I stood there memorizing every one of his features as I thought of every time those strong arms had held me, every time those eyes had captured mine. I knew I still loved him, hell I had never stopped, but I was so unsure of what he could be thinking. I had just left him without any excuse and had run straight into another man's arms. I knew it would take time, but I swore to myself that I would win back his trust.
"Is it really you?" he looked at me with such confusion and hurt that I had to take a moment before responding.
I nodded before carefully making my way over to where he stood. "I'm so sorry Peeta, I don't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have left," I stammered regretfully as I watched his eyes harden. He nodded his head indicating I should step inside. I followed in and sat down at one of the tables set out for customers.
"I heard that you're with Hawthorne. Why come back?" he looked at me with such hurt that I wasn't able to stop the tears from falling.
" I was with him, but I never got you out of my head. I couldn't live a lie anymore, so I left and came home. I understand if you hate me now, but District Twelve is still my home," I wiped the tears away, trying hard to stay strong. I wasn't going to mention what Gale had done to me, Peeta didn't need to know. It was my battle, not his.
"I could never hate you Katniss, I just hate how you could just leave without talking to me. I would have understood if you had just said you couldn't marry me, but running away to him? How could you do that to me?"
"It was stupid of me. I should have talked to you, I know. I-I just was afraid that maybe you would have told me to stay, I knew that if I had heard that coming from you, I wouldn't have had the will to leave."
I expected him to yell or tell me to leave and never come back, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. Peeta wrapped his arms around me and held me close. I yelped in pain and jumped back when he squeezed y ribs. I was about to say I was fine, but I knew it was no use. He was already looking right at where my shirt had ridden up, looking right at the bruises that covered that part of my skin. I was wearing my father's hunting jacket so thankfully he couldn't see the bruises on my arms.
Peeta reached forward and lifted my shirt just a bit more, looking at the black and blue spots covering my torso. "Oh Katniss, what happened? Did HE do this to you?" he asked, carefully pulling my shirt into place.
"It's nothing, really, I brought this on myself," I said looking anywhere but at him.
"Nothing? Do you really think that this is nothing?"
"Well, of course it's something, I just don't see where I got bruises has anything to do with you. This is my battle Peeta ."
"It has everything to do with me if the girl that I love returns home just for me to find out that she has been abused for the past three years!"
"Peeta?"
"Yeah," he said looking down, trying to contain his anger.
"Do you mean it? I mean, do you really love me?"
"Never stopped," he said strongly, even though he was as red as a tomato.
"Peeta?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you too."