Chapter 3

Elijah knew he had fucked up; he was supposed to tell her. They had spent yesterday the whole day together but he still couldn't tell her. No matter what he just wasn't ready, even when he had brought her to his house and showed her the guest bedroom which she would be sleeping in.

This whole situation was fucked up he couldn't believe people were still struggling with getting identification papers. For god's sake it was 2019, wasn't that supposed to be over already. Of course he had never known the struggle since he was born here, but he knew his great grandparents must've went through this process too. Thereof the feeling of needing to help.

If he could he would help them all but unfortunately after a few talks with Afrim and his wife, Drita they had decided that they would just leave their daughter in somebody's hands that they trusted and the rest of family would return to Macedonia.

He felt bad when the idea was brought to the table, but there truly was no other choice, they had been struggling for money and he could tell they were tired of working so much. He had made sure to let them know that if they ever needed money he had plenty to give around. Declining his offer had made him hate himself even more because here he was not caring about money but others were struggling for that same piece of paper.

He parked the car in their drive way and turned the car off, when he got out of it he stared up at the building. Even their living situation bothered him, they were a family of five and lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Of course it was big and had two stairs but it still sucked seeing his bambina share a small bedroom with her two brothers.

He started walking towards the front door and rang the bell. "Hello?" He couldn't help the smile that graced his face when he heard her voice.

"It's me." He spoke into the intercom, the door buzzed open before the line went dead.

Charlotte was a mess; she had nothing on but her Mickey Mouse pyjamas she wanted to kill her parent's for leaving her by herself. She wasn't even informed that there would be a guest coming over. She hurriedly walked towards her room and combed her hair before removing her pyjama short's down her leg and put on a pair of yoga pants. She wasn't sure if the choice of clothe was inappropriate or not but she thought it would be better than Mickey Mouse shorts.

She made sure to put on another shirt, before going down the stairs and towards the front door where a knock could be heard. Breathlessly she pulled the door open and smiled at him. "Hey, Elijah!" She opened the door further inviting him.

She was glad she could feel less awkward now, after the day they had yesterday she was sure a friendship was blooming. She didn't know if this was god's gift or nightmare but she couldn't help but fall in love with the idea of them being friends. She was desperately in need of one.

"Good evening, tesoro." Charlotte was finally getting used to the name, after he had insisted on calling her that the whole day, yesterday she couldn't help but get attached to it.

"Good evening." She softly mumbled and frozen when suddenly he bend down and placed a kiss on her cheek. Oh god, she couldn't believe he had just done that. What if her parents saw? Her cheeks tinted in red as Elijah chuckled at her reaction before walking past her.

Elijah stared around the clean room knowing it was the work of the young girl he had started to like a little too much. "Where are your parents?" He asked and made his way to the living room knowing that she'd follow soon. For a second he didn't hear any response making him frown before he looked up at her.

"T-They went grocery shopping." She managed to let out, and sat on the other couch. She didn't know what to do, would it be bad if she just ran to her room and stayed there.

"Alright." Elijah's frown deepened this was god's sign, he thought to himself. He could tell her now, why wasn't he? He stared at her as she bite down on her lower lip and moved closer making Charlotte's breath hitch. She looked away from her fingers and stared into his blue eyes. He truly was a gorgeous sight, but all she wanted was a friend. Even if she did want more, there's no way that would ever happen.

"Y-Yeah." She chuckled, when he kept staring at her. She was starting to get all shy again, and if there was something Charlotte hate it was that. Awkwardness.

"I don't know how to tell you this, tesoro." He frowned and grabbed her hand that was fumbling with the other one. He liked it when she was free around him, but he could feel her closing in again and as long as he could do something about it, he wasn't about to let her.

"Tell me what?" She humourlessly chuckled feeling the shaking of her hands. Why was he holding her hand?

"Well, I thought that by now your parents would've already told you but I guess not." Elijah couldn't help the shrug, he was supposed to tell her anyway.

"Okay," Charlotte chuckled as she thought of the worst thing, "you're kind of scaring me." She frowned and pulled her hand away from his touch. He couldn't help but feel hurt by the movement.

"Well it's nothing that bad honestly." Elijah frowned knowing he was totally scaring her; he took a deep breath. "You see, your parent's and I were talking the other day and..." He trailed off not knowing which words to use. He didn't want to sound like a dick, which he knew he sometimes could be.

"And?" She questioned confused out of her mind. What could they have talked about, why had her parent's not said anything? She didn't think it was anything bad, because otherwise she wouldn't be breathing right now, but she couldn't help but worry.

"Well, it's complicated. But you know you and your family have been struggling recently." She couldn't help the embarrassment; she was, so much that her mood instantly went downhill. She was about to cry, she felt it. If there's one thing she could change about her life it was that, she wanted to be free in this country do what she liked and go wherever she wanted. She wanted one day of not being afraid to be caught by the police.

The rest of his sentences were ignored, even he felt that. He saw how the twinkle in her eyes had instantly disappeared the minute he mentioned them struggling. "Excuse me." He heard her speaking before she stood up and quickly ran up the stairs. He could hear her sniffling, and all he could do was sit frozen on the couch.

Was it something he said? He'd never felt this bad in his life. He couldn't remember the last time he had cared about somebody this much. He quickly followed behind her flinching when her bedroom door slammed shut.

On the other side of the door, Charlotte couldn't help the tears, she hated talking about how much of a fuck up her life was. She just wanted it all to end, the pain, the worry and the stress. She wiped her tears away when she heard his footsteps climbing up the stairs. Quickly making her way towards her small mirror she fanned her eyes with her hands as she tried to remove the redness under her eyes.

"Tesoro, can I come in?" His voice caused her to instantly calm down, she didn't know what it was about it but it did help her. She took a deep breath before replying.

"Just a second please." Her voice sounded broken even to her own ears. Jumping around a few seconds to try and bring her mood back up, she put on a fake smile that she had mastered after all these years of practice and pulled the door open.

Elijah stared at her, as a pain in his chest hit him. He had never seen her this sad he knew the smile was fake. Surely he hadn't known her for a long time to know every detail about her, but this is something he knew. He knew whenever she was truly happy, whenever her smile was genuine and this was not it. Without another word, he pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her petite form.

If any of his friends saw him right now, he wouldn't hear the end of it. The smile made his blue eyes disappear from happiness, he just felt like he had just found the missing piece. He never wanted to let her go, she felt so right in his arms. As if they were made just for her, as if her body was made to be hold only by him.