His Saviour

Chapter 9

Persuading him to eat for the second time of the day was even harder than it was in the morning but I still managed to do it somehow. After eating, we sat in silence at the island and I was hesitant to tell him that I had to leave in the near future. I didn't want to leave him but I had parents and I didn't think that they would be happy that I was spending all of my time here instead of being home on the weekend.

It was clear that he would throw a tantrum if I told him about that.

"I have to go home soon."

It was one sentence that immediately changed his mood. His face fell and his shoulders sank down. His eyes cast down and he laid his head on the table. I stood up and hugged him to my chest, feeling sorry for leaving him. On the other hand, it wasn't possible to be there for him all the time and he had to cope with that.

"I promise to visit you as soon as possible but I have to go home sometime. My parents will start to worry if I don't come over in the next hour and you can always call me if you want. We can chat all the time and I'll talk to you on the phone without expecting an answer. We can even do video calls to spend time together. If you really want to, you can come over and stay with me for a few hours. Are you okay with that?"

I knew that he wasn't fond of the idea but he also had to know that I had no option to stay with him forever. He was always welcome at my house and I knew that my parents wouldn't cause any problems either.

He gave me a short nod, indicating that he wasn't very happy about that. His head leaned against my stomach, his face buried in the fabric of my top. His eyes were closed and he seemed to think about something unknown to me. I just stood there, letting him drift away, lost in his thoughts while I brushed his hair with my hand.

After some time, we parted and made our way to his room so that I could search for my things. I only had my phone and my bag here which meant that I finished collecting my stuff pretty fast.

Hugging him once more and saying 'bye' was the last thing I did before I reluctantly left his house. Andrea wasn't home which meant that I had no chance to say 'bye' to her too. Titus started to look sadder when he knew that I would leave soon and he became even more clingy. It was hard to convince him to let me go but after promising that he could come over whenever he wanted, he reluctantly agreed.

I gave him my address and practically begged him not to hurt himself while I wasn't with him. I didn't really think that this was going to work out but I still tried it.

The drive home on my motorbike didn't take long and before I knew it, I reached the front of my house. My thoughts were still with him, worrying about his well-being. I put my motorbike on its stand in our driveaway and made my way to the front door.

I was about to open the door with my key when it opened. My mum stood at the door, glaring at me and silently asking for an explanation why I slept over without telling her beforehand. I could understand her because I never told her that I wouldn't be home for the night until it was late. I was too occupied and forgot to tell her about me staying over at a friend's house and my phone died last night, meaning that they probably tried to reach out to me a few times already.

She let me in and closed the door as I put my things away and changed my clothes. After that, I walked into the living room where I found both of my parents sitting on the couch. I sat down in front of them and started to explain everything. I let out some details that I knew were touchy or too private for him but told them about his condition as much as I could. To say that my parents were shocked was an understatement. My mum had tears in her eyes and my dad had to calm her down. She worked at the hospital and saw the outcome of these horrible things a lot. She knew how hard it was for them to 'survive'.

When I told them that he seemed to trust me, they told me that he was welcome to visit our place all the time. They knew that it was hard for people like him to trust people and knowing that he trusted me left them no other option.

My mum especially had a soft spot due to her work and her experience with people.

They even forgave me for not telling them that I was staying over at his place, knowing that I did more good than bad and helped him a lot instead of doing something bad like stealing or drinking too much alcohol.

After talking for a bit, we ate dinner and I took a shower. I went to bed and laid down, not really tired but not motivated to do something other than lying on my bed and relaxing. I just read some chapters in my book until my eyelids started to get heavy and shut after some time.