Valentin and Rojo | ✓

twenty-four (2nd draft)

Xavier

3 WEEKS LATER

I realized how selfish I was being.

I knew she wasn't talking to her family. I could only assume she was speaking to her mother, Luciana. I knew for a fact she wasn't speaking to her father. I didn't want that for her. Family is everything. I could tell she was extremely close to her family, I didn't want this to tear them apart. I didn't want to tear them apart. If it meant doing something that would inevitably hurt us both, I was willing to do that.

For her.

I'd rather her hate me than hate her family.

"Xavier, it's for you," my father walked inside my room with the house phone. I had just woken up from a nap and was busy daydreaming.

"Who is it?" I asked him in a hushed voice. It better not be a relative. I hated talking to my relatives on the phone.

"Just take the phone," he insisted. I groaned and reluctantly grabbed the phone from his grasp.

"Hello?" I tried not to sound annoyed. My voice was raspy from having just woken up.

"Xavier?" A shaky voiced girl asked.

Oh my fucking God. It was Adriana.

I straightened up my back against my headboard and blinked several times. My vision was still blurry.

"Adriana?" I said in disbelief. How in the hell?

"How are you?" She squeaked out. I could tell she had been crying. Fucking broke my heart.

"Don't worry about me, how are you?" I asked. I needed to do it. God, this was going to break her heart.

"I... I miss you," her voice trembled. "A lot."

I felt my heart in my throat. I couldn't do it. I needed to become the same heartless bastard I was when I first met her. I couldn't fully do that, though. I fell in love with her for God's sake. How did people just break up with someone so easily?

"Are you talking to your family?" I forced myself to ask. I heard her blow out a breath.

"No, only my mom." She said after a couple of moments.

I stayed quiet. I knew it was because of me. I was the reason she was giving them the silent treatment. I knew she would give up everything for me. But, she was settling for me. She didn't need me. I was holding her down and in the process, making her distant from her family.

"Adriana... I think we need to talk," I quietly said. I almost didn't want her to hear me. This was coming out of nowhere. Last time we saw each other, it was full of love and tears; heartache was there, too.

She gasped quietly. She knew. She knew what I was going to do. I didn't even need to see her to know that she was crying.

"Oh," she choked out. She whimpered, but it sounded muffled. Fuck, that was soul-searing. She was silent for a few seconds, before she regained her voice. "What did I do wrong?" she whispered. "I know it's been a while b-but --"