𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒆, stefan salvatore

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞

𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐓

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐌 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐖. Opening her eyes, she felt herself relax at the smell. Her mom always made the best waffles every morning before school. Add some powdered sugar and strawberries and she would be good to go. She took one final stretch before jumping out of bed.
While opening the curtains, her eyes caught her phone, taking notice of the date.

𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲.

A year ago today, Adam Harper's heart stopped in a hospital bed in Mystic Falls. Doctors say it was heart attack but that was far from the truth. Veronica believed it was anything else but a heart attack. It was sudden and he had a bite mark on his neck. She doesn't understand how the doctors ignored a bloody neck and claimed it was a heart attack. But he's dead now. Whatever she does or say would not change that.

"Ronnie!" Lori's voice called, knocking her out of her trance. She blinked away the tears she didn't know were brimming.

Once dressed, Veronica walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Hearing footsteps that belonged to her daughter, Lori turned to her. "Hey, hun. Waffles are ready. Strawberries are in the fridge. Powdered sugar in the - why are you laughing?"

Veronica looked down, not realizing she was smiling. "Mom, I know you're worried. But I'm fine." When her mom didn't say anything, Ronnie went on. "Look - I promise I'm not going back to it. Stuffing my nose in drugs and booze didn't really fix anything. And I know dad wouldn't have wanted that. Especially today."

"I'm proud of you." Lori gave her daughter a small smile and hug. "I guess all those months of therapy paid off."

A honk of a car was heard outside just as Veronica's phone beeped, meaning that Elena and Bonnie were waiting outside.Veronica gave her mom a hug goodbye before running out the front door. Jumping into the backseat of Bonnie's car, she felt eyes on her.

Looking up, she caught worried looks coming from both girls in front. "Not you too."

Bonnie was quick to reply. "We didn't say anything."

"Your faces did." Ronnie retorted. Although she loves that her friends and family care about her, she really was fine. She might not be totally great but she was better than she was before and she owes it all to her best friends. "Can we just drop it? New year, new me. Meaning that we're never gonna talk about my addiction."