Page 182 of Through My Window
“As if I could forget you.” I smile against his lips.
“Promise me that this is not the end. That we’ll try until we can’t anymore, until all resources and means are exhausted, until we can say we have tried everything and still try a little further.”
“I promise.”
I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him. He kisses the side of my head.
“I love you so much, Witch.” His voice cracks slightly, and it breaks my soul.
“I love you, too, Greek God.”
When we part, he wipes away his tears quickly, and takes a deep breath.
“I’ve got to go.”
I just nod, tears sliding down my cheeks and falling from my chin.
“You’re going to be a great doctor.”
“And you’re going to be a wonderful psychologist.”
I can feel my face contort as I stifle my sobs. Ares says good-bye to Apolo, Artemis, and his parents. I walk with him toward the security gate. When we reach it, I stop and wipe away my tears.
“Let me know when you get there, okay?”
He nods and lets go of my hand. He joins one of the security lines, then he stops and walks quickly back to hug me one more time.
“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. You are the love of my life, Raquel, I love you.”
The sobs escape me, so I wrap my hands around his waist.
“I love you too,” my voice breaks. “I love you.”
“Please, let’s fight for this, I know it won’t be easy, I know there will be hard times, but . . . please don’t stop loving me.”
“You won’t . . . you won’t be able to . . . get rid of me so easily,” I tell him with a broken voice. When we separate, I see how red his face is, and the tears on his cheeks. “I promise you, I will always be your stalker.”
He runs his thumb across my cheek.
“And I’ll always be yours.”
I give him a confused look.
“I was stalking you, too, you silly witch.”
“What?”
“We never ran out of internet. I asked Apolo to pretend with me. It was my excuse to talk to you. You’ve always had my attention, Witch.”
I don’t know what to say, idiot Greek god, why did he choose this moment to tell me? Ares takes some bracelets out of his pocket, and I gasp when I recognize them. I made them a long time ago for a school fair, but I couldn’t manage to sell any until a boy bought them all. Had Ares sent that boy? Had he done that for me even when we weren’t speaking to each other? Ares puts a pair of the bracelets in the palm of my hand and closes it.
“You’ve always had my attention,” he repeats with feeling, and that only makes me cry even more.
“Ares . . .”
“I have to go.” He kisses my forehead. “I’ll let you know when I land. I love you.” He gives me a short kiss and disappears through the security door before I can regret not begging him to stay.
With my hand on the transparent windows of the airport, I watch his plane take off and disappear into the sky. I feel like a hole has opened in my heart and it will never close. Maybe it will heal, but the scar will always be there.
