Page 62 of Between Love & Ruin

I shoot them a small text saying that I am not leaving before I call the one person I need the most at the moment.

Dominic.

* * *

“Sienna?” Dominic’s worried voice reaches me, and instantly my guard falls down. A tear slips down my left eye, and I hurriedly wipe it away. I don’t want to be a sobbing mess in public but the moment he takes my name, another tear follows.

“Sienna, what’s wrong? Did you not board your flight?”

“No,” I say. “I didn’t. Someone clicked our photos, Dominic. I don’t know why, and it was so misconstrued. It was such a mess the moment I reached the airport. Mark and I got into an ugly argument. He said I was cheating on him and so much more, and I just broke up with him, and it was such a mess, I don’t even—”

“Sienna,” he cuts me off. “Take a deep breath or you will faint like this. Where are you? I will come and get you.”

“No,” I say, swallowing my tears and forcing myself to calm down. “I am on my way to your place. I didn’t know where to go. I had checked out of my hotel, and I didn’t want to go to Laura & Summer’s place yet. But if you want, I can ask Aisha to stay in her room for the night—”

“Don’t. I want to be with you right now, Sienna. Please come home to me.”

“Okay,” I nod, trying to regulate my breathing. I don’t even know why I am feeling this heavy and having such a huge meltdown, but I just… I just need to be with him right now. Because I know I will feel okay with him.

“I am waiting for you, Sienna. Come home and I promise I will fix everything.”

I nod absentmindedly, forgetting that he can’t see me right now.

“Do you want me to stay on call with you?”

Hell yes.

But I don’t want to come off as dependent. I know he might not care, but deep down, I do. Dominic has seen me in the most vulnerable states of my life. And I know he doesn’t care, but it scares me how fast my guard falls down in front of him.

It scares me how easily he can fix my life. How easily he can lift my mood.

Most of all, it scares me how quickly I am falling for him.

I have spent many years of my life trying to fall for a man, trying to fix a relationship that never had a future. Even if I try to pretend that I got over it a long time ago, the pain still affects me. But the truth is, that relationship has left marks too deep in my soul.

And I don’t think Dominic deserves that in his life. He has been nothing but pure to me and if by any chance, I ruin what we are starting to build, then I will not be able to forgive myself.

“No,” I say, slowly, chewing on my lip so hard that I draw blood. “No. I think I need to sit alone with my thoughts as well. I will let you know once I reach your place.”

“Okay,” he says, softly. His voice caresses my soul. “I will be here whenever you need me. Come home. I am waiting for you.”

Dominic Wolfe

Ipace around in my room with my phone in my hand. I have never known anxiety in my life. Never put so much attention or value in something that I let it override my conscience.

But the moment Sienna hung up on me, all that I have known, all that I have felt, is this hollowing pit in my stomach. I have been walking through a daze ever since I got to know that she was leaving.

I knew this day would come, but I didn’t expect it to arrive so soon, especially when we had just started growing close to each other. I love my personal space and alone time, but ever since I have met Sienna, all I have wanted is for her to be around me.

I need her by my side even if we are not speaking to each other.

My eyes stop on the sticky note that I have put on my mirror. Every day I would see this and think, ‘I will ask her the meaning behind these words,’ and every day I have forgotten everything I wanted to tell her the moment my eyes landed on her.

It is a quote from her book that I find myself looking at randomly all the time. I wanted to know the meaning and the context behind it but never found the right opportunity.

“Love in today’s world has the strange power to make you aabad and barbaad in the same breath.”

I stare at the words, wondering what would be going through her mind when she wrote this and what meaning it holds for her.