55. a bittersweet story

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Adalina Salvatore

I was holding hand with death. A goodbye kiss away from the world of fucked ups. So many painful stories and even more blood. Tragic lived inside my veins and I now felt it fading between time.

I knew I was ceasing to exist. Dying. My whole body felt so light. It was almost as if I was floating in air. I wanted to let go of the pain, die, rest my eyes a little bit, sleep forever because this was peace. I had yearned for this moment since I could remember and it was finally here, at the tip of my fingers. I didn't have to fight anymore. No more blood. No more trauma and sufferings. A happily ever after.

But, his voice was in my ears, whispering sweet insults and demanding me to go back to him. I heard him and those words burned my soul with kiss more tormented than hell. His face. I never wanted to forget that face and the warmth of his touch.

He created a spark, just a little spark igniting inside my chest. It fought and shouted for life. I didn't want to die. Not yet, not now.

I had a million things to do. A kingdom to rule and a king to keep sane. I wasn't done falling in love but most of all I didn't think I had ever really lived.

An electrical shock struck through my chest, sending a string of bone quivering lightning to my bloodstream. I felt my heart jumped at the loud bang. My body jerked forward and suddenly every inches of my skin felt like it was pricked by a thousand pieces of broken glass. My inside was on fire as my guts wrenched in horrifying pain. There was so much pain I thought I was damned into the pit of hell. A sob tore out of my chest but no sound came out of my mouth while a wrecking siren rang inside my head like a permanent bell of death.

I heard panicked shoutings and people rushing everywhere around me. Beeping sounds and the sight of my own heartbeat being monitored above my head. Everything was a blurring jumbled of mess. My head span and I felt like throwing up blood. So weak. My body was breaking down. I was dying again. The world started to spin faster and I questioned the law of physics and the way gravity worked because I was falling, falling. Fading away, so far away. Where was Eden?

I held onto him with invisible grip and promised to love him in every lifetimes.

Then nothing. I felt my eyes rolled to back of my head.

Stuck between life and death. I was sitting at my piano in the middle of a blank canvas, burning pages of a bittersweet story with heart breaking tunes underneath my fingertips.

It had been a beautiful fight as soul wrenching as it was. Everything hit me all at once. I surrendered to the sickening fate of my story. I made peace with the destructions and never ending grief. I broke free from the years of self hatred and traumas as I finally let it brushed away through the ghostly wind. I looked back at the dried tears, my wasted blood and the scars carved on my skin from every breaking points and broke downs. I welcomed into my arms the lifelong sadness and pain that had always mixed inside my happiness one last time before letting go. I pardoned the strangers whom I shared blood and the deadly poison of their loves and betrayals. I didn't deserve it but the same time I understood. My aunt who played with my life and killed the only twos that mattered most to me for her cruel unfair faith in the royal court and Zach who loved me so much he was willing to die with me.

And, Thane. I owed it all to him. In another life, I would be the one to return the favor.

But, it was the story of me and Eden that was most saddening. He was there, I remembered it all too well. Eden Salvatore was the only best thing in my life. He shattered the last crack of my broken soul and protected every little pieces. He didn't try to fix me back together and I couldn't be more in love with the way he made me stronger and better. I wanted to kiss him a little harder and hug him a little tighter and never forget the way he felt against me.

Forever was supposed to be ours.

I choked hard. Sobbing at nothing and everything because this sucked. It was like a knife was being sliced into my chest, digging its blade and carving out my whole heart. A bitter bile stuck in my throat while my existence tore out, seeping into blank space turning into air. I screamed out my cries until my tears became blood and the shell of me broke in half.

A light shined into my eyes. So white, too bright. I went from crying at lost times straight into seeing nothing but shining light. Was I in heaven? I laid there and waited for my whole life to fade away into nothingness as I held onto the thoughts of him. Please, never let me forget the memory of him. Anything but him.

" Adalina, darling? " I felt his hand on the side of my face, cradling and caressing like I was the most precious thing on earth.

" Christ, you're awake. You're really fucking here. "

I blinked my tears away and snapped back from the emptiness I was experiencing. I cleared the blurriness of his face, hovering above me. I drank up the blue in his eyes, savoring the way he looked at me and the structure of cheekbones as if I was looking at him for the last time. I could as well be.

" I must really be in heaven. You look even more beautiful here. I'm going to miss you for eternity. " I croaked, trying to reach for him.

The muscle of his jaw ticked as he stared at me. He looked so in pain like someone was ripping his whole heart right out of his chest. His fingers trembled on skin as he brushed them across my cheek.

" Fuck. You almost died. You almost fucking died. I was going to die right with you. " he choked out a sob and I watched the strongest man I knew broke apart in front of me, for me.

I placed my palm over his cheek and he leaned into my touch. Tears wetting warmth skin. I almost jerked back from the feeling of it. My eyes widened the same time my heart pounded into my ribs. I dropped my hand to the side of his neck, feeling his pulse jumping under my fingers. I was not in heaven. I looked back at his face then let my hand fell to his chest where I felt his heart beating so loud I could hear the thunderstorm inside.

His fingers wrapped around my wrist and he brought my shaking hand to his mouth, kissing it. A tear slipped out of my eyes. I never died.

