𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨́𝐧 𝐈𝐯𝐲

𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

𝐈𝐯𝐲'𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐯
"I love you, Ivy. I've missed you so much."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but most of all, I couldn't believe what I was seeing—who I was seeing. It had been five long, painful years without the woman beside me, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she was in my sight, telling me that she loved me. I was left speechless, my eyes darting back and forth between her sharp brown eyes, trying to process the reality of the moment. The world seemed to stand still as the weight of her words sank in, and I felt a flood of emotions I hadn't experienced in years.

"How? How can you love me after all these years, Armani? It's been so long, and I don't understand how that's possible. Years of not reaching out—" I started, my voice quavering, before she immediately cut me off with a scoff.

"Don't say that. Don't say 'not reaching out," Armani spat, her tone thick with bitterness and offense. "Don't act like I didn't try. I was in a mental asylum, suffering for the sake of our relationship, and look where it got us. Nowhere. It was all for nothing, and for that, I could have been here. We could have been here, moving on with our lives together." Armani snapped, fury etched across her face, her words spilling out in one breath.

"Suffering..?" I whispered, my eyes softening.

Armani sighed and aggressively raked her hair out of her face before leaning back against the wall, facing forward and avoiding eye contact with me. "Yes, suffering, Ivy. Suffocating, even. Every moment I'm not around you, I'm fucking suffering. Can you imagine what I've been through these five years? Clearly, you don't because you've obviously found a spark in someone else," she said, hinting at who I knew all too well—Misty.

"That's not true, Armani. I know you're referring to Misty, but we never had anything serious. I've allowed her to make me feel good a few times, but it never meant anything deep down. I felt—I feel guilty, and I'm sorry," I said, noticing Armani's obvious anger. But she let me continue talking.

"But don't pretend as if you weren't the one who did this to us. You broke things off with me over the phone when I needed you the most, and you left me," I said, shaking my head rapidly as the memories of that night began flooding in. I could still hear the coldness in her voice, the way she dismissed me like it was nothing. Even more tears threatened to fall from my eyes, but I forced them back in, refusing to let her see how deeply she had hurt me.

Armani's expression softened slightly, though a hint of defensiveness remained. "I know, Ivy. I know I hurt you, and I regret how I handled things. But you have to understand, I was falling apart too. I was just so afraid of you following in my footsteps. I thought distancing myself would somehow protect you from my own chaos. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I was right—I don't know. But I never stopped caring about you, not for a second."

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my emotions. "I understand, Armani. We were both struggling and made mistakes. I can see now that you were trying to protect me in your own way. It still hurts, but maybe we can learn from this and figure out how to move forward. I don't want to hold onto the pain forever."