You promise?

Chapter 16

Char

Alex enters the bathroom, and I hear the sound of running water. A few minutes later, he comes out.

"The water will warm up in a short time. Take a bath, put on the clothes I've laid out on the table, and come get something to eat." His voice is delicate and caring.

But in my chest, there is an emptiness. I can't look him in the eye.

Alex lets air out of his nose delicately and leaves the room, leaving the door closed behind him.

I force my body to move as a shiver runs through my bones.

I step into the tub and stay there for what seems like a long time.

A small knocking on the door startles me, my whole body becomes alert, but remembering where I am, my body falls wearily.

"Char? Everything okay?" Alex's voice sounds worried. I could feel his urge to go into the bathroom just to make sure I hadn't drowned in the tub.

"I'll be out in a moment." I say it in a voice that sounds foreign—a strange voice after crying so much.

It takes a few seconds before it moves away from the door.

I get out of the tub, drying off with the huge towel he has left for me, and I put on the same pajamas he gave me a few months ago.

I pull the big hoodie over my hair, drying it as best I can before leaving the room.

I walk downstairs to find two plates on the table.

My body tenses when I see the guy in front of me sitting at the table, his hands on his head.

He, too, has bathed and changed, being just as wet as I was from the rain.

When he hears my footsteps, he lifts his head and tries to give me a small smile.

But worry dances on his face.

"I'll heat up the food quickly," he says, getting up, but I take his arm, shake my head and sit down next to him.

I look at the delicious plate in front of me, but I can't find anywhere the appetite to even pretend to eat it.

My eyes started to close after a while, staring at the food.

"Char... Eat at least a little, please." Alex's hand goes to the back of my neck, and I push his hand away.

I see pain in his eyes, he notices the distance I have traveled since my house.

"Stop it." My lips tremble at the sight of his face. His beautiful face was full of concern for me. "Please stop."

"I haven't done anything." His jaw tenses, as if his words have another meaning. He didn't know anything, he couldn't have done anything, and I didn't want him to do anything. " Why didn't you tell me what was going on at home?"

My legs rise so fast that the chair falls backward.

Alex looks at the chair on the floor and sighs.

"Stop it." My voice cuts off, and my body starts shaking again.

"You can't expect me to do nothing or say nothing after what I saw." His response is harsh, telling me with a look that he won't walk away no matter how hard I try.

"It has nothing to do with you."

"Everything about you has to do with me," he roars, getting up. He sighs, trying to calm himself. "Everything that happens to you affects me because I care about you, Char." My lips fall open, my eyes start to cloud over from the tears I refuse to shed.

"I never asked you to feel that. I just wanted to party. I just wanted an escape from home. I just..."

"Just that?" His lips make a line. His eyes were full of pain but somehow sympathetic, as if he understood that my words weren't what I really wanted them to be.

"Just that."

It's a lie; look in my eyes, it's a lie. You're the only real thing I have, you're the only thing that's not broken when everything in my life is. Please don't get mixed up in that mess.

His eyes move from side to side, they look into my tear-filled eyes.

"I understand."

My shoulders slump, my chest aches and my cheeks fill with tears as my body falls to the floor. I listen as Alex walks up the stairs and closes a door.

Alex

I knocked on the door once, twice. No answer.

"Char?" I open the door carefully, trying to adjust my eyes to the dark room.

I gasp when I see that no one is there.

Not in bed, not in the bathroom.

"Okay, thank you very much. I'll stop by in a moment," the voice on the other end of the line thanks me, before hanging up.

I leave my cell phone on the kitchen table.

Char's things have been moved to a storage room—well, what's left of her things.

When I realized she wasn't home, I drove to her house. There was no one there but the movers, who were trying to grab what they could.

I rang the doorbell and knocked on the door, but no one answered.

A bittersweet feeling came over me. I was relieved that her father hadn't answered because I wouldn't know what I could do to him, but scared not to hear from Char.

Calling or writing her was going to be for nothing. She wouldn't answer.

I sigh, touching my temples.

I look at the calendar, hoping it won't take her another month to get back to me.