Divine Affinity

48

Her usually bright eyes were now swollen and red from crying. As she slowly looked up, her trembling body betrayed her inner turmoil. Each breath she took was ragged and uneven, the sound echoing through the small space. Her heart raced in her chest as she caught sight of him standing there, his presence filling the room with both tension and familiarity. His own anxiety was evident in the way his fists clenched tightly at his sides, his knuckles turning white with the pressure. Conflicting emotions danced across his features, mirroring the turmoil in Eiry's own heart. They both remembered the pain they had inflicted on each other, the scars still fresh despite the passage of time. In that moment, as they locked eyes, a silent understanding passed between them. The weight of their shared history hung heavy in the air, threatening to suffocate them both. It was a bittersweet reunion, filled with the remnants of a past that still haunted their every interaction. The love, the hurt, the longing - all tangled together in a messy web of emotions that neither could fully unravel. And as Eiry remembered how he had broken her heart, and as he remembered how she had shattered his, they both knew that some wounds never truly healed.

"You can't do this..." She gasped and shook her head at the same time. "You can't... you can't just come here and kiss me... you can't... You can't just come here and do whatever pleases you..."

"Do you think it's easy for me?" Eddie kneeled in front of her. "Do you think it's easy to be near you? Do you, Eiry? How do you fucking think it makes me feel?"

"You brought this upon yourself, upon us." She accused.

"You didn't wait!" He yelled at her. Then, he brought his face closer to hers. "You didn't wait... I went back to Seattle!"

"I didn't have to wait!" Eiry pulled back. "What?" She frowned and shook her head at the same time. "You thought I had to wait for you to change your mind? I waited for four fucking weeks! You had four weeks to come back!"

"Eiry..." Eddie tried to grab her but Eiry pulled away.

"IT'S BEEN EIGHT YEARS!" Eiry snapped. She got up like a spring and turned on her heels as if searching for some common sense. However, her body and soul were on fire. He had unleashed a fire that had been locked inside her the whole time they had been apart. "Eight fucking years!" Eiry's eyes blazed with anger, her voice sharp with accusation as she stood face-to-face with him. "You shattered my heart into a million pieces! You broke my trust in men forever." She spat out, her voice trembling with emotion. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her body tense with the weight of her words. Eddie's features twisted in anguish as he listened to her words.

"You think you're the only one hurting here? You crushed me when you shut me out, when you refused to let me back in." He shot back, his own voice rising in frustration.

"But at least you have someone in your life. And I don't give space for anyone to enter mine because I fear they're going to do the same thing you did." She told him. "You left me alone... alone, Ed!"

"I know what I did!" He punched his chest strongly. His hands gestured wildly, his whole body mirroring the turmoil in his heart. "I'm not proud of it, but I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to do. I blame myself for it, Eiry the whole time. Even today!" Eddie's chest heaved with emotion. His features contorted with the pain. "I didn't know how to do better!"

"Better?" Eiry's tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the anger in her eyes. "That was nothing! I lost our child, and you don't even go there to say anything... anything and even then I was willing to forgive you because part of me knew you and I knew you wouldn't know how to deal with it. But fuck..."

"You expected me to step up!" He said, cleaning his eyes. "I know... I fucking know, Eiry."

"Then, why didn't you?" She whispered. "Why did you let it all die? Why did you break my heart in a way that it cannot be fixed? Why, Ed?"