Tutoring My Ex

25 | Rainbow

[ DELLA'S POV ]

With a towel wrapped around my persistently damped hair, I made my way into the living room where Luca should be waiting.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked as I finally caught sight of his broad shoulders.

However, the boy was too busy paying attention to whatever that was in front of him. His hunched figure having blocked the item, I could not properly view what was so attractive that it made him disregard my presence.

I did a full circle around him and that was when my eyes landed on it. 

They say that the strongest link to sparking a memory was through one of the six senses - not smell, taste or touch, not even sound, but sight. Looking at this influenced me to recall my family, at least the happy version of us.

A photograph.

Luca clutched the solid wooden frame tight in his hand, able to see a reflection of his face in the glass that covered it. He looked past his own eyes, dreary in comparison, and stared upon my childlike face that had been caught in a moment of perfection. It was the happiest memories that hurt the worst, they were the ones that cut the deepest and had the most impact. I was focused on his eyes, his reaction to that captured moment of me with my family that appeared to be a polar opposite of the present. Those brown eyes shined with the twinkle of laughter. Now, they laughed at me. They reminded me of what I once had. 

It reached the point where it was unbearable and I snatched the photograph out of his hold.

Why was it there anyway?

Worse, who put it there? It served no purpose but a mockery to us.

I clutched the frame tight, pressing it hard to my breasts wishing it could disappear in my arms. It was at that moment I realised the reason I never introduced Luca to my family much less brought him here.

I was embarrassed.

Utterly ashamed of my lifestyle that no longer had a small chance of matching his.

Luca's blue eyes focused on my own, they were swimming with regret.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to pry..."

He bit down into his lower lip, the action distracting me for a second.

I sighed. There was no reason to get mad at him. This was not his fault anyway.

"It's fine." I said, putting back the frame to its original spot, only this time it was faced downwards.

He looked at it with a frown. 

My eyes caught sight of other frames lingering around the same area. I couldn't help displaying my surprise at them. 

When did mom have the leisure of doing all of this? She was barely even making it to work on time, unless...no way. He wouldn't spend his time doing something so meaningless to him.

I went to dish out the same treatment to the rest of the pictures. My harsh intentions were stopped by a warm hand slipping into my own.

Pulled to stand in front of him, Luca moved his hand to rest on my hips instead as he whispered, "Do you want to talk about it?"

A lump formed in my throat at the tenderness of his voice.

"No."

"Are you sure?" He prodded carefully.

My eyes fluttered shut. His chest was a form of support for the back of my head while I melted into his sweet embrace.

"That one on the bike, with me wearing a cast around my foot..." I gave him time to find the one I was talking about.