Remission [H.S. MATURE AU]

4.

SCARLETT

I had refused to listen to any of their explanations. I just didn't want to. I couldn't bear listening. I've been home for just a couple of days and I already feel like everything has changed while I was away. Things between my parents hadn't been the same in a long time, but I had never imagined that they could ever arrive to the drastic decision of a divorce. I open my window, once I've lit the cigarette, and bring it to my mouth to inhale the smoke. My father, anyway, doesn't let me a lot of time on my own. He opens the door of my room and looks at me with his eyebrows furrowed when he sees the cigarette between my fingers.

"Where did you get that?" He asks me, closing the door behind him and walking toward me. He sits down on the window sill, right next to me.

"Mom has always a packet hidden somewhere." I tell him, shrugging my shoulders and inhaling some more smoke from the cigarette.

"We didn't want to tell you yet. Nothing's gonna change for now." He tells me, grabbing my free hand and holding it on his lap.

"Was it because of me?" I decide to ask. He immediately looks at me with confusion, before shaking his head with determination.

"Of course not!" He sighs. "Things between me and your mother haven't been working for a long time now."

"I know that, but I thought things were getting better when I left for college." I tell him and he just smiles at me with sadness.

"We started seeing a marriage counselor..." he tells me. "Things were getting slightly better but were not quite the same and now I just can't trust your mother anymore." I had never thought that things were this serious, but I can't say I'm surprised.

"Does Sienna have anything to do with it?"

"No, Scarlett." He furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head. "There's nothing more than a professional relationship between us now." I inhale the last bit of smoke from my cigarette before throwing it away.

"So you're going to move out now?" I try to hold my tears back. Just thinking about actually seeing him move out and not having him around anymore hurts me.

"Not until you feel better. There's no reason to hurry." He brings his warm hand to my cheek and caresses it, drying up my tear with the tip of his index. I immediately lean toward him and wrap my arms around his neck.

"I want to live with you, dad... when you leave." He hugs me back and rubs my back. I hide my face in his neck, to hide my teary eyes from him. I love both of my parents to no end, but I've always had a stronger relationship with my father and maybe, some changes in my life right now wouldn't be such a bad idea. The idea of telling it to my mother is what concerns me the most.

"Whatever you wish, honey. You don't need to think about it now, though." He leaves a kiss on my neck and holds me against him. "You should sleep now." He smiles at me and gets up to leave my room but I'm fast enough to grab his hand.

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" I ask him, caressing the back of his hand. He immediately nods and smiles at me. When I get into my bed, behind the sheets, he sits down next to me and holds my hand, until my eyelids get heavier and heavier.

HARRY

A week. A whole week. It has been an incredibly long time for me. I've resisted a whole week without calling her or trying to see her. I must admit I have been seeing Spencer almost every day, in hope to casually bumping into her again, but it hasn't really happened. I've also tried to ask Spencer about her, to understand better what's wrong, but as the good psychologist he is, he didn't break the professional secrecy. I'm relieved in knowing that she's alive, but it hurts not having her with me. When the door bell rings, I immediately get up to open the door as fast as I can, just to end up completely disappointed in seeing that it's just my father. I've been ignoring his calls for the whole week, I should've imagined that he would eventually show up.