He looked at me like he couldn't believe I was really here. Scared to blink as if I would vanish the moment he took his eyes off of me. I saw the panic in his eyes and felt how scared he was.

" I thought I lost you forever. I thought I was never going to see those fucking eyes again. I missed you. " he said, kissing each of my fingers.

" I thought I was going to stuck in time alone forever. Dying is scary. You weren't with me. You're here now. " my bottom lip trembled and I didn't even try to fight back my sobs.

He gently lifted me off the bed I didn't realize I was on and wrapped his arms around me. One hand at the back of my head and the other running small circles over my waist. He buried his face in my hair and let out a sharp breath.

" I'm locking you in a fucking castle with me for the rest our lives. We're never getting out and no one's ever getting in. " he muttered.

I only noticed the IV hooked to my arms and the pain burning through my system a few seconds into the hug. I was in the middle of an explosion. I visibly winched as my surrounding kicked in. Hospital bed. Machines beeping. Blood bags and how exhausted he looked when we pulled back. I sat straighter up as he clicked on the bed remote, making it higher. He gestured me to lean back and took off the stethoscope around his neck then pressed it to my heart. I watched in silence, letting the second chance of life sank in. I was really alive through everything.

" I'm alive. " I whispered under my breath.

Eden put away his stethoscope and went over the chart beside my bed before ringing for my actual doctor. I was surprised he didn't treat me himself. It was definitely a new world I was coming back to.

" Salvatores are hard to kill, darling wife. " he said, leaning over to cup my cheeks.

He kissed my lips once, teasing the tip of his hot tongue on the seam of my mouth. " I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you so much, it's pathetic. "

" I would have gone to hell myself and brought you back. Because even the thought of living without you was so fucking stupid. "

Heaven. Pure bliss. I was one with the clouds.

Then he kissed me and it was only then that I was truly brought back to life. He kissed me like he was making a promise that he wasn't going anywhere and I was definitely not leaving him without his permission. The taste of his kiss and the salty tears sliding down our faces. I brought my hands up and wiped them away.

I realized how I didn't have to tear a hole through his ribcage to get to his heart after all.

Because he really fucking loves me. I tasted that love in my mouth and felt it in my fucking bones.

When he pulled away, coming up for air. He pressed his forehead against mine and everything disappeared. Just us.

" Don't ever leave me again. The world was really fucking dreadful without you, darling wife. " he said before going back for another kiss.

" We have been to hell and back, haven't we? " I smiled through my tears and the side of his lips curled up into his infamous ghost smile.

" No more sadness this time. I plan on keeping you happy until the end of time. "

***

November air chilled me down to the last string of my heart. I glanced over at the huge clock on the wall in front of me. Twenty minutes past three. The sky was already turning purple and pink outside the window beside my desk. I leaned my back into my chair and massaged my temples.

I groaned as I peaked through my eyelashes at the sight of the tall stacks of paperworks in front of me. I love my people and my country to death. But, this sucked so much even months after coming back to reality and the real world.

As if my discomfort was heard, my husband strolled through my door a minute later. He was already dressed for the new day. A nightmare black polo tucked into a pair of black slack. I trailed my eyes down his biceps to the silver Rolex around his veiny wrist. I married the hottest asshole. Point one for me and the people behind this marriage.

" You should be sleeping. You look horrible, Adalina darling. " he furrowed his eyebrows when he finally at my side, leaning down to kiss my forehead.

I scrunched my face at my husband. " I have a country to run and I do not look horrible. You're an ass, your highness. "

" You love me. " he pulled me up and took my seat before planting me on his laps.

I tucked my face between his neck, pressing a small kiss there. " I do love you. To hell and all the way back. "

It was a fact. We both knew that. I loved him when I was at death door and I still love him now, even more so. I had it bad but so did he.

" I love you. " he replied.

" More than Oreos? " I sighed heavily when he started rubbing my back.

Shaking his head, he let out an amused chuckle. " Not a chance. "

We sat in comfortable silence hidden behind the walls of our new home. I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking about everything and anything. We had made so far. Bloodbaths and heartbreaks to last me a lifetime. It stained my soul and his but it was a part of our story and I had made peace with it. Now it was time to finally live, a second chance at life. I wouldn't waste a moment of it.

His cologne filled my senses. The sound of his heartbeat in my ears and his warmth around me. This was the true peace. Him with me. Us.

I tilted my chin up and looked at the man who I thought was going to hate me forever for ruining his perfect world but ended up just as in love with me as I was with him. I stared at my other half and saw nothing but pure love.

" I'm never leaving you again. Not even death can do us part. " I whispered, tracing my finger on his jawline.

He tore his gaze away from my unfinished paperwork that he had picked up a few seconds ago and stared down at me.

" Forever. " he said.

" Me and you, against the world. " I whispered back.

" Me, you and our littlest pain in my ass. " he grinned, placing a hand over the small bump.

The End

A/N: a whole year of heartbreaks and pain. how many times did you cry? because i am crying. i am absolutely overwhelmed by all the loves and support. eden and addie are truly very well received. their story has been a royal roller coaster therefore a happily ever after is well deserved. do you think i could be that heartless?

i'm going to miss this couple so much.

thank you for sticking with me. i love everyone of you and couldn't wait for the adventures ahead. i could only hope that you will still be here by then, until next time my loves<3

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