𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 [a rini au]

- FORTY-TWO!

sometimes, bandaging a wound is not enough. there are certain gashes and bruises that no matter how hard you try to treat them, they will never be fixed. the only way that scars like these can truly be healed is if time reversed, if the clock turned backwards to the points where the wounds never existed because once they do, life is never the same again.

that's how ricky bowen felt about aaliyah winters.

hindsight is a powerful tool, oftentimes one which results in an unbearable, emotional weight that seems impossible to carry as each day goes on. upon ricky's revelatory realization, he was able to see more clearly – rewatch his and nini's movie as a distant observer and pick out the pieces of the conflict which led to their downfall. perhaps dating aaliyah, only two weeks after his breakup, was ricky's way of repressing that conflict which began with the behavior of the good girls actress. if anything were to be solved with nini, if he was going to prove to her that their story was not over yet, ricky needed to turn back the clocks – rip off the bandage and burn it, because it did more harm than good in the end.

just because it was clear, though, didn't mean it was easy. ricky had good memories with aaliyah; she was his girlfriend, after all. but it was all reused – everything was plagued now that he was no longer hypnotized by the smoke and mirrors. there comes a time where you need to recognize who in you're life you're willing to make sacrifices for, and at this point in time, ricky wanted to sacrifice for nini. he didn't know if she'd reciprocate, but all he could do was try. if he didn't, there was no use.

it took the boy a day or two to work up the courage and script his words. ricky was nervous meeting with aaliyah, but as his reasoning rolled off of his tongue, he felt lighter with every syllable. it definitely hurt to see her well up, yell in response to his confession that he wasn't through with nini yet. she couldn't see his side and how the time they spent together leading up to his breakup with nini was truly inappropriate, and that ricky shouldn't have brushed her behavior off of his shoulder just out of spite of nini. their entire romantic relationship was founded off of treason and pettiness, and their friendship only toxically teetered the line of acceptable and impermissible. it was that reason why ricky advocated for their separation and perhaps lack of contact in the future, but it was that as well which caused aaliyah to rise up from the couch and angrily shove ricky out of her apartment.

the singer felt more relieved than regretful when leaving aaliyah's that day. if anything, he now felt more free to move forward. however, he had to stay off of social media, for it didn't take long for stan twitter to dissect the intimate moment.

the last thing ricky wanted to deal with was more social media drama. he hoped that aaliyah wouldn't have made a public move like unfollowing him on instagram knowing his history with being vilified on the internet. in a way, ricky was grateful she did that. it was a means of justification, reassuring him that he made the right decision.

there was only one thing left to do, and perhaps it was the hardest to accomplish. as far as ricky knew, nini was to leave for london in a few days. he didn't know what her plans were. hell, he didn't know what his plans were. he needed some sort of plan of action. where could he meet up her? would she want to meet up him? what would he say? how would she react? there were so many possibilities that rippled through ricky's brain. he was about to do arguably the most drastic and insane thing he'd ever done in his whole life, but all he could do was pick up his phone.

𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐒!
→ quick update
but setting up the
drama for the final
chapters...