blind. | marcus rashford

t w e n t y t h r e e

Cindy's POV

They covered me as we passed through the paparazzis, but they shout two things that caught Marcus' attention and we all heard it.

"Trent! What were you and Cindy doing on the bench earlier?"

"Is Cindy and Trent a new couple? What happened to Cindy and Marcus?"

We rushed into the hotel lobby and Marcus looks so hurt.

"Marcus.." I say.

He doesn't turn around to look at me at all, or even any of us, and I understand why. He walks in front of all of us alone. We entered the elevator and I was able to have a glimpse of his face while he pressed the button to our floor. A tear slips out of his eye. My heart breaks. I haven't seen him cry since the World Cup.

"Marcus, it's not what you think. They're making it sound bad." Trent says.

"Marcus please, I'll tell you about it when we get to the room. Please listen to me." I plead.

He nods slowly without turning to face any of us.

"Marcus. We're bros, I'd never do something like that to you. And Cindy loves you so much, she would never." Trent says.

We all stay quiet until we leave the elevator. Marcus and I go to our hotel room by ourselves while the others go to Dele's.

"Believe Cindy, Marcus. She's loyal, she would never do anything to hurt you." Dele says before they go into their own room.

Marcus and I enter our room and sit down on our bed. He pulls out his phone and more tears start coming out.

"Marcus—" I say coming close to him.

"Please don't touch me right now." he cuts me off. He puts his face in his hands.

I was taken back by that, but I stayed away as he asked. He showed me his phone and it was photos of Trent and I on the bench. It was him playing with my hair, with his arm around me, and our bodies close.

"Please let me explain. He was calming me down after what happened. You know that it helps me calm down when someone plays with my hair. He's my best friend to me, a brother, nothing more than that Marcus, and I promise you that." I say. Tears slowly slipping out.

"I love you Marcus. So. So. Much. I'd never do anything to hurt you. I told you that earlier. I wouldn't leave you for somebody else. I would never do such a thing. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, besides meeting everyone else that I now call family. I wouldn't do anything to lose you, I swear. Please believe me Marcus. I really love you, words can't describe. I can't stress how much I love you enough." I finish.

It was quiet for a minute.

"Please say something.." I say as my voice cracks.

Marcus looks up and a very small smile appears slowly.

"I love you and I forgive you." he says and gets up to hug me. He continues, "I'm sorry that I didn't believe you earlier. I was just in shock and so overwhelmed."

I hug him back tighter and bury my head into his body. I start crying silently.

"I'm sorry that I doubted you. I'm naive. I should've already known that you wouldn't leave me for somebody else."

I look up and he puts his hands on my face.

"I forgive you too, Marcus." I smile.

It was the night that we just laid in bed and chilled. I laid my head on his chest and he played with my hair. We talked and talked, until we both fell asleep.

-

When I moved back here, I used to always flinched whenever the boys would touch me or at least try to. Even if it was just the teeniest tap. It broke their hearts because they thought that I would think that they were gonna hurt me. I trust them, but I was just scarred from Tyler. But, the boys were determined to help me get past it, and so I did. I had forgotten about Tyler until now.

He did horrible things to me. He's two years older than me so when we dated, he was already able to drink legally. I stayed at his house when I lived in America because it was only for work and he was another model as well but we fell in "love". That's what I thought it was, because he was so sweet to me, until he turned into a monster. He would come home drunk and demand so many things. If I denied, he'd get angry and start hurting me.

He did not go further than hitting me. I've been saving myself for the right person and I've been very careful about that. There's girls that give their virginity  to boys that they thought would be forever but they'd leave right after, and I'm afraid of that happening to me.