Glassheart (RedxChloe) Book 2

Chapter 6

Red goes to wake up her younger kids while Chloe knocks on Crimson's door. "Come in!" She opens the door and sees her listening to music. "Oh good, you're already up. Breakfast?" Crimson nods and sets her earphones down. "Coming." Chloe then proceeds to Cree's room and does the same. As she heads towards the stairs, she hears laughter coming from one of the rooms. She goes to see and smiles when she sees Red playing with her younger kids. "Give it up, mom! You'll never take us both!" Cruz shouts as he grabs her leg. "Yeah! We outnumber you!" Cromwell grabs her other leg. "Oh yeah? Well I'm stronger than you!" She picks them both up and throws them gently on the bed. She quickly grabs a random stick in the kids toy chest. "En garde!" The younger twins quickly grab their fencing swords. Flashbacks come to mind when she sees Red fencing with their kids.

"How naive. To still believe you'll get a happy ever after. A privileged little princess, a fairy-failed disaster." Red rolls her eyes. "Spoken like a slacker, Red. You're seeing someone else, i worked hard for every single trophy sitting on my shelf. You need help!" "You need help!" "You're a poser, with a bad attitude!" "That's not true! You don't know the things that I've been through!" Red counters. "Neither do you!" "Well then tell me little goody two shoes, what do you think we should do?"

The tension between them had always been there. Neither of them could deny it. Even though they tried. They've been inseparable ever since. Well, until a couple years after their younger twins were born. She still remembers the look on Red's face when she brought up the topic.

"Y-you want a divorce?" Red whispered. The look on her face broke her heart, she almost changed her mind. Almost. "This isn't working, Red. We don't work." Chloe sighs. Red shakes her head. "No, don't say that." "We don't! Can't you see that?! We are polar opposites!" Chloe sighs in frustration. "You used to say that opposites attract." Red mumbled. "Yeah, well not these two opposites. Not us. I thought we could make it work but we just can't, Red." Chloe sighs as she hears Cromwell cry. "I gotta get the baby. Look, it's not that i don't love you anymore, i do. But if we keep this up, it's not gonna end well. I'd rather have you as a friend, then as someone who's turned into an enemy." Red nods as tears stream down her face. "Ok, if that's what you want. Whatever you want, um, I'll tell the twins. You get the baby. Before she wakes her brother." Chloe nods and goes upstairs.

Thinking back on it now breaks her heart even more. Red wasn't the only girl she found attractive. She remembers travelling back in time and finding a young Repunzal, Zellie, quite attractive. Or was it her sister? She doesn't even remember anymore. Red definitely teased her about that for months afterwards. But Red was the first girl she ever fell in love with. The only girl actually. Now that girl has grown into a woman, a woman that still has her heart. She often wears her heart on her sleeve, Red was more closed off. And the last time she gave her heart, Chloe shattered it. She wouldn't blame Red for hating her, but she didn't. Doesn't. In fact, she still loves her. And wants her back. Chloe isn't sure if she should. Not cause she doesn't trust Red, clearly she's making an effort, it's cause she doesn't trust herself. "Chloe!" Red hurries and catches the sword before it poked her in the face. She freezes in her spot, nearly escaping death, again. "Are you ok?" Red asks as she inspects her. "Uh, yeah. Thanks." "Alright kids, that's enough. Before you end up killing your Ma."

"Aw, come on!" The kids complained. "Wait, what about you and Ma?" "Yeah! We wanna see you two duel it out!" The twins shrug. "It has been a while since you two swords fought each other." Crimson sips her drink. When did they get here? "Chloe?" Red smiles and holds out a fencing sword for her. She holds the other in her left hand. The random stick that she once had now thrown to the side. Chloe stares at it before taking it. "Ok, you're on. But we take this outside." The kids all cheer as they hurry to the backyard. "Haven't we been here before?" Red asks as they walk to the backyard, swords in hand. Chloe laughs. "Yes, many times." She remembers Red helping her train for Swords and Shields when they were in school. Of course, it always ended with them doing some other activity, not that she was complaining. "Just to be clear though, there will not be any after practice activity." She raises her eyebrow. Red stares at her, her eyes hiding something beneath them. Hurt? Fondness? Regret? She wasn't sure what. And given everything that's gone down between them lately, Chloe wasn't sure she wanted to know. She wasn't sure if she was ready to know. "Yeah, i know." She smiles sadly and walks to her side of the yard. Chloe almost grabs her arm and apologizes when she heard Crimson shout. "Alright, fighters ready?!" Red lifts her fencing sword as Chloe raises hers. "Aand....en garde!"

Red comes in fast and hard. Striking left and right, to which Chloe easily blocks. After a few strikes, however, Chloe is visibly tired as she tries to keep up with Red. Red lifts her arm high, Chloe gets ready to block when Red spins around and ducks low, striking her on her side. "Gotcha!" She smiles. A smile which pulls at Chloe's heartstrings. "And the winner is Mom!" They both stand and shake hands. Neither of them wanted to let go. So they stayed like that for a few seconds, hands holding, eyes stared into each other. It actually kind of shook Chloe a bit. Why were these feelings all coming back to her? They'd been apart for years now and she never once thought about getting together with her. This is all the twins faults, damn it! "Hey, who wants breakfast?" Red wills herself to look away from Chloe as she turns her attention towards her kids.

"Yay! Can i have pancakes?" "I want french toast!" The kids all leave the room and head downstairs. "Look, I'm sorry about that." Red mumbles. "It's ok." Chloe smiles. Red smiles tightly and nods. Something was off about Red, Chloe couldn't put her finger on it but it was like something had switched inside her head. Like she wasn't even trying anymore. Like she just gave up. And Chloe didn't like it. The question is, how does she snap her out of it? Did she want her to? Did she want Red to finally give up and try to get back together with her? Or did she want her to fight harder? Is she really willing to give them another chance? If so, why is she acting like this? Is Chloe? Can she put her past feelings aside? A moment of denial and hesitation was all it took to finally push Red past her limits. Chloe only wishes she wasn't so confused and did something sooner.

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👀👀👀👀 What's going on? In case none of you know who Zellie is, she was supposed to be a part of Life is Sweeter but ended up getting cut out, you can see her in the background but no speaking role, as well as Tiana. Zellie was supposed to play as Chloe's, not exactly love interest but attraction? And I'm pretty sure she was supposed to play a role in having Red feel jealous