Love, Evangeline

22.

     Song: Pon De Replay by Rihanna- the song is for later on in the chapter when they go to the bar:)

The dream came to me again, still as painful and incredibly surreal as the last few times. I couldn't bring myself to recognize the restaurant I was at. The thing that bothered me the most was the unknown man who always appeared in front of me at the restaurant I couldn't depict. Nothing about the dream made any sense, it was as if every time the dream came, I simply forgot everything about it the second I woke up.

As I lay in bed, looking out into the city, my eyes stung as they struggled to stay open. I had cried myself to sleep after thinking about Luca and what Alessandro did to him. My listless body had melted into the bed, my mind had shut off,  refusing to work. I didn't know what time it was, the darkness of the room held nothing but agony, which was the only thing that had consumed me the whole night. This wasn't how I wanted things to go. I knew this whole arrangement wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't expect people's lives to be at risk because of me. My own mother had lied to me, blocking me out from the world, taking my own life from me. Luca nearly died last night because of me. As I closed my eyes, the feeling of warm liquid filling my tingling eyes ached my body. I couldn't recognize my own family anymore, everyone held secrets from me as if I didn't matter. At this point, I couldn't believe what was true and what was just a lie.

My throat was dry,  my stomach begging for food. The last people I ever wanted to see were bound to be downstairs, thinking about them made me sick. Exhaling slowly, I sat up before leaning back against the headboard. The room was cold, I felt completely empty. Forcing myself to get out of bed, I walked to to the bathroom. My feet felt like they were melting into the ground, my body yelling at me to get back into bed, to just ignore everything coming at me. Keeping the lights off, I rummaged through the drawers before pulling out a hair brush. I wanted to feel alive again, I wanted to feel warm, like myself, and staying in this house was the last thing that was going to bring me any comfort.

Opening the door, I walked down the hall. The halls were silent, quieter than how they usually were. Right as I turned the corner, I looked up and bumped into Domenico. " Sorry," I said as Domenico sighed softly, taking a step back. I tucked a stand of hair behind my ear, Domenico eyed me before saying, " are you okay?" I looked at him, " I'm fine." Domenico stared at me before saying, " your eyes are swollen," I blinked before averting my attention to Domenico's tie, needing to look anywhere else but at him. I could feel Domenico's alluring eyes studying me, taking me in. " I uh, I have to go," I said, forcing myself to look back up at Domenico. " Where?" Domenico asked calmly. " Anywhere but here," I instantly said. I scoffed softly, realizing that what I said might've came out as offensive.

A small smirk lifted at the corners of Domenico's mouth, quickly disappearing as it arrived. " Again, sorry," I said softly before I walked past Domenico. " Get ice," Domenico suddenly said. Stopping, I turned around, " what?" " For you eyes," Domenico said calmly . He turned his head and looked at me, his eyes were dark, warm, alluring in a way. " Your eyes will bruise if you don't ice them," Domenico informed me. I stared at him for a mere second before saying softly, " okay."

Ending the conversation, Domenico turned and continued his way down the hall before rounding about the corner. Sighing in relief, I was pleased to say that whatever that collision was, was the first normal conversation I had with Domenico. A warming sensation flooded into me, Domenico showed that he cared about me, more of my mental state and my eyes. I knew Domenico wasn't was dark and stern as people pictured him out to be.

The kitchen was empty as I made my way through it. I walked over to the freezer, where I found a small bag of frozen corn on the bottom shelf. Shutting the fridge door, I turned and was startled to see Gio leaned against the doorway. His eyes stared at the bag of corn in my hand, before they averted up to mine.  I knew both Gio and Leo were beyond angry about what Alessandro did to their brother, a part of me was scared they'd take it all out on me. " I'm sorry about Luca," I said. " Is he okay?" The sound of the AC humming filled the empty silence in the kitchen. Gio stared at me, remaining as still and silent as possible. The coldness of the bag of corn began to tingle and numb my fingers. Knowing that it was absolutely pointless to apologize on the behalf of Alessandro's actions last night, I put the bag of corn in my other hand before making my way to the kitchen door.