88. Girl with Long Hair

“I am sorry, baby.” Dakota whispers huskily against my skin.
My heart clenches, and tears escape my lashes, feeling the pain of wounds he has bestowed upon me. They are still fresh, open, and bleeding.
*And a sorry won’t fix them.*
“No.” My voice cuts through the air like a knife.
His lips freeze on my shoulder, and I feel the rapid thuds of his heart beating against my back, like he is shit scared of something.
Dakota slowly unlocks our fingers and reaches for my waist, turning me around. His feet brushes against mine as he slowly gets above me.
Carefully, he supports himself on his elbow, slowly letting me feel his weight, while he makes me face him.
Green eyes which were once filled with fire and flames, now stare back at me with a watery gaze, utterly broken.
I glare back with wetness in my own eyes.
“I am so sorry..” Dakota whispers, his voice heavy with regret.
My chest tightens in response and I look away from his teary eyes which pleads me for forgiveness.
An intense look of sadness takes over him, as he lowers his head, keeping above mine. His lips graze my jaw as once again he begs me in his deep, broken voice.
“Emara.. Please, baby.” His another hand is still in my hair, gently stroking my scalp.
I shake my head, mentally locking my heart in invisible chains, and daring not to feel anything for him.
“I.. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” His voice cracks, and I see my vision getting blur with tears.
I gulp down the guilt feelings for him, which are somehow burping up and remind myself that he doesn’t deserve any sympathy from me.
Dakota’s weight presses down on me as he hugs me like his favorite toy.
“Please, trust me.” He begs for an understanding, and hides his face into the crook of my neck, hugging me even tighter.
My lungs barely work under him, yet my body doesn’t complain.
“I-I just.. wanted to know what he said to you that made you cr-ry.” His voice trembles with the burden of his emotions, but nothing passes through me.
I stay still like a *Stone*, absorbing his sobs and pleas silently, while he cries taking me in his arms.
“I couldn’t stand to see you cry, Emara. I swear I just wanted to know what he said that made you cry, before I go punch him myself.”
His chest vibrates with a mixture of anger and regret, and he pulls me even closer, trying really hard to make me understand his side.
“You were never a game for me, baby.” Dakota whispers lowly, lifting his face to me.
His eyes, which always shine with pride and arrogance, are now staring down at me with full of fear, full of tears, and full of sadness.
“I liked you since.. that party night, and I knew you were with Ryan, so I was just waiting patiently for him to fuck up and leave, so I could get into the picture and ask you out, hoping you would agree to go on a date with me.”
His teary gaze lock into mine, pleading for me to understand, to see the depth of his feelings, which he kept hidden all this time.
“But I fucked up.” Dakota closes his eyes with grief, and when he opens them, I see the most saddest version of greens in them.
He raises his hand and caresses my face with a delicate touch. I never thought he would be capable enough to treat me so gentle, as if I am utmost fragile and will break into pieces right in his hands.
“God, I shouldn’t have treated you this way.”
Dakota sighs deeply, his voice is edged with sorrow as he presses his forehead against mine and stares at me with melancholy gaze.
“The girl I liked the most.” Green eyes darken with regret as he confesses to me.
But from inside, I feel an unsettling coldness that refuses to warm up by his words.
His thumb softly grazes my cheeks as he pleads with his eyes, begging me to forgive him. Yet, I do not let anything pass through my heart.
Tingles emerge from his touch as he gently strokes his thumb on my lips, and gazes down at them with a deep thirst in his eyes.
Dakota licks his lips.
My lips part, and I take a shaky breath as he lowers his face. Our noses brush against each other and he stays there for a moment, thinking, staring, breathing..
I feel his heart thrashing violently on top of my chest as he slowly inches his lips closer to mine.
The same lips he vowed never to touch mine.
“I am so sorry, baby..” Warm breath caresses my lips as he apologizes to me ruefully, before leaning in for a kiss.
“Stop.” My voice slices through the air like a double-edged Katana.
Dakota stops, his heart beats even stops, as if my words have cut him too deep.
“It’s past twelve. The seventh day has already ended.” I tell, looking him in the eye fiercely. “I am no more your *whore*.”
Green eyes reflect a raw, earnest sadness, as if I have brutally stabbed his last glimmer of hope, not believing what I said.
But I am not going to back down now.
In the name of love, I have stooped too low and sacrificed fragments of my body until there is nothing left.
*But not anymore..*
“Emara.. You mean so much to me, baby.” Dakota whimpers, his eyes brimming with tears as he begs me like I have begged him countless times for my dignity.
“I am so sorry for everything I have done to you, knowing and unknowingly. All this time I thought you framed me for Ryan, and *God!* I have been so foolish, treating you so badly under the influence of my anger.”
His voice quivers with regret, and a fear which even rattles his dark side.
Yet, I do not move, or let my heart move from the firm decision I made.
I am done being a bait between these two men who treated me nothing more than a toy to play with.
*Enough is Enough!*
“Please, baby..” A tear trickles down his emerald orbs, a desperate plea to let go of my anger.
“I-I won’t even touch you again without your permissio-”
“Just. Leave. Me. Alone.” I cut him off and grit every word laced with despise.
“Please, Emara.” Dakota looks to me with vulnerable eyes, begging for mercy, just like I was staring at him on that first day when he ordered me to strip.
He showed me no mercy then.
Instead, he ruthlessly stripped me down, all to decorate his ego.
He didn’t care for my pleas, and today, I won’t care for his.
I coldly stare back at his teary eyes and order him heartlessly, “Leave.”