after you left |ai|

20

When I woke up, the large house was still silent. Ashton was nowhere to be seen. At 4am he had decided for me that I was going to stay here. He didn't want me to go home on my bike in the middle of the night so I slept in the guest bedroom.

I stood in the kitchen on my own, the sun rising and starting to shine throught the big windows. I opened the window to let the dogs out and walked out with them. I sat down at the chair on the terrace with my cup of coffee in my hands while I watched the sunrise.

It didn't take long until the window opened again behind me and Ashton walked out. I looked at him and he had a cup of coffee in his hand too, his hair was all messy and he looked exhausted.

"Goodmorning" I said to him when he sat down next to me. He didn't reply and just looked ahead of him. But I watched him, the way the sun was hitting his skin perfectly and the small frown on his face, the bags under his eyes visible. The soft curls laid on his forehead and were a bit messed up at the top. The red was starting to fade but it still looked great with the darker roots.

"I'm so messed up. Why do you even try?" He asked as he looked at me, I could see a single tear forming in the corner of his eye. I reached over and wiped it away with my thumb as soon as it started rolling down. I let my hand rest against his cheek and he leaned into my touch and closed his eyes. "I'm just damaged goods."

"Ashton.." I whispered and he opened his eyes to look at me again. "When I look at you I see a man that's hurt and broken but over the past months, I've seen you change. You used to have this darkness in your eyes that I could not understand, it was so dark it almost scared me. But over time, the darkness became lighter and I know you'll be fine again one day. You hit a rough patch again but I know you can do this." He nodded softly, I pulled my hand away but kept my eyes on him. Trying to figure out where this all was coming from. "You have to believe in yourself."

"It's hard" He whispered before looking ahead of him again. "Can you stay today? I don't want to be on my own."

"Ofcourse" I replied and he nodded before resting his head against my shoulder. We sat there for a little while until we could hear Olivia over the babyphone. He was about to get up but I stopped him. "I'll go get her, just stay here." I said and he looked hestitant but he let me get up. I went upstairs to her room and I could hear her just mumbling and talking. When I opened the door she started clapping her hands and looked at me with a big smile. "Hi big girl, are you ready to get out of bed?" I asked and she giggled when I reached to pick her up. She was certainly a morning kid. I brought her to the bathroom first before picking her up again and walking downstairs with her. She was playing with my hair again while she sat on my hip.

Ashton was standing at the fridge when I walked in and looked up at us with the softest smile.

"I'm going to make pancakes, I hope you like them?" He asked and I nodded with a smile.

"I absolutely love them." I replied and he smiled before getting everything and starting.

— Ashton's POV —

I watched them while I was making the pancakes. Olivia was holding onto Elle's fingers while she made an attempt at walking around in the living room. The room got filled with the sound of Olivia's giggles and Elle occasionally let out a chuckle too. I couldn't stop watching the way they interacted, the way Olivia always smiled and the way Elle seemed to understand her so well.