" she tiredly murmured and he nodded, "of course," he took all of her bags and the suitcase as well before he dragged it back upstairs.

el sighed and looked down to her wrist as coco's head popped out of her wrist.

el shook her head, "he just cares." she argued in a quiet tone but coco slithered her head upwards.

"that's not his intention, coco. he cares for me so he wants me to stay." el argued a bit louder this time and coco just dipped her head away back into her wrist.

el opened her front door and went down the round driveway and to open her gate and to walk up to mike's car.

"hey," he grinned and rolled down the window, "where's your stuff?"

she gulped and tucked away her hair before fiddling with her fingers, "um, i think i'll stay,"

his eyes widened and he got out of the car, "you'll what?"

"i think— no, i'm going to stay. only emerson lied and— and i shouldn't take it out on everyone else because they love me and if i leave, i won't be able to see them again and i want to see them and i want to spend time with them, mike. and maybe emerson lied for a good reason and maybe he just did it because— i don't know, because he was threatened by mama and papa!" she rambled on in a breath and exhaled as her chest heaved.

"el," he grabbed her arms but she continued like he wasn't there.

"a— and maybe emerson wasn't threatened, he was just protecting me. he always protects me and i'm sure he had a perfectly good reason for it. i can't leave eli either, he's my wombmate and we promised we won't leave each other and i still need to figure what happened to me when i was born and i can't do that when i'm gone and it won't be fair to the others. i'll hurt them and i shouldn't hurt them, i definitely shouldn't hurt—"