Serendipity

Chapter 30

Raffaele

I'm laying on the bed with Elodie again, tracing the scar along the side of her face as she watches me. After I returned from the bathroom, she insisted I drank some water, taking care of me even though she's the one that did all the work. Still, I obeyed silently before bringing the bottle of water to her lips. Now we're cuddling.

"How did you get this?" I ask her softly, hoping I don't scare her away with my curiosity. I'm surprised she's even letting me stay, having been kind of scared she'd lash out again but so far so good. Really good. My chest has that weird, fuzzy feeling to it again, now that I hold her.

Perhaps she's only letting this happen because she's too tired to protest but either way, I have the intention of taking everything I can get. Elodie takes "living in the moment" to the next level since you never know what she'll do the next day. Or even next second.

"Oh, that's a good story," she promises, smiling fondly at the memory. "When I was really young, my father worked as a waiter in a restaurant down the road from our place. That was before he switched career paths." She chuckles to herself as if there's remembering an inside joke only she's in on.

"Either way, I spent my days waiting in the kitchen, and on one of those days, I managed to cut myself with one of the chef's big knives." She shakes her head. "I made such a mess! And the screaming that broke out!" she sighs wistfully, her eyes refocusing on me.

I smile back at her, kissing the scar once on impulse. "Little hell-raiser, causing trouble from a young age. I can't imagine," I tease her to which she shoves me playfully. "How come you were there in the first place? I mean, doesn't sound like the safest place to raise a kid."

"Yeah, well, my father couldn't very well leave me home alone, could he?" she asks, resting her chin on one of my arms to look up at me.

I hesitate for a beat, scared to pry too much and ruin the moment but Elodie surprises me by saying, "Go ahead. I can tell you're dying to know something." One of those days, I'll ask her how she can read me so easily. But for now, I'll stick to topic-related questions.

"What about your mother?" I ask. To that, her face darkens a little and she blows out a breath.

"Fuck if I know." She rolls onto her back. "She left us before I could even develop a solid memory of her." There's a note of bitterness in her voice, something I can really relate to.

"That sucks," I say, not sure what else to say. I never used to have friends, not to mention partners so my social skills are limited to the politics of criminals. Yay me.

But Elodie doesn't seem to mind, simply shrugging. "Who needs her."

I wait for a beat, then decide to share a bit of me as well. Seems fair, seeing as she just told me about her mom. "My mother died giving birth to me."

The speed in with my little one whips around, eyes searching me and mouth slightly open as if she isn't sure what to say is enough to has me bite back a laugh despite our current topic. "It's fine," I assure her. "Can't really miss someone you never knew."

She frowns a little but instead of disagreeing, she simply climbs back on top of me and hugs me as best as she can. That might actually officially make her the person to have hugged me most in my life. Or at least the one that has given me the most affection so far, not counting Matteo. I love the little guy- with my whole heart- but it's not the same.

This is nice. Yet at the same time, I feel a distant, lonely kind of sadness rush over me out of nowhere. Not an emotion as much as a vibe. I'm confused for a second until I realize Elodie is all up in my energy, putting me in hers as well. I frown.

"You okay?" I ask, the words somehow seeming to cut through me as I lift my arms to hug her back. She sighs and nods against me. I frown harder. Craning my neck, I try to pull away far enough to see her face but she simply tightens her hold on me and shakes her head. "Elle?" I repeat softly.

She shrugs wordlessly and I hate it. Hate not knowing what the hell just happened. The thought of her hurting for some reason sits wrong with me but I have no idea what to do. At least not if she won't talk to me.

I rub small circles on her back, racking my brain for what to do when her quiet voice interrupts the silence. "Sorry. Just need a second."

"Is there anything I can do? Do you- do you want me to go?" I ask hesitantly, knowing the last thing I want to do is get out of this bed and leave her alone right now. Luckily, she shakes her head again, more intently this time.

"Just," she trails off and I can feel her swallow. "Can you hold me? Just for a bit?" Her voice is nothing above a whisper, so sad and unsure I can feel it carving out a little hole in my stomach. What happened to the confident girl from a moment ago, the one that decided what she wanted and made sure she got it? How did I honestly fuck things up so quickly?

When I forget to reply, thinking it's obvious I'm not going anywhere, Elodie misreads the silence as rejection. "Or don't, doesn't matter. I know you probably have things to do, or places to be. Oh, and Matteo to take care of. Oh, you probably have to go," she rambles, her voice shaking a little as she tries to untangle herself from me and I think my heart might actually be breaking a little.

I'm not even sure why. All I know is that this hurts.

I hug her closer and shake my head. "Matteo's with Sarina. There's nowhere I'd rather be," I say. She freezes on top of me but stops trying to get away, allowing me to relax a little. Sarina's shift doesn't end until I call her- don't call me a jerk, it was in the job description and all she has to do at this point is stay near Matteo while he sleeps. She can sleep too, for all I care- and for once, I plan on taking advantage of it.

I'll go back to my little guy eventually. After I feel like Elodie is feeling better.

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For absolutely no reason, writing the end of this hurt lmaoo

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