ELENA'S POV
Love was just procrastinated grief.
That was what I told myself for years - that loving someone wasn't worth it. At the end of the day, they'd leave you, whether it was in death or not.
Love wasn't real. It was a fairy-tale for children. Something their parents would whisper in their child's ear as a bedtime story. Sweet lies on their tongue.
And I'd known this from the start. My father left my mother before I was even born. I never knew what love could be like between two people, because I grew up practically alone.
After my mother died, my love left me shattered.
So, understandably, I never believed in the entity they titled "love".
Because love blinds. It ensnares, it lies. It imprisons those who believe they're under the false name, tying them to responsibilities they never bargained for.
Love ruins you, piece by piece, limb by limb, until you have nothing left to breathe for. Until the world goes black around you and no one is there to get you through it.
Everything reminds you of it. Everywhere you walk, everything you see, brings you back to the word, the feeling of betrayal. The worst memories are always the most persistent.
Love blinds you in a facade of hope. Of feeling. Of false emotion.
And when my heart skipped a beat near Stefan, when my fingers tingled when I touched him, and the urge to press my lips to his intensified, I told myself that I was lying. Those feelings weren't real.
But now, with him in front of me, kissing my face and telling me how he loved me... how could it not be real?
And even if it was a lie, I think I'd choose to
live it.
"I think..." I took a breath. "I think I'm in love with you, too."
My heart stopped and I watched as he stopped breathing.
"I don't even know when I realized." I looked down in my hands, almost embarrassed. "Maybe after I went to the hospital and saw you there with me. No one had done that before - no one had cared. But you did. Even though I pushed you away, even though I hated you, you were there for me."
I bit on the inside of my cheek. "And everything about you is perfect. How could someone not love you? And when you touch me... you feel like paradise. Like heaven. You are my heaven, Stefan."
"Elena..."
"I've never trusted anyone more than I trust you. You make me feel like I'm a person, rather than a small girl who suffers in silence. You make me feel heard, which is something that no one else can say."
"Elena," he began, his breath shaky. "I can't believe you're saying this to me."
I smiled at him, then lowered my voice to a whisper. "You, Stefan... you treat me like I'm something deserving of your love. You treat me as if I'm the stars. And you hold me in the palm of your hand."
"You are my stars, love." He got on his knees in front of me as I sat on the edge of the bed. His palm went up to cup my cheek and he placed a chaste kiss on my waiting lips. "You are my universe. I hold the universe in my hands," he murmured, looking down at his palms as if he could see me.
I grabbed his hands and intertwined my fingers with his. "And you always will. You'll always have me. Forever, you hold me in your hands."
"I'll never let you go, El."
"If you do, the universe will shatter," I muttered, grinning as I stared at his lips.
"That won't happen on my watch." And he kissed me.
