Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
••••••••••
WITH THE HELP OF HER FATHER, AND PENELOPE, ELOISE MOVES FROM HER HOME TO AN APARTMENT IN NEW YORK, WITH THE HELP OF ROBERT AS WELL. NICOLAS IS LATER ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF DOMESTIC ABUSE FROM THE ACCOUNTS OF FOUR DIFFERENT WOMEN, NOT COUNTING ELOISE.
APRIL 4TH, 2018 — ❝ YOU ARE THE ONE THAT I LOVE MOST. ❞
It had been almost two months since Eloise had let her father make such a change to her life.
Now, at the age of twenty-eight years old, she was living on her own for the first time, renting out her family friend's apartment.
During this, she had not heard from Tom once.
And so she took this as a silent breakup, of the sort. She stopped wearing the necklace with his ring on it--she kept it in her jewelry box, tucked away in the top drawer of her dresser. She dyed her hair brown, and grew out her bangs.
Eloise let things change. She took a hiatus from writing, and spent time exploring the city, and going to therapy.
Thing were changing, whether she wanted them to or not. And it's just the way she accepted them to be.
↠↠↠↠↠
"So how is New York? Are you liking it?" Nikolai asked, grinning at his daughter through the computer screen.
"Well, it's New York, and I haven't lived here since I was nine, so, it's definitely changed," Eloise replied, chuckling. "But I like it. The business of it. I mean, of course, it kept me up the first couple of weeks, but now I've gotten somewhat used to it. I can kinda tune it out now."
Nikolai laughed, and said, "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it. You've seen Robert?"
"Yep. And I got the toilet fixed." When Eloise had first moved in, it turned out that a giant rat was living in the pipes for two of the floors, and the toilets were constantly overflowing or clogging up. She messaged Robert the end of that first week, and he had it fixed as soon as he could.
"It's too bad Rufus isn't there anymore," Nikolai started, "because now you need another pet."
Eloise snorted. "Dad, that's so gross. If I'm getting a pet, it's going to be a cat. How's Penelope?"
"She's good! She's here right now, she's just on the phone. Gotta make sure the restaurant is going alright, now that it's is under her niece's control." He waved his hand, and then asked, "Have you heard from Tom at all?"
Shifting uncomfortably under the weight of his stare through the screen, Eloise quietly replied, "No. I, uh, haven't yet. I've haven't messaged him." She chewed on her thumbnail, and looked out of the window next to her.
"He . . . You're not together anymore?" Nikolai asked, uncertainty lining his tone. When she finally looked back at the screen, she noticed her father looked genuinely upset. "Well . . . Tell you what, darling. Once I'm better, we can take a trip to Hawaii. I know how much you love it there."
