“It was a nice idea. I already had a red bow to tie around it’s neck so it would be a complete surprise.” Her gaze drifted to the cement chip he had kicked away from the two of them, repeating his words deep into her mind for a few moments. Of course, it was true. He would’ve spent hours and hours playing and cuddling the kitten, she would playfully pretend to be jealous and they would all end up curled up and happy, probably sleeping and waking up to the fur rubbing against her nose and making her sneeze. “Probably. My duplex was big enough for the two of us. But in reality I guess I would’ve taken anywhere.” It wasn’t a confession, because they knew it was true. She wasn’t ashamed of saying such things. Because he was already aware of them. He had taken it all with him.
His following question dropped a weight in her chest, her teeth sinking in her bottom lip and her cheeks flushing. What would it take? What would be needed? Ariella’s big green eyes found his own to settle, as she remained silent for a moment, to search for the right words. She had a billion words to choose from, she could tell him so much. Yet, when the time was there - she lost them all. They wouldn’t pour from her mouth and her eyes wouldn’t leave his. “I-I…” Bottom lip trembled, as she tried to bring herself to talk. “Trust.” The word came alone, and made no sense to whoever heard it from afar - but it was real, and it carried so much meaning behind it. Like peeling off a bandaid, after all this time. She said it.
“I would need to trust you again. I-I don’t want to feel like the fact you are here is not even real, because I got s-so used to the idea of you leaving me, that I feel you would do it again. Right now, if needed. I-I would need to… Not feel like you don’t even w-want me! Like y-you are only talking to me right now out of pity!”
Trust. It was the one thing that had fallen apart and took everything else with it. The moment Levi had left, he’d shattered the trust she had in him and there was nothing that would stay together after that. Even if he’d come back sooner, it would have been too late. Trust was hard to earn from someone and now Levi was facing the near impossible of getting the trust she had in him back. But hearing that she still thought he didn’t want to be with her made Levi upset. He didn’t want her to think that when he was ready to get down on his knees and beg her to take him back. Levi reached out, hands cupping either side of Ariella’s face and never wavering in his eye contact with her.
“I will never not want you. I wouldn’t be talking to you out of pity, Ariella. I want to talk to you, I want to hang out with you, I want to be with you every moment that I can. This... this whole thinking I don’t want you needs to stop. I love you and I’ll spend every day proving that you can trust me if that’s what it takes to get you back.”
















