Claire walked off with her head hung lowly. She attempted to wipe her tears and get a clear vision, but the more she wiped, the more tears came.
Behind her, she heard the door open and the sound of Rome's voice booming out.
“Claire?” He asked, realizing her from behind.
“Hey.” She uttered, hoping a smile would cover the many tears she'd cried from the time she left her parent's house to this moment.
“What's wrong with you?” He asked as his jawline uncontrollably flexed, which happened anytime he was mad.
She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted due to the womanly voice speaking from the other side of the door.
“Roman!” She yelled out. Soon after, Claire was able to put a face to the voice.
“Thanks for babysitting.” She said, then looking at Claire.
“Dr. Maureen?” Wynn asked for confirmation as she held baby Markus on her hip.
“You alright?” She asked with a concerned look.
“I'm fine, Wynn,” she smiled forcefully. “He's getting so big,” she smiled and tickled the baby as she wiped her eyes for what felt like the millionth time and tried to cover her emotions, but as usual, another tear followed behind the one previously wiped.
“Yea,” Wynn said, not convinced with her answer. “Alright. I'll see you two later,” she said before walking away. “Thanks again, Rome.”
He was too caught up on Claire's bruise to respond to his sister.
“You wanna tell me what tha hell happened to ya face?” He asked, his accent becoming thicker with each word.
“Not really.” She replied lightly.
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“Too fuckin' bad. Speak,” he said as he led her into the room.
She sat on the couch and prepared herself to speak, but when the events took place in her head again, all she could do was put her face in her hands and cry.
Rome moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to cry on his shoulder. He remained silent until she was ready to speak.
“My parents wanted to speak with me earlier, so I went over just as they asked me to. They didn't ask how I was doing or anything. The topic was straightforward: you. They talked about how they don't approve, you're a hooligan, this, and that.”
Rome listened silently as she explained what happened, but he couldn't help but wonder how people who don't anything about him think they know everything there was to know about him.
“It bothered me how they judged you so well without even knowing you. So, I asked my dad questions that he obviously did not know the answers to. He became upset, and he hit me.” She spoke as the never ending tears rolled down her face with the last sentence.
