Before you

32.

I handed the papers to him. He read through them, quite unimpressed.

He shrugged. "Like I said, lies" he threw them on the table again and held his hand out for me. "Let's go to bed?"

"You don't have to be like this Lando, you don't need to act as if you don't care"

"I don't just act like that, I really don't care" he shrugged uninterested.

"Sure" I groaned. "I just don't believe it at all"

"Yeah well and I don't believe Francesca and her bullshit papers" he raised his voice, pointed at the papers on the table as he walked to the kitchen.

He didn't need anything from the kitchen, he just wanted to walk around a little.

I walked after him, leaned on the counter and looked at him. "Why are we arguing?"

He tilted his head. "We aren't arguing"

"We are"

"I'd rather argue with you than laugh with anyone else anyways" he raised his eyebrow. "You know I'm madly in love with you, right?"

I nodded. "I am in love with you too"

"Did you know, the first time I saw you, I thought: I've never seen someone more captivating and beautiful?" He said.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"I saw you and I wanted to be close to you. You probably thought I only wanted your body, but that was just an excuse to have you around. I wanted you for a much longer time than you realize"

He paused, sighed a little and held my hand in his hand. His thumb made circles on the palm of my hand.

He was so affectionate, but I realized why. He wanted to make sure I wouldn't run.

Always held my hand or put his hand around my waist whenever he thought I might run.

I never really realized that until now.

"And now that I have you, the thing that terrifies me is losing you"

"You won't lose me" I said softly. "And I will tell you until you get bored of it"

"I don't think I will ever get bored of hearing that" he chuckled, pressed his lips against mine.

We went to bed soon after that and didn't talk about the papers anymore.
Maybe they didn't matter after all, maybe he was right.

I didn't know Francesca at all, didn't know what he went through.

We could talk about it when he was ready, but I wasn't gonna push it anymore.

And that night, he held me tighter than he normally would. He wanted to make sure I was still laying next to him, that I wouldn't run.

That I wouldn't leave him, just like everyone else did.

I cuddled closer to him, kissed his cheek softly.

I was here to stay.