Edoardo stood in front of her room, he'd been trying to get her out of that room for weeks, at least to make her step into the light a bit, but it was all in vain.
No matter what he said, no matter how he said it, she never even responded back, more or less left her room.
Nothing hurt the man more than to see his little girl like this, he wished to hate Zeno for doing this to her, but he just couldn't. He wished to put the blame on him, but he knew Zeno was not to blame, the man was in no good shape either.
Even though he tried to hide it, Edoardo knew how close they both were, so he knew how much Zeno was hurting too, so he just couldn't blame him. If anyone was to blame, he'd blame himself.
He felt guilty for this, for this misery that both her and Zeno are in, he as the father should never have agreed to this in the first place.
If he hadn't agreed to the scheme, maybe this distance between them would not exist, maybe she'd still be running around like his feisty princess, and not laying down like a dead body all the time.
But there was no use in crying over spilt milk…
"Luna, my love… I brought you lunch, my dear." All he could do now was try his best to ignite that fire in her once again, and hope and pray that she'd pick herself up and be the strong and confident young woman that she was.
"Luna, darling… I know you're not asleep." He starts, placing the tray of food on the shelf next to her bed, and sitting next to her on the bed, her back turned to him.
"Listen, hmm… I don't know what happened between you and Zeno on that island, but my love, I know that you are a strong woman, you're not the type of person who would let anyone drag you down. No matter what happened, Luna, you are still my princess," he strokes her hair gently.
"And you are brilliant, and beautiful, and bold, and my pride, and if Zeno doesn't see the kind of woman you have become, if Zee doesn't realize how precious you are, if he doesn't see the golden girl standing right in front of him, well then it's his loss for being blind."
"So, pick yourself up, eat as much as you want, you never grow fat anyway," he could swear he heard a muffled chuckle escape her lips, but decided not to dwell on it.
"Go shopping, get some new designs, buy some killer boots" He heard it again, that muffled chuckle, and he saw a glint of hope this time around, maybe he could finally get her to leave this room today.
"And besides, I miss my partner. I've been dressing funny to gatherings, since I don't have anyone to pick out the perfect attire for me. Maria does a lousy job in picking out suits… just don't tell her I said so." This time she mutters some words amidst clenched teeth, and he did not need to hear her scream to understand what she might have said, she was probably just mocking him.
"So maybe tonight, you can do me the honor of helping me pick out a perfect outfit… and if you are up for it, I'd like it a lot if my partner comes with me."
"You can't stay locked up forever Luna, no one is worth that much time from anyone… Wallowing away like this won't undo what has already been done, but learning to pick yourself up after a huge blow is all that counts. So pick yourself up, and show that foolish man what he has lost." He pats her on the head once more, placing a kiss on the side of her head, before walking out.
As the door clicked close, her eyes fluttered open, ``So pick yourself up, and show that foolish man what he has lost… the words resonated in her ears. But what could she do, she didn't have the courage to pick herself up, nor the zeal to make him suffer for what he said to her.
He'd broken every ounce of braveness inside of her. Lazily, she lets her lashes fall over her eyes once again, covering herself up to her head, sinking into the warm but lonely comfort of her bed. She was never getting out of this misery… never…
*BANG* The sound of her door being suddenly kicked open caused her to jolt up from her bed, only to see Nanny Maria walking into the room, looking like she had a score to settle with her. The old woman could be scary if she wanted to be.
Luna's eyes trailed after the woman as she walked towards the curtains and yanks it open, causing Luna to hiss and cringe like a vampire thrown into sunlight, then she moves over to the next window and and yanks that one wide open too, fully illuminating the room, and blinding Luna who had not seen the sun for weeks.
"Nanny Maria!" She yelled, wanting to ask what the hell the woman thought she was doing, wanting to scream at the Old woman and shove her out of her room, but all that left her lips was the name of the woman, because the look in the woman's eyes sent every single word down her throat.
"N_Nanny, what are you doing?" The voice was lower this time, much more humble than defying, clenching on to the sheets for life.
"I know you don't want to hear me say this, but I told you so… I told you to prepare for anything at all, if you were gonna do this, it could go how you wanted it to, or it could go wrong, and you insisted on doing it first and facing the consequences later. So face it!"
It was clear that she wasn't here to butter her up like her father just did, Maria wasn't here to try and reason with her, but to call out her mistakes, and her wrongs, and force her to take responsibility for them.
"If you're going to live like someone who is dead, then just die. You have guns in every corner of your room, just pick one up and end your life if you think it's so miserable." The woman deadpans, moving closer to Luna, causing the lady to lean back with fear…
Yes, she lost courage to do anything, but not once did she think of ending her own life… she loved herself too much to do something that stupid. She wasn't suicide crazy... No.
"If you're not going to kill yourself, then get your spoilt white butt up from that bed and be yourself. The man you're brooding over is out and about every single day, he's doing his business like he always does, he goes out with different women every night, and you're wasting away in your room for someone who doesn't even think of you."
For some reason, she hadn't paid much attention to the fact that she was the only one who was suffering, she had not thought about the fact that he was probably drowning himself in drinks and women as usual while she stayed locked up inside her room like a sinner…
But now that Maria said this, something inside of her boiled, something ticked inside of her like a time bomb.
For some reason she had expected him to suffer a bit, he always said he cared about her, at least he said he loved her like his sister, so she had expected that he'd be in a little pain too, she had expected that the distance between them would at least cause him some discomfort, but he was still the same?
The thought of him being surrounded by various women made her skin crawl, she wished to murder them all, every woman who dared laid a hand on him, and then him too, for being happy without her, for not suffering like she was suffering…
"Locking yourself up inside your room won't change a thing. It hurts, I know that. So cry if you want to cry, but do it once and for all, think about everything hurtful, everything that tears your heart apart, then think about the good things, and then let it all out, cry your heart out, cry over everything single thing, but do it all at once. So that when next you think of that thing, or that person, you won't even have any tears left to cry. Your eyes will be as clear as day, and your life goes on."
"Oh nanny Maria" she suddenly burst into tears, "h_h_he ca__ca__called me disgusting," she gurgled, choking sobs escaping her quivering lips.
"That's it my child, go on, let it all out. There's no use holding it in" Maria encourages, moving closer to her, stroking her hair gently.
"h__he called me cheap__ me… Nanny Maria, me__he called me cheap," she stutters, tears now trailing down her red eyes nonstop as she gasped and sniffed, "he said I was nothing more than a prostitute… Maria, DK called me Luna, a prostitute__ He said I made him sick"
She cried even more, holding onto Maria with all her might, crying her heart out into the warm and comforting bosom of the woman who hushed and cradled her like she would her own child.
And Luna cried, taking in all the harsh words he had thrown at her, reminiscing on the good times they both had, dwelling on both the good and bad memories like Maria told her to, and she cried, and cried, and cried until the tears came no more.