MOVE ON | IVAR THE BONELESS X OC |

CHAPTER TEN

She had a love-hate relationship with airports. On one hand, she loved the excitement of boarding a plane and traveling to another place, stella liked to start new adventures and explore the world. But she also hated the chaos, the rude people with dark circles under their eyes that were probably too tired to deal with her excitement, she didn't like to see people sad to leave their homes and she didn't like goodbyes.

The goodbyes were usually temporal, she'd be back soon with new experiences and having visited new places.

Now the goodbye was for a long time, and she didn't really know how that kind of goodbye worked.

Hvitserk looked around the small cafeteria while nibbling on a croissant. He was tired, stella could see it because his eyes were a bit red and swollen and he couldn't stop yawning. It didn't matter how much coffee he had drank since she arrived, he still looked like he needed three days of sleep.

"You didn't have to come" stella pouted "I know your father made you work a lot these weeks"

The Lothbrok business was weird, a bit dark sometimes, but Ivar never let her involve too much. Ragnar and Björn did most of the work, and now Ubbe managed to seal some deals with Alfred's company.

Hvitserk, Sigurd and Ivar were less interested on it, and Sigurd focused on music while Ivar and Hvitserk preferred to work with Floki. But now Ubbe was on his honeymoon and Hvitserk offered to help until he returned.

"I wanted to" he smiled, winking at her "I know you hate to be alone in the airport, Ivar told me"

Stella smiled sadly. Ivar hadn't contacted her since she left the flat. Hvitserk said he wasn't okay, but after talking to him decided to give her some space. Maybe he'll learn a lesson with this, Hvitserk had said. She truly wished he'd be okay.

"Thank you" she said, leaning her head on the wall next to her. Her flight was supposed to leave in an hour, and the boarding would start soon. She was trying to delay that moment as much as she could.

Alfred had wanted to travel with her to London, but he had too much work and promised to go a few days later to help her. Stella didn't blame him, he had already done too much by helping her find a new home and introducing her to some friends of his. He even did most of the paperwork to transfer her to another university. He had helped her so much, she didn't even know how to start thanking him.

One of the worst parts had been quitting her job. She had hugged Thora for at least five minutes while crying and then the two of them had a girls' night in stella's apartment.

To see her flat empty, to put her entire life into a couple of suitcases and leave everything behind was something she never thought she'd have the guts to do.

Ivar had given her the courage in some way. A part of her had wanted to say goodbye in person, but she still didn't trust herself around him. That same part kept glancing around the airport since she entered, thinking, wishing, he'd be there too. Maybe he had thought about it, maybe he didn't want to lose her. Maybe he had decided he'd fight for her.

But he wouldn't. He already made his choice, and Ivar wasn't one to crawl back.
A woman announced the boarding through the speakers. Hvitserk looked at her in silence and she took another five minutes before sighing and standing up. Hvitserk bit his lip when he saw her hand trembling while grabbing the small suitcase.

"Come on" he stood up too, and caressed her arm softly "I'll go with you"

The walk to the security line was too short and too long at the same time. She felt like throwing up, and regretted eating breakfast that morning. Stella kind of just wanted to get into that plane and leave. At the same time, she wasn't ready to say goodbye to Hvitserk.