Forever After All

by Catharina Maura

And that’s where the danger lies… Elena makes me want to give her the world.

There’s no shame in loving someone with all your heart, Elena, but that love must be mutual. If you end up giving more of yourself than you get back, you’ll end up a shell of yourself, depleted, like I was. Had I walked out sooner, I might have had a different life. Who knows? I might have actually found true love.” I stare at her, my thoughts whirling. “Even after everything that happened, you still seem to believe in love.” Mom nods. “It’s not love that did this to me, honey. It’s the absence of love.”

“Honey, a life without love isn’t a life worth living. Besides, you don’t get to choose whether or not you love someone. If only. How much easier would life be if we could just make that choice? Love… it doesn’t listen to reason.”

“I’ve spent my entire life loving people that didn’t love me back. I won’t do it again. I won’t. Not even for you.”

The best things in life are worth waiting for.”

“You always ask me about three good things that happened during my day, but baby, everything good in my life is you. The three best things to have happened in my entire life were meeting you, marrying you… and falling in love with you.”

All I know is that I love you. I would rather spend a year with you than a lifetime without you.

A better man would have walked away by now, but I never claimed to be a good man. All I claim to be is yours.

“Elena, what do you want me to say? I’m at a loss here. I love you. I love you with my entire fucked up heart. I love you, okay? Does it hurt to know you’ve been with someone else when you’re the only thing I can think of? Yes. It fucking does. You cheated on me by going on that date and whatever the fuck else you’ve done, because whether you like it or not, you’re still my goddamn wife. Despite that, I’d take you back in a fucking second, because I fucking love you!”

“I love you, Elena. I don’t even know when it happened. I wanted you to be mine from the second I laid my eyes on you at Inferno. It started off as mere possessiveness, and before I knew it, you had me enthralled. You stole my heart day by day, and I didn’t even realize it. I didn’t realize that you fucking own me, until you left.”