sweet surrender | pulisic ✓

seventeenth

After spending the much needed quality time they haven't had in so long, the siblings found themselves having Chinese takeout in Erik's kitchen for lunch. For awhile they simply basked in each other's company, talking about the good old days.

"You almost crashed your bike from the fit of laughter!" Alex exclaimed, the both of them bursting into laughter. "It was hilarious, okay?" Erik held his hands up defensively. Alex shook her head, still chuckling.

She took a bite from her dumpling, as Erik began recalling about an incident when they were twelve. After awhile, the conversations died down, prompting Erik to speak his mind. "You're going to speak to him, right?"

Alex sighed, keeping her eyes fixated on her food. She knew she wanted to; so badly. The thought of it had been on the back of her mind all day. "But would he want to speak to me?" Alex asked, poking her food anxiously.

"He will," Erik said confidently, "trust me." A small smile graced her lips, knowing that at least there was one person who would always have her back. Before she could reply, the doorbell rang.

Erik went to get the door, while Alex remained. "Mom?" Erik's voice echoed through the apartment, prompting Alex to raise her head curiously. In the seconds that followed, both Greta and Erik ambled into the kitchen.

"Alexandra," Greta smiled, earning from Alex a small smile in return. "Can we talk?" She asked. Alex glanced at her brother, who nodded in reassurance. He gently rubbed his mother's back before disappearing into his room.

Alex watched as Greta took a seat on the stool beside her. "Honey, I'm sorry," were the first words that slipped from her mouth. Alex's eyes widened in disbelief. Did she hear her correctly?

"You were right. There are so many ways to do good in this society," she began, sincerity evident in her voice, "and you have your own way of doing it." Taken aback, Alex found herself laughing, "mom are you okay?"

Greta chuckled, nodding, "I should have seen it right from the start. I'm sorry I didn't." The younger Durm smiled, glad that at least the winds have changed here. "I was at your bakery yesterday," Greta continued, "it was very impressive."

Instinctively, Alex threw her arms around her mother, enveloping her into a hug. "I never thought I'd hear you say that," she mumbled against her shoulder. "Me too," Greta quipped, to which Alex laughed in return.

Maybe it was safe to say, things were slowly looking up. At the moment, at least.

⦁⦁⦁

The boys in the locker room exploded in cheers when Roman performed the perfect bottle flip. "I swear y'all are secretly twelve," Erik said as he ambled in the second the boys began cheering. Roman playfully slung an arm around his German counterpart.

"Don't be jealous," he teased, ruffling his hair a little before releasing him. Erik scoffed at Roman as Christian, who was watching on, chuckled. "Hey, bro," he greeted, holding out a hand for Erik to bro-handshake.

Erik was quick to occupy the vacant seat beside him, dropping his bag onto the ground. "So how are you?" He asked casually. Christian glanced at him, before running a hand through his hair awkwardly.

"Uh, good," he replied simply, as he bent down to do his laces. Clearly, he was trying to avoid the topic because his laces were pretty much already tied up. Erik sighed, "look, Chris. I think you should at least hear her out."

The young American exhaled lightly as he sat up. He had been thinking long and hard about it, and he couldn't deny that he wanted to forgive her. He had grown so fond of her that he practically stared at her contact at random intervals.

He knew he wanted to forgive her. But could he do it?

"She's here today, you know?"

Christian's head perked up at that, his face subtly lighting up. Seeing that, Erik realized that he too was missing her as much as she was. "Chris, I know she made a mistake. But I also know that she regrets everything she did," he explained.

"I'm just disappointed," he mumbled, directing his gaze to the ground. "I know. So am I," Erik nodded. He had been disappointed with Alex to be honest. Sure, the reason she did it shouldn't have been an excuse.

But after the chat they had, he knew that she was genuinely sorry about what she had done. In fact he hadn't seen her regret anything as much as she did this. "At least talk to her, okay?" Erik finally said, patting Christian's back.

Christian nodded slowly, because truth be told, that was the only thing he wanted to do. And awhile later, he found himself walking towards the field, his eyes subconsciously scanning the area.

Eventually, he finally laid his eyes on her. She sat by the stands, her shades perched on her head as she stared at her phone.

Just, hear her out, Christian.

—

A/N: Hello friends! :) just wanted to let you guys know that I will be taking a short break from updating this book for a few weeks because exams )':

but no worries, I will resume updating as soon as I possibly can! :)

as always, thank you so much for reading and see you soon! ❤