Even If It Kills Us (On hold)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Birds sung a sweet melody, while the sun beamed down on Ember. In the distance children screamed, laughed, and played. She watched while sitting on the swing. It had been a week since her abortion. She felt sad, guilty, and depressed. Every day she wanted to be alone which was why she came to the park. She never wanted to be in the presence of her parents. They were trying to butter her up with gifts.

They got Ember the car she chose, a white Tesla, model X. That same day she went and got her license. It felt good to have her own car instead of asking for rides and taking an uber every time she needed to go somewhere.

They gave her money, a lot of it. Every dime they gave her, Ember put it in her savings. No matter what, she kept her job and still volunteered at the nursing home every now and then. They constantly went out to eat as a family and went shopping just about every night. They had even planned a vacation to make her happy again, yet nothing would change what they made her do.

Ember has not been to school for a week. Since it was Sunday, she would be returning tomorrow. Let the silly rumors begin. Those kinds of things didn't get to her, but the way that she felt would make her want to retaliate if she heard someone talking about her business.

A presence occupied the swing beside her. The scent of the familiar cologne that she loved so much filled her nose. She has not talked to him since that night. Just last night, he called her and said that he wanted to talk, face to face. Now here they were, sitting in an awkward silence.

Ember's eyes darted towards him. To her, he looked so good, yet there was a sadness in his eyes. Adonis had been staring across the field at the trees, gathering his words trying to figure out how to say them. He has been over this a million times in the car before he got there. Being in her presence caused him to lose his train of thought. He had never been so speechless before.

Maybe it was because he had not seen her in a few days, but she looked so beautiful with her hair natural hair up in a bun.

"How are you doing?" Adonis asked.

Their eyes met briefly but Ember looked away, "Could be better. What about you?"

"I'm straight. Look, Em..." Adonis paused. He could feel her eyes on him again. "I don't think that I can handle being threatened by your family..." Adonis paused again as he looked over at her.

"Adonis, I'm so sorry about everything..."

Adonis continued, "I don't fault you for any of this, Ember. This wasn't a good idea from day one." He wanted to get straight to the point. Sitting here with her was already risky enough. He refused to look her straight in the eyes.

"What are you saying?" Ember's voice cracked.

Adonis stood to his feet. He could hear the hurt in her voice, "I'm saying we should take a break, Em."

He finally looked over at her, and regretted it. Ember's eyes were filled with tears and her heart was crushed.

"A break." She says lowly. Ember was now up on her feet.

Adonis stepped to her and softly kissed her forehead. Ember only stepped back from him and wiped her tears away.

"What happened to never leaving no matter what happened?"

"Em I'm sorry but all of this is going too far." He tells her.

Ember stared up at him for a moment. She understood his reasoning. Being together was what they both wanted, yet they knew that it wasn't safe not unless her father was out of the picture. She still didn't want him out of her life completely. Ember had grown attached.