Elle

As a girl who only ever wanted to be happy, all Elle Bellemore seemed to endure was pain.

Pain that was thrown at her from people who were supposed to care about her. Pain that stemmed from the loss of her best friend and her diagnosis. Pain that she couldn't seem to shake no matter how many times she tried, and no matter how many people she wanted to fall in love with.

What she didn't try though, was falling back in love with life, and then herself.

And besides, maybe the love of her life was under her nose all along.

~ "I'm in love with you," I whispered into his ear, ignoring the internal screaming that was telling me to not make a fool of myself.

His hands gripped my sides harder and he let out a low laugh.

I pulled back to look properly into his eyes. His dark eyes that held a million of our memories. Each time I looked into those eyes, I was reminded of a different time of my life.

Different times of our lives.

"You don't love me, Elle," he mumbled back, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "You don't love me the way I love you."

My heart stuttered and my mind, for once, was completely blank.

"You need to learn to love yourself before you can even think of being in love with someone else," he said, matter of factly.

I rolled my eyes.

"I don't, because loving you has made me forget what hating myself feels like."~