"Are they fine with you being around me now?" she asked him. She knew that it was years later, and he was an adult, but did his control change in that amount of time?
She didn't even know how all of that worked. At a time, did he want to drink from her?
She almost felt like that was too personal of a question to ask him.
Elias nodded.
"I'm older now. I've shown them how much control I have over myself," he told her before looking over at her. "I'm back."
His words made Alyssa's heart pound heavily. She realized that they were free to get back together if they both wanted to.
But did she want that? Did she need that? Deep down, she had feelings for him that refused to go away, but she had created a new life for herself here that didn't involve him. She didn't know what to do.
"Well… thank you for telling me everything," Alyssa told him, trying to gather herself as she stood up from the bench.
She needed to get away from him before she did something stupid.
Because she would now that she realized he hadn't been some jerk that dumped her out of the blue.
She wished that she had notice, but he couldn't exactly tell her why he had to leave.
Elias gave her a surprised look, not expecting her to hurry off the bench.
"Of course. You're right. You deserve to know," he said as he stood up.
Alyssa nodded, giving him a faint smile. She felt a little bad about trying to skip out so fast when he was being kind, but she felt emotionally vulnerable right now.
He had been right when he told her that leaving was the best decision for them at the time.
Everything was flipped upside down, and she didn't want to get too close as they spilled their truths to one another.
"I should go. There's a lot to think about," she said.
"Can I give you my number in case you want to reach out again?" Elias asked her.
Alyssa handed him her phone, feeling her nerves soar again at the thought of seeing him again.
There had been a shift between them, but she still didn't want to get too close. She was terrified of losing the great life that she had worked so hard to achieve. She wanted to move forward, not back.
Elias typed his number into her contacts before handing her phone back.
"Call me anytime," he told her with a hopeful look on his face.
Alyssa nodded again before turning and heading back the way that they came. She wanted to look back at him so badly.
Unable to help herself, she glanced over her shoulder, but he was nowhere to be seen.
*********
Once Alyssa reached her apartment, she tried everything in her power not to panic over everything that she just learned.
Every thought that she used to have about Elias and their breakup was flipped upside down.
It only took one piece of information to change everything, and it gave her a bit of whiplash.
She went from being so angry with him and being so sad about their breakup to understanding the circumstances and not hating him anymore.
How could she hate him when things were out of their control? His parents wanted to make sure that he didn't tear her throat out.
He was young, and she didn't know how much he struggled with controlling himself. Maybe that was the right call. Maybe that saved her life.
There was still a lot that she didn't know, especially about his family, but his parents didn't seem too bad.
They just seemed protective over their son and indirectly protective over her safety too.
She wondered how they felt about Elias being around her now. It was certainly a shock to her.
She had gotten used to not having him in her life. Now, he was back, as he said. She didn't know how to process that.
She didn't know how to deal with that! She didn't want to dive into dating anyone, even him, because her life was crazy busy already.
Plus, he came with a lot of danger and drama, which was the last thing that she needed on top of her busy schedule.
It just wouldn't work out, right? Their lives couldn't collide again.
They had moved on, built their lives into what they wanted them to be. It would be a shock to both of their systems to try to bring back what they had in the past.
Alyssa sank down on her couch, pulling out her phone and looking at his contact.
It had been so long since she had his number back in her phone.
Granted, it was a new number. She felt like she was flirting with the past, and she didn't know how she felt about that.
Her past was messy and chaotic. She was so young, so in love, so sensitive.
She felt things so strongly back then, whether it had something to do with her dreams, her parents, or Elias. Everything hit her so hard.
Now, she had developed a hard outer shell, and she felt like she had her life in order until all those weird things started happening.
She was afraid that everything would fall apart now like it did back then.
She wasn't sure if she could handle going through all of that again. It nearly killed her spirit the first time.
But things certainly were different. Elias was more open with her, more emotional, which was nice to see.
She hadn't really seen that side of him before, but she could see his different sides now. He could be as dark as the night, but he could also be gentle and kind.
He could be anything that she wanted, which made her nervous.
Elias still had so many attributes that appealed to her. He was alluring and charming, and she had always been so weak to him, like he put her under a spell.
She wondered if that was some freaky supernatural power or something, but she doubted that he would manipulate her like that.
She believed that he was a good person, but he had a lot of darkness surrounding him. She was afraid to get close to that darkness.
She tapped on Elias' contact and started to type a message, telling him thank you for talking to her tonight.
All of the new information helped put her mind to ease somewhat. She felt better about him being around her.
She stopped typing as she stared at her message. She felt like she was staring down into a deep pool, wondering whether to jump in or not.
Alyssa sighed and shut off her phone before sending the message. She needed to think things through better.
Maybe she could just be friends with him and figure out this whole angry cousin situation first. Then, she could see if they were still compatible. Baby steps.
She stood up and headed to her bedroom to get ready to go to bed, wanting to sleep on everything that she learned. It would hopefully help her process everything.
She changed clothes and got in bed, trying to hush her mind enough to fall into a deep sleep.
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