L'Amour Fou (bxb)

Chapter 7

"I can't afford to lose you."

Those words still rang deep inside my head, even after a long sleep and recovering from a lethal drug. What did he mean by that? I must serve some purpose to him that he would say that. Could he- would he eventually sell me to someone? No. There's a high chance I might end up dying from human trafficking. And he did say he won't let anyone including himself kill me. I should stop. The more I'll overthink this, the more stressed I'll get. The safest thing to do is to not resist. I'll need to try and co-operate with him, hoping I won't anger him again or he doesn't get a chance to drug me again. I'm wasting so many days due to my own actions; if I would've just listened to him, I wouldn't have lost most of my time sleeping.

Jumping out of the bed, I took a deep breath.
"Today is a new day. I'll try to listen to him and not escape from here. Survival is key. Ok?" Whenever I felt stressed, I always spoke to myself to reassure myself that everything is ok. Maybe I did this because there was no one to do that for me, well, except my friends. I love them so much, and they were incredibly supportive of me when I came out. They understood my situation with my parents, and always offered to help me. Knowing them, I assumed they'd be worried sick by my disappearance. Even if I hadn't replied to one of them in a few hours, they would give me tons of missed calls and messages, when in reality I'd be sleeping in or my phone was dead. I wouldn't be surprised if they've called the police already by my absence. They were always overprotective and provided me the nurture that I didn't receive from my parents. Thinking about them made me miss them even more as I craved their presence. Never mind.

After going to the bathroom, I went downstairs and stepped into the living room. Everything was back to normal. There were no dancing mushrooms. There were no flowers with jewels inside them. There were no bright colors which surrounded me. The enchanted forest vanished completely, and I liked it that way. As harsh as reality was for me, that was the truth. And truth is always bitter, so I have to accept it.

"Good morning." A voice echoed across the room, as I made eye contact with him. He noticed my arrival only recently as I observed his rapid hands closing his notebook which he was writing on.
"Good morning," I exclaimed with a broad smile on my face. We both knew it was forced, but he looked surprised by my cheerfulness.
"Someone's in a good mood today," he replied. "Did you have a good sleep last night?"
"Yeah, I slept like a baby. And the softness of the pillow and blankets make it impossible for me to still be awake. They feel exactly like the ones I have at home."

I spoke to him as if he was a close friend I knew for a while, I was surprised by how comfortable I was to talk to him.
"That's really nice to hear. Would you like some breakfast? You haven't eaten in a while."
I was shocked by his act of concern towards me. Did he just ask me whether I wanted breakfast?
"Uh. It's fine, I'll make it."
"I insist." His tone was strong and deep, as his eyes were eagerly waiting for a response.
"Ok, you can make it. What are you gonna make?"
"Some crêpes. I've been an expert with this ever since I was young."
"I love crêpes so much, it's like, one of my favourite sweet food," I muttered excitedly. He must've been telepathic or something since this was one of the meals I was craving for a while, even before the kidnapping.
"Sit down, I'll make it for you," he said, whilst pulling the chair so I could sit on it.

The smell of pancake batter filled my nostrils as I crept to the kitchen to take a better sniff. I held the miniscule bottle of vanilla extract to my nose, and sighed with contentment. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes and gave a slight smirk.
"Ok I'm gonna make the pancakes now. What flavour would you like?"
"Lemon and sugar," I replied instantly, noticing he also mumbled it under his breath simultaneously.
"That's my favourite flavour as well," he exclaimed whilst flipping the slightly golden pancake. Wow. That's something we have in common.

He carefully poured the pancake on my plate, and inserted the right amount of lemon and sugar in, just like how I like it.
"Voilà, your crêpe," he said cheerfully whilst presenting to me a plate with a tempting pancake on top of it.
"Merci," I replied, watching him bring his own plate to the table, sitting opposite me. He stared at me whilst I took my first bite.
"So, how is it?"
"Delicious, it's sooo good," I muttered in delight.
"I'm glad that you love it." I noticed a broad smile on his face, probably because his cooking was praised by someone.

We finished our plates as I carefully placed them in the sink basin, rinsing it with some water so it wouldn't be sticky. I poured some cold water from a jug into an empty glass, and began drinking from it.
"Would you like some water as well?" I asked politely. I didn't want to be rude or anything.
"Yeah sure, why not?"
I poured some more water into another glass and handed it over to him. Glancing across the room, I observed the notepad on the table in the living room. What was that?

"What's that notepad? I saw you quickly closed it when I came downstairs. Is it some sort of secret?" I said it in a teasing tone whilst chuckling slightly.
"Just some, important work document." He cleared his voice to make his voice sound assertive.
"Don't open it ok?! I don't want it to get lost or damaged."
"Ok sure." I wasn't certain whether he was lying or actually telling the truth.
"Uhh, also I'm meant to be working tomorrow. I need to go otherwise they'll deduct my salary. My shift starts at 8am. Are you- is that ok?"

He released an exasperated sigh. "If it's necessary then sure. I'll drop you off. " He walked closer to me, almost towering over me now. "You must not tell anyone or dial 911. And don't even think about trying to escape. You only go to work and that's the only place which you go to. Is that clear?"
I nodded as I remarked from his behavior that he didn't trust me. But I wasn't going to try and escape. I knew I would get caught and I couldn't afford getting drugged and punished. It seemed like he lost his patience with me now. But I had to restore that. I need him to trust me. And if I have to do this for survival, then I'm ready for it. I had to be.