"𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬"

𝟏𝟎𝟑. "𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭"

"This is where we live?" I asked Jerome as I got out of the car.

"Yeah. It's quaint, right?" He grinned and closed his door. I chuckled and headed to the front door.

"Wait!" He exclaimed and ran in front of me. I frowned with confusion.

"You installed a security system. I need to disarm it." He muttered.

Then he swiftly opened the door, sprang towards the alarm box and speedily pressed in a few buttons.

"Why are you so jumpy?" I asked with puzzlement. He chuckled and gestured for me to come inside.

"If I didn't do that within ten seconds, a poisoned dart would shoot out. Then a horrible ear-bleeding alarm would turn on." He told me. My eyes widened, and I finally crossed the doorstep.

"I could do that?" I mumbled and closed the door.

"You're a genius. I would call you an evil genius, but you never seemed to be fond of using your brain for villainy." He shrugged and headed deeper into the house. I chuckled to myself.

Suddenly a tiny ginger kitten ran up to him. My eyebrows shot up. He leaned down, picked him up and turned to me.

"This is Dobby." He grinned and came up to me.

"Would you look at that, Furball? Grace is back." He whispered to the cat. I giggled softly. He grinned widely at my reaction.

"Do you want to hold him?" He asked. I nodded.

He moved Dobby closer to me, and I carefully took him in my arms. The tiny kitten immediately nestled into me and started purring. I chuckled and rubbed his cute head.

"You want a tour?" Jerome asked quietly.

"S-sure." I smiled weakly and placed Dobby on the ground. He immediately jumped on Jerome's leg and started meowing.

"Oh, God." I chuckled at the adorable sight.

"Yeah, he likes me." He grumbled.

"Get off. You're embarrassing me in front of the pretty lady." He ordered Dobby in a hushed tone and gently shook his leg. I blushed and snorted with laughter.

"You saved him from freezing to death." He told me, leaned down and took Dobby off of him.

"I did?"

"You woke up in the middle of the night because someone was screaming under our window. It was a couple of teenagers torturing cats. You bolted outside and took this one home after his mum died." He said and straightened himself up. I smiled softly.

"Come on." He extended his hand to me. I glanced at it with creased eyebrows.

"See, if you don't hold my hand, you won't be able to cross the forcefield." He told me in a solemn tone.

"Oh, really?" I sneered and folded my arms on my chest.

"You made it so that we would only go places together. I thought it was a bit much, but you insisted." He nodded to emphasise his point. I chuckled at his ridiculous story.

"I'm sure that's true." I smiled cynically and grabbed his hand. He beamed and immediately started pulling me somewhere.

***

"What's that?" I pointed to a rather big blanket fort in the corner of the library.

It was filled to the brim with books, blankets, pillows, fairy lights and various other items.

"Does a child live here?" I asked. Jerome giggled.

"No, that would be our fort." He grinned down at me. My eyebrows shot up with surprise.