𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙢 ᶠᴿᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ ˣ ᵃᵇᵈᵘᶜᵗᵒʳ ✔

04

He helped me untangle the ropes around my wrists and ankles. I watched as he got up and headed for the door. He opened the door and glanced over his shoulder at me.

"C'mon. What are you waiting for?" He asked with a single eyebrow arched upwards.

I blinked. "Where to?"

"Let's have dinner." He chuckled as he stepped through the doorway.

~

I had followed him downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Take a seat." He gestured towards the stools around the kitchen island.

I made myself comfortable in my chosen stool.

"Any allergies? Spaghetti sounds good?" He asked although he was already pulling out the ingredients for the Spaghetti.

"Sure. You know how to cook?" I asked him, impressed that a man could cook. I was impressed because all my life I've never seen my father in the kitchen.

"Yep and pretty well if I do say so myself." He said confidently.

"What about you?" He shot back the question at me as he switched on the fire.

"uhhh does instant noodles count?" I asked. You'd think with the amount of times I've been in the kitchen to be assistant chef to my mother, that I'd be a seasoned cook. You couldn't be any more wrong.

I've always just forgotten whatever happened in the kitchen immediately after I left it. It was a trauma response. So whatever recipes my mother tried teaching me, they never stayed in my mind.

"Then just leave the cooking to me in this house." He said happily.

"Oh! While you wait you could go back up and bring down the chair you were sitting on and put it in the living room." I nodded silently as I fulfilled his request.

~

Soon, dinner was ready and my abductor sat himself on the stool opposite mine. I realized I haven't gotten his name. I can't keep calling him my abductor.

"So uh… Ms…" He dragged on implying for me to mention my name.

"It's YN. Nice to meet you Mr Abductor." I twirled my fork of spaghetti noodles.

"I'd prefer if you called me Jaxon." Jaxon flashed a charming smile before shoving a fork full of spaghetti noodles into his mouth.

"So uh now that you're living a life of free will, what are you planning to do?" Jaxon asked, glancing up from his plate at me.

I noticed the anxiety in his eyes.

"Don't worry. I won't be leaving anytime soon. And even if I did I promised never to rat you out." I reassured him before slurping up some of my spaghetti.

I noticed his shoulders visibly relaxed.

"You know, I noticed that you self-depricate a lot. I think you need to get that checked out. It's not healthy." He spoke softly. His voice felt less forced now.

I chuckled. "I don't think abducting people is healthy either." I countered jokingly.

"Pfft yeah but at least if I were you I would've been up and running for my life by now." He teased me.

"Ok but unlike you I have good morals." I countered yet again.

"Hey! My morals are just fine okay… I was just desperate." He defended himself.

"Shouldn't you be worried if I poisoned your food?" He had suddenly brought up.

I nearly choked. I didn't show it though.

"You wouldn’t kill me. You wouldn't get anything beneficial out of me." I confidently placed another fork full of spaghetti into my mouth.

"You're smart." He laughed to himself.

"I disagree." I quickly said with my mouth still full.

"And why is that?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

I continued when I finally swallowed my mouthful.

"I've never done well in school. I'm always barely passing and if I failed, then it would be a terrible failure. Like a single digit out of 100 kind of fails." I explained further.

"Alright so maybe you aren't academically smart but you sure are street smart." He briefly pointed his fork towards me.

"Someone with street smarts wouldn't get abducted so easily." I joked.

"Well it wasn't that easy to abduct you either okay. Give me some credit. I had to watch you for two weeks to get an idea of your daily schedule." He tried comforting me but failed miserably as he only managed to make me feel more creeped out.

"uhh… I'm sorry you wasted all that effort and time on me I guess." I said hesitantly.

Sensing my discomfort and listening to my self-deprecation he flinched and grew worried.

He frantically waved his hands. "No no no that's not what I meant- I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable…" He looked like a sad puppy.

'Cute' I couldn't help but think to myself.

"No your fine… I was just joking." I offered a small smile to comfort him.