Delicate Hearts | Completed

28 || Heartbreaking

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It is an empty bottle of appetite repressors. So that the person taking them doesn't feel hungry. I'm not stupid. I can put two and two together. Angel is starving himself.

Several thoughts run through my mind at once. Does he have an eating disorder? Does his job force him not to eat so he can look good for pictures? Do his parents force him not to eat so that he can stay a model?

Angel remains frozen at the bathroom door, and I look from the bottle to him. "Angel... please, don't tell me-"

"I don't eat," His words are quiet but sharp. They come at me like daggers. I feel pain for the boy standing in front of me.

"You ate popcorn and stuff at my house."

A ghost of a smile plays on his lips. It's almost like he's laughing at me. Like, ha, bitch, you really thought. It's so twisted. He finds it funny. Or maybe it's like how we laugh at life when something goes terribly wrong. Because you're laughing at how cruel everything is. It's so cruel; it's funny.

"Why?" I manage to ask. "No, never mind that. Get back into bed. You need rest; you're sick." I decide that hearing his reason can wait until he returns to normal. I wash my hands quickly with hot water and usher him back to bed.

He lays down and pulls the blanket over him after tossing his jacket aside.

I hand him the bottle of electrolytes, which he had abandoned, trying to stop me in the bathroom. "This will give you more energy." I fish through the bag of bought things and bring out a bunch of pills. Then I take out my phone and call my mom.

It takes several seconds before she picks up the phone. "Yeah, Madison? Are you okay? Do you need to be picked up from school? Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm fine. What do you give someone when they're sick?"

"Who's sick?"

"Angel."

"Oh... that boy? Where are you right now?"

"His bedroom." Way to be straightforward, Madison. Congrats.

"Are you alright?" Of course, she's still worried about me in this situation. I glance over at Angel, who's sipping slowly at the bottle of electrolytes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He's not, though. What should I give him?"

She asks me what his symptoms are and lists a bunch of cold medicine and how many pills I should give him. I type all her instructions into my notes app.

"Thanks so much," I tell my mom.

"No problem, honey. I hope he gets better. I'm so proud of you. I know you don't want to be a doctor later on, but you'd make a pretty good one."

"Thanks, mom," I find myself smiling.

"Madison?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope he treats you right too."

"How did you-"

"I'm a hopeless romantic, sweetie. I know things." I can almost hear her smile. She's definitely having fun shipping us together. And it's true. My mom reads so many romance novels and is so head over heels for my dad; she loves to romanticize everything.

"Well, I gotta go now. See you later."

"Bye, I love you."

"I love you too."

I hang up and turn my attention back to Angel. He's still slowly sipping on the electrolytes silently. He also stops to check the nutrition facts label on the back. I ignore the fact that he's probably checking the calories and getting the pills my mom told me to give him.

"Here, take these," I hand him the pills. "Then take a nap. You'll feel much better after a nap."

"Thanks," He whispers. "You didn't have to."

I smile softly at him and cup his face in my hands. "I already told you, Angel. I'll treat you right. I'll treat you better than anyone has ever treated you. I'll treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Like a fucking king." I press my lips against his forehead. "Start treating yourself like a king too."

Before I can back away to give him space, he wraps his arms around my neck and pulls me into him for a hug. I can almost feel the bones beneath his shirt. A layer of strong muscles still covers them, but I can feel the bones. It's much more painful knowing why I can feel his bones.

"I burn myself in the shower," I blurt out.

"What?" He pulls out of the hug and looks at me with concern.

"It's better now. I just wanted to let you know that you're not the only one struggling, Angel. I don't know what it's like to be a celebrity or a model. I don't know what it's like to be you, but I do know what it's like to struggle. The best you can do is get help and work on treating your body the way it deserves to be treated."

I don't know what got into me. Look at me, a mess myself, trying to tell him that he should stop being a mess.

But I'm working on myself. I'm trying my best to heal. And I want Angel to do so as well.

"I was adopted," He starts. He looks a little less weak after the electrolytes. "I was happy at first. Until I realized they wanted me because I looked good. They pushed me to become a model. Since I was seven, I've been the one earning money for this household. They never paid attention to me, apart from restricting me from eating almost everything. I still snuck food whenever I could. I still had a good relationship with food. Until I started obsessing over my body too. I stare at every picture of mine for several minutes before posting it. I want it to be perfect."

Just like that, my heart broke for him.

To be the parent to your parents. To be in the spotlight everywhere you go. To be so afraid of imperfections. To hate food.

It's heartbreaking. Especially for delicate hearts. 

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a/n: heyyy, i know, this took forever to update. now, before you hate me, i actually had this chapter ready for almost more than a week now, i didn't publish it bc i knew i would get sidetracked if i got caught up tryna read comments and stuff. also, I'm currently in no condition to write a new chapter mainly bc I'm sick. 

I've held it together for this entire semester, but now, I'm just... bleh, i can't deal with this. anyway, now that we've gotten that out of the wayyyyyy, what did you think of this chapter? 

i know, that last line was cheesy, oops. anyhooo, i hope you liked this chapter.

what do you think of angel? madison? his mom, ew. 

anywayyyyyy, thank you so much for reading! i love you all smm! <3