Mission ̷f̷a̷m̷e̷ love | SIMBAR

7. I'm only me when I'm with you

He was sure he violated more traffic rules in the last five minutes than in his entire life, but he couldn't care less. He was two minutes away from the park Ámbar was only able to recognize after five minutes of him calming her down over the phone. He passed the red light, ignoring honking from the angry drivers in the cars he barely managed to avoid and turned left. He parked in front of the park and ran out of the car, not even bothering locking it. The park was dark, only a few street lights illuminating some of the benches. It was empty, except one figure on the further bench. So that has to be her. Right when he spotted her, she looked up and stood up from the bench, running towards him. When she reached him, she crashed into his arms, hugging him tight and burring her head into his chest, sobbing. He immediately embraced her, caressing her back, trying to calm her down. There, in his arms, for that couple of seconds before breaking the hug, she suddenly felt so safe, like nothing in the world could hurt her.

"Ámbar? Are you okay? What happened?! Did someone hurt you??!"

She moved away from him a little, so she could wipe her tears away, trying to pull herself together, but so far, she was failing.
"No... I mean.. yes... I mean.. Simón... I'm so sorry I didn't come she stopped me and forced me to stay for dinner with them and HE was there as well and then he.. he he tried to.. tried to touch me and oh my god and I tried to explain it to her and she didn't understand me like always and she wanted me to go back there and pretend like nothing was happening but I couldn't Simón I really couldn't and then.. then she.. oh my god oh my god she never hurt me before and-" she was being hysterical and she knew it, the problem was she couldn't stop. She was shaking and she wasn't making any sense, and she couldn't stop crying and sobbing but she just couldn't help it.

"Ámbar! Ámbar hey! Hey! Look at me! You're okay, now! You're okay, you're with me now, you're okay." He took her hands in his, trying to calm her down.

She stopped and looked into his eyes. They were so comforting, so soft that it made her calm down a bit.

"Okay... now inhale.. and exhale.. nice and slow..."

She closed her eyes and did as he said, focusing on her breath as much as she could and she could feel her panic slowly going away.

"Good.." He noticed that she is standing there only in a light dress, plus she was still shaking a bit so he took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders.

"Thank you..." she whispered.

"You're welcome... now... tell me... what can I do for you?"

"I.. I don't know..."

"Do you want me to take you back home?"

"NO!" she was on the verge of panicking again. She was sure that they were still there, as Sharon's guests usually stayed until late night. "No..I can't go back there. Not yet."

"Okay.. so... some friend at whom you can stay?"

She shook her head. "I don't have any..." she looked down, ashamed.

"No? And what about those two that.. ehm.. which I saw in the parking lot a few days back?"

"No.. it's .. with them it's complicated. I can't go to them..."

"Well then... you can stay at my place... the boys aren't home today so you won't meet Matteo don't worry." He added quickly when he saw her face.

"Simón.. that's.. that's really nice of you but I don't want to bother you I mean you barely know me and-"

"You don't bother me at all. Do you expect me to leave you here on the street? Or let you go back to your house when I can tell how anxious makes you only the thought of it? Well no. I need you to be okay and I feel like you could use a company tonight... so I'm gonna stay with you no matter how will you decide. Plus...we might not know each other for years... but to me it feels like it..." he added more quietly.