Contained by Love

Chapter 25 - Goodbye

  I wipe my stained cheeks with some toilet paper, hoping it would erase any signs of my little episode. A sniffle escapes me once more and I take in a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

  There was no way to tell, but I felt like I had been in the bathroom for over ten minutes now, and people would start wondering where I was. Turning the water on, I splash my face, enjoying the coolness and letting it sink into my pores.

   A thump behind me forces me to jump abruptly and whirl around, only to find that there was no one there. Great. Now I was hallucinating, too.

  I purse my lips together and square my shoulders, wiping my mind clean of it. I leave the bathroom and make my way to the cafeteria, hoping my eyes would dull in redness and my cheeks wouldn’t be blotchy. The last thing I needed was for Eli to see me as a basket case.

  As I return, the first thing I notice is that there were less people. I find Eli replacing his bandages in the corner alone, and make my way towards him, a questioning look entering my features.

“What’s going on?”

“Almost everyone made their choice about where to go. They know the DIO will catch up to them eventually, and this is their head start. And we would be smart to do the same.” Eli’s serious attitude disintegrated any remaining thoughts about Madame’s killer.

“Speaking of which, where are we going?” He asks, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear. I open my mouth to answer when I look behind him and see Justin smirking at me. I furrow my brows in confusion.

“What’s wrong, Vivienne?” Eli’s voice is laced with concern.

“I need a minute.” I say, before pecking him on the lips and leaving.

“What is it?” I ask Justin once I crossed the distance between us, making sure my tone was not nice.

He didn’t reply, just kept staring down at me in that condescending way. I didn’t break the eye contact, hoping that he would soon enough.

“You really haven’t figured it out yet? And here I was, overestimating your intelligence.”

My jaw drops in surprise. “Coming from someone with the emotional intelligence of a monkey?” I scoff. “Now why don’t you stop stalling and tell me what the hell you’re talking about before I add to your list of bruises.” I deadpan.

He shuts up instantly. In that second, I thanked God for giving me a sharp tongue when I lack in height. I raise one eyebrow, waiting for him.

He smirks again and makes a move towards me. But this time, I am not scared of him. The hidden fears I had closeted away from when he tried to hurt me came flooding through me, but I pushed it away. I had gone through too much to let me emotions consume me.

I feel heat pulsating through my veins as I stand my ground. He looks me dead in the eye, and an ear-to-ear grin appears on his face. He raises his hand, and for a second I brace myself for the impact, but instead of hitting me, he puts his index finger to his lips.

It takes me a second to register what he is trying to tell me. The truth hits right then and I jump up. He was telling me to be quiet…the same way Madame’s killer had.

Justin killed Madame.

“You…?” I say, still in shock.

“Let’s just call it an apology for what I did to you.” He says, and gives me a small smile.

“I..I..” I was speechless, for once. Justin was the killer? It did make perfect sense and all, considering he didn’t have that many scratches on him and he could have time to sneak out and change into the black outfit.

“I believe what you are trying to say is thank you.” He answers. I still have nothing to say when he turns around and leaves the cafeteria.

If I knew that would be the last time I would ever see him, I probably would have said goodbye.

I felt like a ghost who just finished their unfinished business. I knew everything now, and nothing was stopping me from living my life, with Eli by my side. With this in my mind, I run back into Eli’s expectant arms, not caring who saw and meeting his lips with mine, euphoria filling the air between us.

“I love you.” I tell him between kisses, emphasizing the ‘you’, so he knew I chose him. He replied by kissing me back with ferocity I hadn’t known existed in him. And in that moment, it was just the two of us in the entire room, and nothing else mattered.

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A/N: Yes, I know it's been forever. Yes, this is pretty short. And yes, there is only one chapter left: the epilogue. But no, I haven't forgotten the fans that helped me through this process. I couldn't have done it without you! I want to say thank you to all the people that have commented, read, and voted this story since the beginning. It means the world to me and I don't know what I would do without you<3