When the fear of isolation pulls Ashton and Ria together, nothing can prepare them for the collision. An anomaly shatters the repetitive fabric of their lives, sending them on a journey of discovering themselves and one another.
Beneath Ashton's gen...
❝Why do you try so hard for me? I don't deserve this. I don't deserve you.❞
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RIA'S GIVEN ASHTON an unbearable silent treatment. The kind where she's soft-spoken and gentle to the touch, but hard eyes and short remarks tell him she's beyond upset. Disappointed.
It's been two days since he's told her that he'll never love her, something he's made clear so many times before. Yet that day her response was different from the usual broken smile and soft nod of understanding. She simply began staring off at the ocean without saying another word. All the while, Ashton has been a prisoner to his guilty thoughts.
He can't feel something that doesn't exist.
Love doesn't exist.
Why can't she understand that? Why does she want to change him so badly?
Ashton rests on the crisp porcelain sofa in solitude. His gaze drifts to Ria as she rests outside on the balcony. A breeze creates flame-like ripples through her hair and pulls at the fabric of her floral robe. She's been out there all morning. A blaze against the cool sky.
A dark hand squeezes the walls around his chest and suddenly he can't breathe. Why is she doing this to me?
Ashton can't afford to fall into this trap again.
The hand tightens its grip until he's suffocating under ruthless emotions.
She's trying to break you. Don't let her. Remember the truth.
"Fuck," Ashton groans and runs his hands down his face. It's back and as ruthless as before. Depression claws into his mind and burdens his chest. He hates it, being torn apart by his inner thoughts. Ominous clouds fill his lungs until he can't drag in a bit of oxygen.
How does Ria handle it? How does she allow these demons to take over her mind without depending on something? She's stronger than him. So much stronger...
I'm weak...
He bows his head and traps air in his lungs, refusing its release. He can't fight this on his own. He hates thinking about just how terrible of a person he is. How selfish he is. All the gruesome things he's done for the sake of his own life. Those reminders haunt him in the form of ruthless demons. How is he supposed to get rid of them?
Ashton needs Ria but he doesn't know how to ask for her. He needs something. The darkness spreads from his chest and wraps around his throat, strangling him. He squeezes his eyes shut and claws at his hair.
I need something.
Sweat builds across his palms but ice seeps through his veins.
I need her.
But Ria can't be there for him. He can't give her what she needs, how can she give him what he needs?
She wouldn't understand. I'm weak without it. I need it.
