Tattooed Hearts

Chapter 9: Broken

"Val. I haven't heard from you in a while. How are you?"
"I'm great. W-what brings you here?"
"Is your brother here?"
Before Val could answer, a little girl who still struggled walking, ran out and hugged his legs. "Uncle Val! Watch, watch! Inside" she said to him, pulling at his legs.
Meryl widened her eyes at the girl. 'She couldn't be. There is no way. It doesn't make sense' she thought to herself
"Is she Maks'?" She asked, hoping that she's wrong
"Who? Carolina? No, she's my relative's. I'm taking care of her while her parents are out and about in the city. And I specifically told this little one to stay in her seat." He bends down and messes her hair. "Do you wanna come in?" He asks her
"Um, yeah sure" she shakes her head.
As she entered the house, she felt like she could almost sense his presence there. The house was just as she remembered it; neat, clean and tidy, with everything in place.

"Tea, coffee?" Val asks her while puts Carolina back on her seat

"No, thank you. I'm not planning to stay long anyway... I just thought that you brother might be here. "

"Maks has been having a rough time. My apologies if he's been acting strange to you lately, it's just, I think this whole thing is messing with his head."

"What happened?"

"I really don't know how much he wants me to uncover to you, but I guess a little wouldn't hurt... Last October, exactly two years after they got back together, he decided to end it. Of course, neither of them took it too well and there was definitely a big mess everywhere and he has been very isolated from that point forward."

"They ended their engagement?" Meryl asks, remembering his words in the car "Yeah"

"I would've expected this to be in the news or something..."

"They both wanted to keep their reputation, and so everyone agreed to keep this private."

"It's been eight months..."

"I know, but it's Maks and you know how-"

"Val, have you seen my-" A voice yells, coming down the stairs "Meryl?" Maks questions softly

"I should get going. Thank you Val." Meryl says, picking up her belongings and headed quickly towards the doors. "Meryl, wait!" Maks yells, catching up to her outside the house. He grabs her shoulders and turns her around to face him

"I can't believe you" she mummers

"I-I've been..."

"Busy Maks? Busy? That's funny because your brother just told me that you ended it eight months ago. Eight months Maks! I was waiting every single day for you and kept my stupid little promise that you forced me to make and what do I get? Nearly a whole year without an answer. Not a single word. I thought you married her for god's sake Maks. Now I find you here, hanging around. Why did I ever waste my life for you?" She cries as the night sky starts to fall upon them. After that was a growing silence between them

"Do you still love me?" He questions faintly

Not releasing a word, she quickly takes out her phone, desperately hoping that someone could escort her out of this purgatory

"I can drive you back"

"Don't make me go through this again, Maks. Please"

"I'm not gonna just let you go. I'm not giving up on you"
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She needed to clear her mind. She needed a distraction from herself.
Feeling the breeze of the air piercing against her, she glided through the cold rink. It was the first time in years she skated alone, and the feelings itself became foreign to her.
She practiced the different spins at first. Unsurprisingly, she struggled to get it precise at the beginning. Nevertheless, she kept practicing until she couldn't. She took a short break before heading back onto the ice. She brushed through the fact that she was still slightly dizzy and practiced her jumps. Singles, doubles, and of course, triples. It was astonishing how even after all these years, she was still able to perform all these elements. In the midst of practicing, she wondered what would've happened if she had stuck to singles skating. Though Charlie is the best partner she could ever ask for, she wanted to know how it felt to finally be able to accomplish something for herself without relying on someone else. What would've happened if she didn't need to rely on Charlie... If she didn't rely on Maks. What could've she achieved during the time period she spent waiting for him? What could she achieve without him now?
Mid-air into her triple lutz, she started to feel light-headed. On spur of the moment, she couldn't take control of her own body. Her mind spun all over the place. Not a few seconds later, she feels her own body slam down to the hard ice and her head followed shortly after.
Abruptly her vision was cut blank.
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a/n
That took quite a while to finish. Next chapter will be in within a week or two. Ily - Steph