The Balavans

Chapter 10: Forever...

5 years later

Dominic's POV

I sighed, exiting out of yet another dead end online. I'd been searching and searching for Paxton since he disappeared 5 years ago. The exact anniversary of him leaving me was tomorrow, and I was not looking forward to it.

I looked out the window, tears forming in my eyes yet again. I had thought I'd cried myself out the first two weeks he'd been gone, calling his number every hour to see if he would pick up. I'd shattered my phone after a week because when I'd called once again, I wasn't greeted with his familiar voicemail but instead a robotic voice saying the number was no longer in service.

Percy, Conell and all our friends had helped me look, but he seemed to have just vanished into thin air. My searching slowed over the years, but I still looked at least once a day. I searched his name, I searched credit cards, I searched old friends, nothing. And tomorrow will mark the 5 year anniversary since I last got to hold him.

So much has happened since he'd left, too. Conell and Percy had gotten married and adopted a small girl who was utterly adorable. Tyrell and Trey got married, and adopted twin girls, only 5 months old at the time but are now 2 years old. Fabien and Maylea had gotten married, and they have a 3 year old son now. Jasper and Dion are engaged but are raising a small boy, Dion's nephew as his sister and brother in law had passed away. Laelynn had another baby, a small boy after Daisy and she was happy. Jesse and Keene had gotten engaged last year and their wedding was in two months.

Then there was me. I was still heartbroken to having woken up in that hotel room alone, all of Paxton's things missing and nothing but a letter and that necklace. I had read the letter in confusion, but once it sank in I'd screamed in pain. I'd thrown the necklace across the room, but it didn't break after Trey's power had made it indestructible.

But now, I wore the necklace everyday. I reread the letter every night before going to bed. I watched the few videos I'd taken on random days of him, looked through my pictures of him every couple of days. I still lived in the apartment I'd bought for us after rescuing him from Cox all that time ago. I was terrified I would forget the sound of his laugh, the colour of his eyes. I was forgetting the feeling of his kiss, the feeling of his arms around me, keeping me warm.

I went to bed, not wanting to get up the next day. I had a habit of doing this, on the anniversary of the day Paxton had left me I wouldn't leave my room. I would play music he used to listen to, light candles so I could have some kind of flame near me. I went into a stupor, and all my friends knew not to contact me on today after the first anniversary I'd almost attacked Denley before breaking down. Now they just left me alone.

Halfway through the day, the doorbell rang. I blinked tiredly, wondering who that would be. No one messed with me today, not even my family. The doorbell rang again and I stood up slowly, my entire body weak. I hadn't eaten in three days, barely drinking water. I walked to the doorway placed my hand on the handle, ready to start cussing out the person behind it.

I threw the door open and opened my mouth angrily but froze, my hand falling from the door handle and falling back into the house as I was greeted with familiar blue eyes. "Nic?" he asked quietly and his voice, familiar yet different, shy yet more confident, hopeful yet fearful.

"Pax?" I choked out and he nodded, biting his lip nervously. He opened his mouth and said, "I'm sorry." Those words just sent a wave of anger through me and I reached out, grabbing his shirt and pulling him into the living room, shoving him onto the couch.

"You're sorry?! You have no right to come back after five fucking years and just say sorry, Paxton Levitt. Do you have any idea how torn up I was after you left? How far into depression I went when I realised you lied to me and left me anyway? All I got was a fucking letter and that necklace, nothing else. How could you do that to me? I thought we said we were going to stick by each other forever and always? That's what we said, right? Ryo and Hakan, our friends called us the ying and the yang, completely different yet we needed each other. I needed you, Pax but you fucking left," I shouted, breaking down into tears as my voice broke on 'left'.