𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄(gxg)

Epilogue: Part One

surprise.

ROSE'S perspective

Four years, six months, twenty-two days.

That's how long Emelia's been gone. I wish I could say I wasn't counting—that I didn't care. But I did, you could see it. The thought hurt me, parts of it stung. I tried not to believe she left. I expected her to show up at anytime and say it was a joke. Maybe for somebody to pinch me and wake me up from this horrible dream.

Of course neither happened.

I waited the first 24 hours until I could make a missing persons report. I was still in shock she was gone, it didn't make much sense then and it certainly doesn't now. The police were no help. They say because she left a note that she was probably "unfriending me and it was best to give her her space" then when they thought I wasn't looking they pretended to wipe their noses, mimicking some of the things she did in those pictures.

God, I hate those fucking pictures.

After 24 hours were up I waited a week. Then two. Then three. Eventually a whole month had passed. At some point I tried reaching out to Grey. Of course I called Emelia's phone countless of times but each time I received no answers. Grey went ghost too. I just assumed he went with her.

I still had high hopes. I figured Emelia loves me, she'll come around when she's ready. She stubborn and impulsive but I guessed she would come to her senses.

She never did and it had been a full 90 days. I cried, wept, sobbed. Why did she leave? She made a promise not to leave. To never give up.

Now here I was. Four long years without her and I was starting to forget and lose contact with who and what we once were. She was always in the back of my mind but I managed to burry it deep, deep down so it was nothing but a faint memory.

I wondered how she was, where she was. Hell, was she even alive?

Nights like this are when the thought of her keeps me awake. I have to be ready in five hours if I want to be at work on time but I had barely got a minute of sleep.

I missed her. Tonight especially. I miss her arms, and her scent, her warmth as I lay on her chest, the smooth rise and fall of her stomach. I wish she gave me more than a letter, more of a warning before she left for good.

_

Paper clips flew across the room, one even getting caught in my hair. "Matt." I whined, "just knock like everyone else."

He chuckled and appeared from his hiding spot behind the door where he had a fistful of paper clips. "I brought you a gift." He approached my desk and dumped all of them into my space. Sometimes he was so childish.

"Asshole, you're cleaning it up."

I stood from the table and moved to another small desk area in my office. "How's that article going?" I watched as he began to clean up.

"Fine, personally I think the story has too many holes in it to be good. I'm thinking of giving it to an intern and letting them do it."

Matt scoffed, "You're second-lead journalist in the office but we all know you're better than Gina. You seriously need to ask Jim for better stories."

Sighing, it had taken me a lot to get into this position. After Kai went to college and Emelia left, I buried myself in work. It had gotten me here so I really couldn't complain. I could afford a much better apartment and pay Kai's tuition. Plus it temporarily occupied my attention on something that wasn't Emelia. It served me well.