Crossing Paths

Chapter 19

Regina's P.O.V.

Was I desperate to get Emma back again? Yes. Was it a good idea to go to her house with flowers three weeks after we'd broken up? No. Did I care? No.

I knocked on Emma's apartment door and my hands trembled nervously. It had been almost a month since I last seen her, but it felt much longer.

We hadn't had any contact since Emma had found out I had children. Ruby and Belle had noticed something was wrong between the two of us, but they hadn't questioned me anything.

They had both visited a couple of times, but they let me talk and hadn't asked me anything.

It felt as though I hadn't seen her in years. I'd missed Emma a lot, but I didn't want to push her. I knew she needed time and I hoped that today I'd be able to talk to her.

I needed to see her.

She opened the door rather quickly and immediately closed it again, once she saw who I was.

Just getting to see a glimpse of Emma made this day better than the last days and suddenly, I felt hopeful again. I wanted us to work out more than ever.

It had been utterly terrible.

I was going to do anything in my power to make us work again. So, I threw the flowers in the bin near her front door and smoothed my dress.

The flowers had been a bit too much and she had told me once she didn't like them. That thought occured to me just now and I mind slapped myself for being so stupid.

Right when I raised my arm to knock on her door again, the neighbor's door opened.

I flashed her a smile and she looked intrigued at me.

"Are you Regina?"

I smiled uncomfortably, but nodded. I had never seen this woman before in my life and it was rather unsettling to have her know my name. Emma must have told her about me, but I figured it was all negative by the way she looked at me.

"Hm.." she hummed. "I was just going up there," she said and I swallowed, because I only now noticed what she was wearing. "Name's Lily."

A low cut dress, that showed a lot of her cleavage. The dark blue dress hugged her every curve and was rather short.

The dress was practically begging to be ripped off and thrown across the room. I couldn't blame Emma for moving on, but I felt my heart sting.

The hope that had filled me minutes ago, was seeping away and I flashed her a smile.

"Well, have fun," I said and winked. I hoped my acting skills were on point. "I bet it's going to be a lovely evening."

I hoped she didn't see the thrown away flowers.

Lily walked closed towards me and fumbled with her fingers. "You know, I could rub salt in your wounds by saying I'm going to have a lot of fun with your ex girlfriend tonight, but I feel genuinely bad, Regina. I can only imagine how hard it must be to lose Emma like that."

I knew she meant it sweet, but having her talk like that made everything so much worse.

Emma hadn't even been my girlfriend. We were just dating and her pronouncing that word, was worse than any other word she'd said.

"Yeah.." I said softly and nodded slowly. "Just.. don't let her go, okay? She's an amazing girl, so incredibly special and she deserves all the love in the world. If you're the one to give her that, I... Would really appreciate it," I whispered and stepped back as Lily stepped closer.