Nothing Without You

XXI: The Owner of Her Broken Heart

Then

He asked her to meet him at the park. The same park they played in the snow. The same park where Christian first hugged Adelaide. Memories of them invaded this place from left to right. She smiled at their past. She never knew they'd be together for a little over a year now—never knew that their friendship would turn into a book worthy love.

She was a little nervous and she didn't know why. They lived next door to each other. Their rooms were next to each other too. If he wants to see her, he usually texts her to open her window, not to meet him at the park.

She felt a little giddy, maybe he had a goodbye present planned for her as he left for college tomorrow. Last Friday he made her feel like a princess after taking her to prom, she wondered what it would be this Friday.

When she got closer to the park, she smiled seeing him sitting on their bench. Their initials carved so perfectly into that bench. A year ago, the two had their first kiss right there, right where he was sitting.

She came up behind the bench and leaned down to kiss him on the cheek. "What's the special occasion?" Adelaide moved to sit next to him.

He wasn't looking at her.

He didn't smile at her.

"Christian?" Her smile dropped, "Is everything okay?"

She turned her body to face him completely but he never looked back at her. Adelaide reached out to grab his hand but he snatched it away, his nail scratching her in the process. She winced at the sudden burn.
Christian grabbed her hand to assess the damage but when it didn't leave a mark, he dropped her hand like it was fire and he was burned.

Small drops of rain began to pour around them, but neither of them moved for shelter.

"I can't do this anymore, Adelaide."
What was he talking about? She wondered.
"Is it your mom? Is she okay?" She shuffled closer to him. She was cold and wanted warmth. He wasn't acting like her Christian. He was distant, he was someone she didn't know at the moment and she didn't know what to do; what she could do for him.
She'd never seen him so... closed off like this before.

"I don't want to be with you anymore," he said. "We're done." He stood up and began walking off.

It took a second for the shock to settle in for Adelaide to get up and follow him. Her eyes began to burn from unshed tears. No matter what, she wasn't going to cry in front of him, he'd worry too much.

"Christian," she grabbed his arm. Her voice broke the same exact way her heart was cracking in places he, himself, had helped put back together. "Tell me what happened, talk to me."

"Nothing happened, Adelaide." He tried to shake her off but she held on tight.
"You were fine yesterday and the day before, something has happened and you're not telling me. Please," Adelaide shut her eyes from the agony entering her body. She felt a headache coming on or maybe it was a heartache. "Don't do this to me."

"I'm not doing anything to you," he said. When he turned around, Adelaide didn't recognise the man standing in front of her. His eyes were cold and empty. Where was her Christian? "It's pretty simple, actually." He began to say, "I fell out of love with you, Adelaide Mikael." The venom dripped from his voice at her name. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You fell out of love with me?" She whispered in the pouring rain, yet he heard her loud and clear.

"I fell out of love with you."

"No."

"No?"

She shook her head, "You're lying."

"For fuck's sake, Adelaide! I don't love you. I don't fucking love you anymore, okay?" He shouted in the rain–at her.

"Then why are you holding onto me?"

He looked down at where he was holding onto her hand.

"Why are you holding onto me, Christian?" She asked again.

Christian shut his eyes and dropped her hand. "We're done."

She shook her head, "No we're not. If you fell out of love with me, I can make you fall back in love. I promise. If not that, then I will love you enough for the both of us. Look at me," Adelaide forcefully turned Christian around and saw him.
Tears dripped from his tortured eyes; red and heavy. "I love you." She said, "I love you, Christian."

"I don't want to be with you anymore, Adelaide."

"Tell me what happened, please Christian. Let's figure this out together."

He shook his head and turned to walk away.
Adelaide ran in front of him to block him.

When he stepped right, so did she.

When he stepped left, so did she.

When he looked down at her, she looked up and pressed her lips to his.

She moved for the both of them, tasting the sadness of their tears on her lips. He didn't respond to her desperation but allowed her to take whatever she wanted from him, whether it was her sucking the memories of them out of him or it was her emptying her own sadness out and pouring it into him like the rain falling from the sky, trying to erase this moment from their written fate.
Adelaide wrapped her arms around his neck, forcing her kisses onto him. Her heart pounds against her ribs in hopes of getting out and finding safety against his instead. Ribs are cages made for hearts like hers and she'd prefer to be locked in his instead of her own. Even if he wouldn't take care of her heart, she'd want the last beats of it to solely belong to him and only him. Her heart was Christian's. It would only ever be Christian's.

She let her lips say the words stuck in her throat. She let her broken down emotions find a way to fix his broken down feelings. She needed her Christian back. She wanted him back.

"Come back to me," she whispered softly against his lips.

Christian pulled her closer towards him by the hips and kissed her back. Adelaide moaned when he sucked gently on her lips, cherishing the last kiss between them, allowing himself to be gentle with her for the last time.

But then the thoughts came rushing in.
The memory of Eda and his dad in bed together while his mom was struggling to stay alive in the hospital.

Christian hardened the kiss by forcing his tongue into her mouth. His palms roughly squeezed her breasts while his fingers pinched her nipples. She gasped in his mouth, the sensations rushing back to her. He didn't want her to feel pleasure. He wanted her to feel the same pain he was feeling.

He harshly bit her lips and she winced loud enough for him to push her away from him.
He'd never been rough with her. She was too lovable to be handled with such hands, but at the moment he didn't care about anything—not even himself.

His eyes looked at her lips.

Adelaide brought her hand up to her mouth and gently touched where he bit her. She shut her eyes at the burn and pain she felt, only opening them once it slightly passed and seeing the blood on her fingers.
He stood there.

For a second Adelaide thought everything was fine after the kiss they shared.
But when Christian brought his own hand up and wiped away their kiss from his lips and stared at her with pure hatred, she knew nothing was fine at all.

So she began to walk away from him.
Leaving her heart laying flat out, beating furiously, in front of him.