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𝚂𝙸𝚇 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁𝚂 𝙰𝙶𝙾

"Will you guys be gone for long? You won't take long, right daddy?" the young girl asked her father, sadness clouding her face. She didn't want them to leave. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with her strict mother.

"Your sister and I will be back before you know it Millie, pinky promise." he gave his nine year old daughter a promising look, wrapping his pinky around hers. Millie glanced at their fingers, then back to his eyes, before nodding slightly in agreement.

"Okay. . . but will you promise to bring something back from Chicago for me?" she asked, a silly grin forming on her face.

Ruffling her hair, her father grinned with her. "Of course, don't tell Candace though." he whispered the latter in her ear.

"Don't tell me what? You know you can't prank me on an airplane without Millie, Dad." Candace smirked, eyeing the two suspiciously.

"What are you talking about Candace? We weren't doing anything, right daddy?" Millie asked her father, attempting to hide her smile and failing.

"Mhm, right," she rolled her eyes. "Dad we have to leave soon, or else we'll miss our flight."

"Can you stay a little more? Please, just for five more minutes daddy?" Millie pleaded.

Please. Please don't leave me.

They stayed for five more minutes. Only five minutes. Millie never thought those would be the most precious five minutes of her life. Ever.

It was the last time she ever saw them.

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𝙿𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝙳𝙰𝚈

"She hates me. She doesn't even acknowledge me. I'm dead to her." my cousin complained, running a hand through his messy dark hair. He had not been doing well in the 'self-care' department.

"You broke up with her. What did you expect, a parade?" I countered, rolling my eyes. Boys expect girls to come rushing back to them, like we depended on them. Idiots.

"I don't know. . . I just didn't think she would ghost me. Lena wouldn't do that." he shook his head. At this point, he was convincing himself of it, more than he was convincing me.

I sighed, shrugging. "Then it looks like you don't really know Lena as much as you think you did."

Cole didn't respond, but simply sat in silence on my carpeted floor. I never really understood what he was going through under that shell. I pitied him of course, but he wrote his own fate. I couldn't help him with a fire he started, all I could do was put more gas into the flame.

"Why did you do it Cole? Why did you do this to yourself?" I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to see through the shell he was hiding in.

More silence.

"What really happened Cole? Answer me."

"Does it matter? It's over." he snapped, raising his voice. I flinched from his voice, but quickly recovered, not surprised from his reaction. I expected it from him. I pushed him to the edge, and that's what I'm good at.

"I can help you, I'm your cousin. But only if you let me." I suggested slowly. I wanted him on the edge, but not over it. He needed me, and we both knew that.

"You don't understand, this is more than some petty excuse for a breakup Millie. I can't just tell you." his expression hardened. The Cole I knew was not the same person sitting in my bedroom.

"So tell me. Tell me what I 'don't understand'. I'm genuinely curious what excuse is so important, that you have to make a whole damn scene about it." I spat. I had enough of this.

"I can't. That's what you don't understand."

"If I can't help you then leave," I looked away from him, ashamed and embarrassed for a reason I couldn't point to. "Apparently, I'm not of good use to you."

He didn't speak. All he gave me was a single nod of acknowledgement, and he was out my bedroom door.

I felt strange. Cole wasn't the type of person to hide anything, especially from me. I was his anchor, as he was mine. When the most important people in my life were stolen from me, he stood by me. He stayed through the long nights of tears, and mood swings. I wouldn't be here without him. It hurts to see that you can't help the person you love. Especially when that person knew how to help you.

All I knew was that his former girlfriend broke him. They broke each other. They started a wildfire between themselves. And look where it got them. Hell.

But I was a curious freshman then. And when I wanted to know the answer to something, I was going to get it. Under any circumstances.

What I should've known then, was that nothing good came out of a curious girl, sticking her nose into places they shouldn't be.

Too late.

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MIKA'S NOTE :

this chapter is way over do! sorry for the wait. hope you all liked the new chapter, & don't forget to vote & comment :)

( great time to post a chapter mika. one am. is so ideal. )