AT HIS MERCY BOOK 2!!!
The hum of the jet was soft and constant, the low vibration filled the silence Yalda had brought with her. She hadn't made a sound since she got in the jet, and the depressing silence from the penthouse seemed to have clung to her.
Loki sat curled beside her on the seat, his head rested on her thigh comfortingly. Every now and then, he’d look up at her, as if checking that she was still there, still hanging on. She stroked his fur absentmindedly, her mind was occupied with so many thoughts at the moment yet she couldn't even focus on a single one.
She had barely slept last night, she'd lay awake all through the night thinking of everything; the fact that she was leaving the penthouse felt like leaving Alexander, it ached her soul, and then the fact that she was going back to Ioannis after everything. She didn't know what to make of that.
Now, the sky stretched endlessly ahead, it was still dark but day was beginning to break. She may have left the penthouse but she sure as hell hadn't left her grief behind, her chest still felt heavy and she was fighting back the urge to break down and cry about everything.
The attendant had offered tea, but she’d barely touched it. Her throat felt too tight and her mouth tasted like ashes.
At first, she’d tried to keep her thoughts still, to stare blankly out the window and think of nothing; probably make out patterns in the clouds and all. But memories had a way of creepy in even when you didn't want them to.
She recalled the first time she met Alexander. How good he'd looked, how drawn to him she'd been, how he'd fucked her that night. And then how he’d mistaken her for a thief the next morning.
Yalda blinked quickly, the tears were beginning to prickle her eyes and it was hard to hold them back. She could almost hear his voice, almost recall how he'd made her a deal to stick around.
She couldn't believe so much time had gone by, she could believe he had gone by with time. The thought caused her soul to ache even more.
She turned to look out the window once more, probably to distract hereself or something. But the next memory came creeping in. She recalled the quiet mornings after a night of heated sex, how he'd join her in the shower and massage her stiff muscles gently before they headed to the office.
How she'd serve hi coffee and donuts at the office and insist he ate because he barely ever ate anything. How had she not realized he'd been unwell then? How had she not seen it? All the nosebleeds, the headaches.
Her heart clenched painfully, so much that she almost couldn't bear it.
He'd lived a long time being unwell and traumatized, and perhaps he could have gotten better if he had been kinder to himself.
The cabin lights dimmed slightly, and she let her head rest against the seat. She bit her lip hard, trying to stop the trembling, but it was no use.
The tears she'd been holding back slipped down her cheeks slowly at first, then faster, until she couldn’t stop. She clamped her palm over her mouth to muffle the sounds but it was no use as well, the sound of her crying filled the cabin. Loki whimpered softly and climbed into her lap, licking her fingers as he tried to comfort her.
“I miss him,” she whispered, her voice cracking. She wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or to Loki. “I miss him so much.”
The attendant quietly pretended not to notice, handing her a tissue as she passed by. Yalda murmured a thank you, it was truly all she could do.
It wasn’t just grief that consumed her at this point, it was guilt. The guilt of still being alive when he wasn’t, the guilt of even attempting to move on, the guilt of knowing there was another man waiting for her in Greece, someone who could potentially take the ache away.
But the ache was what kept her tethered to him. She felt like the ache made everything real, it reminded her of him all the time.
She closed her eyes, forcing the tears back.
She was going back to ioanis and she didn't even know what to do or how to be around him. She thought about the way he had looked at her the funeral, the strength she'd felt from just seeing him. She thought about the way he had always known when to pull her back from herself, to stop her from drowning in her misery.
She remembered their time together before she had returned to Alexander, she recalled how he'd healed her; how he'd gathered every broken piece of her and pieces them back together but by bit until she'd been whole again.
A shuddering breath left her at the thought of healing. The logical part of her knew healing was what she needed, yet the other didn't want to heal, it wanted to mourn Alexander forever.
The rest of the flight blurred between tears and memories , she drifted in and out of a rather restless sleep, one in which she still dreamed of Alexander.
By the time the pilot’s voice came through, her throat felt raw and her eyes felt swollen.
“We’ll be landing in Santorini shortly." He announced.
She looked out the window. Below, the Aegean shimmered like liquid glass, the islands scattered like pearls against the blue. It was beautiful, breathtaking, and familiar, yet she felt nothing at all.
The jet touched down smoothly and the hum that had filled the silence quieted.
When the door opened, sunlight spilled inside along with air that carried the faint scent of sea salt. Yalda reached for her sunglasses, slipping them on to hide her puffy and red eyes.
Her legs felt weak when she stood, almost unsteady. She had to keep herself upright though. She made her way out of the jet and down the stairs with Loki trailing after her, and then she saw him.
Ioannis...
He stood near the hangar, his tall frame outlined against the sun. He wore a white shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, his dark hair brushed back in its usual quiet perfection. There was something timeless about him; he hadn't changed since the last time she saw him.
Their gazes held, her heart slowed, and for a moment she didn't know what to do.
And in that instant, the weight of the past three months pressed into her chest so sharply she almost couldn’t breathe. Everything inside her began to tremble till she could hardly breathe, and she knew that she might have a breakdown if she didn't pull herself together.
Ioannis didn’t move right away. He simply watched her, his own eyes were covered by his shades but she could almost picture how his eyes were fixed on her.
And when she finally got to him, neither of them spoke. The silence between them stretched, it was filled with everything that didn’t need to be said. Ioannis reached out and brushed a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen from beneath her sunglasses, his thumb lingered against her skin, and his touch reminded her of everything she had somehow forgotten.
“Welcome back, Yalda.” he said softly.
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