Vanity and Patience: A Rosalie Hale & Emmett Cullen Story

Chapter 15: The Return

One morning, four weeks later, as I got ready for school, I stood in front of my mirror, door locked, drapes shut, naked. I examined my breast, where there were crescent shaped scars from Emmett's bite above and below my left nipple. I grimaced. My perfect flesh was now tarnished forever. Human eyes would never be able to detect this flaw, but my eyes would always see it.

My thoughts wandered back to that night. I was swallowed whole by his airy dismissal of my offer— my vulnerable offer—of my flesh to him. Even more so, I had practically served myself to him wholeheartedly, my body, my mind, and my heart. I felt like I was drowning helplessly in a sea of humiliation, my pride getting pulled away from me and ripped apart by its strong currents.

As my dignity had been obliterated, the bitterness filled me, and, rather than lose my self-worth altogether, I gathered it with all of my strength and called upon the person I always was before.

Upon reaching the house that night, Edward was walking toward me on the lawn. "Where is he?" he asked, cautiously. His expression was one of concern, with a hint of guilt. I knew he'd read my mind as I had returned home. I did not need to inform him of what had transpired that night.

"I don't know. I'm not his keeper," I snapped at him.

"I should have been the one to take him," he muttered, clearly blaming himself. I watched his eyes flash at my hand that was clutching my blouse together before averting them from me completely.

"Maybe you should have," I retorted cuttingly, venom spitting with my words. "You're all just selfish pigs that don't know right from wrong anyway."

"Did you see where he was headed?" he asked. "Rosalie, I'm sorry for what he did to you, but you can't just leave him like that."

I felt a sharp tinge of guilt hit a soft spot in my dead heart. Edward was right. I reluctantly replayed Emmett hissing at me as he charged away, but I refused to answer Edward's question aloud. My humiliation was too overwhelming to verbalize it. "I'm going inside," I spat, turning my nose up at him.

As I snuck past Carlisle and Esme's room and entered mine, that tinge of guilt grew like a bubble in my chest, constricting my already dead organs. No matter how much I wanted to give into my true self and hold onto my pride, I had to make one last desperate attempt to be understanding of Emmett's situation.

Hours passed and they still had not returned home. I grew worried, the bubble of guilt expanding and pressing against my ribcage. I stood at my window, trying to calm myself. My eyes surveyed the vast forest before me, looking like a cluster of black silhouettes against the navy moonlit sky.

I finally noticed the branches of a large spruce shudder out of time with the rest of the forest, and I knew it had to be them. The bubble now fell to the pit of my stomach, rolling and rocking me with guilt and fear. I flung myself out the window, making a soft landing, and met them on the lawn.

"Emmett, are you all right?" I asked gently, my voice small, as I walked slowly towards them.

His face, appearing out of the darkness of the trees, was expressionless. His eyes flickered to me for a microsecond before focusing past me and to the house. He practically brushed my shoulder as he completely ignored me, heading inside.

"Emmett," I breathed, my small voice now a tiny sob.

Edward followed him immediately, his face stern and disapproving. He grabbed my arm as he saw me motion towards Emmett's direction. "No, Rosalie," he ordered. "Let him go. Both of you need to step away right now."

I shot daggers at him with my eyes. "Don't you dare tell me what to do!" I exclaimed. "You can't possibly know what I need." I ran past Edward, calling unsuccessfully after Emmett as he dragged himself into the house.