Xavier
It's been a couple of weeks of me swinging by the hospital before and after dropping by the office. Riley's recovering pretty well. She's even able to converse with us when we visit her. Riley's been complaining non-stop about spending her days in hospital, but what else can we do?
"Aren't you leaving for work?" Riley asks as I peel her apple.
"Of course, I will. Right after I finish peeling this for you."
"Oh, please. I know you just can't have enough of me."
I chuckle to that. "Here you go."
I pass the plate of the apple pieces to her with a folk to use. She offers me some, but I refuse.
I clear my throat. "Riley, why did we ever break up?"
"What?"
"I wanna hear your reason. I can't help but think otherwise."
"You really wanna do this?" She scoffs, placing the plate to the side.
"I wanna know."
She sighed. "I know you were blaming me for what happened, Xavi."
"What? Of course, not!"
"You're just saying that. I couldn't bear being on the receiving end of your disappointment or hatred. I just couldn't."
"Riley, I promise you right now, that's not what I thought or felt. Trust me."
"... but it was my fault!" She stifles her sobs.
"No, it wasn't." I pull her to my arms, reassuring her.
"Yes, it was. If I wasn't stubborn that day, then I wouldn't have lost our baby." Her sobs broke my heart. I didn't know she felt this way. If only I had checked up on her at that time.
"It wasn't your fault, baby. Please, don't ever think that way. It was an accident, not your fault."
Riley hides her face in my chest, breaking down even more. I guess she really needed to hear this from me.
I really became distant after losing our baby in that car accident 5 years ago. I was trying to get over the grief of losing our baby that I didn't check up on Riley, more like I should've. We were just 19 at the time, a year from graduating college, and the loss of our baby hit us really hard.
It took a couple minutes of holding and reassuring Riley before she eventually calmed down.
"So, all this time, I got it all wrong?"
"Yeah, but I'm glad that we talked it out today."
"I am too."She sniffles.
I chuckle. She looks at me in confusion.
"You're just so adorable." She shook her head, a smile forming on her lips.