i'm drunk in the back of the car and i cried like a baby coming home from the bar / said i'm fine but it wasn't true / i don't want to keep secrets just to keep you / and i snuck in through the garden gates, every night that summer just to seal my fate / and i scream for whatever it's worth / i love you, ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard? / he looks up grinning like a devil

- cruel summer, taylor swift (lover)

she might get arrested for trespassing, but fuck it all. fugaku uchiha could stroll in here and she wouldn't give a single shit, because the only thing— the only person— she cared about just left the goddamn country.

sakura stood at the center of sasuke's now empty penthouse where she snuck into. she forgot how huge it is with its floor-to-ceiling windows and endless hallways, reminding her of his elite status. what kind of college student could afford this kind of place?

she hadn't been here for weeks because sasuke insisted that they should just hang out at her cramped one-bedroom apartment. he said there would be no excuse not to hold each other close because of the small space. she remembered being so giddy and charmed since it was rare for him to be this playful.

little did she know that she was only kept oblivious to the fact that he's moving away.

his place that used to be filled with tons of vinyl records in the corner of the living room, soft bean bags perfect to sit on when they're playing playstation, love that anyone could smell in the air when they step foot in here— it was gone. they were all gone.

gone were the laughter in the kitchen as they bake together and the sighs that leave their lips when they make love, and instead replaced with the cold that slowly creeps inside her bones to rattle her from the inside.

sakura roamed her glassy eyes around, taking it all in and wishing it was only a dream. she hoped this was only another cause of her inebriation, just like the way she wailed in the back of the cab she was on last night when she left sasuke begging her not to go and listen. she hoped she was just drunk and that this pain would pass; just like a bad hangover

she hoped that sasuke didn't have to keep secrets from her. because believe it or not, she'd rather know the truth of him leaving and letting him go for that, rather than stay with him and not know shit.

but even knowing that, her heart still ached. it did just now, thinking about his face from last night and how he trembled in her arms. sakura looked at the open door of his bedroom and saw the familiar dresser that he had. there used to be a framed picture of them hanging from above, and if she squinted, she could see the faint traces it left behind for being there for so long.

and that's what hurts her the most— the history of it all. because at this point, that was the only thing they would ever be after this. a mere history.

the first tear dropped, and then the second.

and then the next one, followed by the next.

until it fell down on her face like a storm.

she went down to her knees, clutching desperately at the floor, as if embedding herself into this place that became her second home. she screamed, not really bothering to bottle it up because no one would hear her here; or at least no one important would. she cried out her pain and her agony for the way things ended between them.

"i love you!" sakura shouted to the heavens. with her eyes shut tight and her fists closed so hard she feels like her bones would shatter, she just let it all out.

"i love you! i love you! i love you!"

she was still angry— at his father for calling her a puny loose string in his son's life, at sasuke for not trusting her to understand the situation and lying to her face for weeks, at herself for being stubborn and not giving him a chance to explain.

she was still angry, but she was still in love with sasuke… and her love was worth more than her rage.

"i love you, you fucking idiot! i still love you!"

her throat was hoarse and her eyes are burning, but she continued to cry her heart out to this empty apartment that was a witness to their love.

"come back to me…" sakura whispered for the last time, her palm against the mahogany floor with her tears becoming a small puddle beside it.

so many amazing memories in the four corners of this place, and now this painful and desperate parting was now added to it. it hurt sakura to the core, but she was too late to hear any of his goodbye. with that fact, sakura wiped her eyes hastily with the sleeves of her shirt and slowly stood up from the floor. once she was on her feet, she looked again at the bedroom she didn't dare go and look before letting out a deep sigh.

"i love you too, you know?"

a smooth baritone voice pierced the silence and her chest, and she whipped her head to the front door. she gasped for she saw his signature smirk first.

just like the devil himself, sasuke uchiha stood there with his suitcase thrown by the hall outside and his heart on his sleeves. his eyes are intense on hers, midnight pools that never fail to make her breath falter, and his smirk crumbled into a sad tiny smile for her.

"i can't make it without you," he confessed, his eyes brimming with unshed tears as well. "i don't want to make it without you, sakura. i lo-"

she came running and threw herself at him, sobbing as she got into his arms.

"don't ever do that to me again, you asshole!"

his strong arms were around her and they squeezed her so tight she wouldn't be able to breathe. but for some reason, it was the first time sakura could breathe freely since last night.

she heard him murmur against her neck now damp from tears of his own, "sorry… i'm so sorry, baby…"

in this moment, she could only think of one thing— there would be time for apologies and explanations, of arguments and reconciliations. but for now, she was content being in the arms of the only man she would ever love.

and for now, it was enough.

a/n: continuation of the cardigan prompt ayayay