BiteBound *completed*

Chapter 58

When my body had finally ran out of tears to give, Arthur wipes my puffy eyes with the linen tissue he always carried.

A clean comforting scent of softener and his fading cologne, it eased my tense heart.

"I-I'm sorry." I hiccuped. "I... I needed th-this..."

"There's no reason to be sorry my love." He coos. "Do you want to head back to the hotel or stay a little longer?"

"A-A little longer— please."

As my breath slowly gained back some control, it made it much easier to speak my mind without the hiccups.

"I can't leave her like this just yet." I said. "I just dropped a huge bomb on her without leading up to it properly. I feel like there's just so much left to say— B-but I don't know what else to say."

"I know my love." He rubs his hand against my arm. "I'm honestly a little surprised you wanted to tell her I was a vampire. I didn't realize that this is what has made you so anxious all day."

"... It wasn't." I swallowed.

"No?" He looks down at me. "Then, what was it?"

Wait, hold on a second—

"How long were you exactly listening?"

I look up to see Arthur's mouth scrunched to one side, looking down at my nervous hands in guilt.

"Do you really want me to tell you?"

I braved myself for the answer.

"I think the truth would be nice."

His hand reaches out to take mine, squeezing in a soft grasp to ease my nerves.

"From the theory of a vampire's afterlife until now."

So, he did hear that. My heart pounds against my ribs. Shit.

"I've thought about it too you know." He keeps his voice low. "Turning you to be half creature of the night and all. I wasn't aware that you were thinking about it too. It actually makes more sense now why you wanted to be alone so much since we got here."

He sighs with a small frustrated head shake. "It's not an easy subject to talk about My Dear."

"I'm... I'm sorry Love..."

The words could barely came out of my tired throat as I could feel his doubt. My chest feeling heavy, stomach empty, and my heart nervous.

No.

Not my, but his showing within me. He was nervous.

"You feel it too, don't you?"

His other cool hand touches my flustered cheek, guiding me to look at his vulnerable eyes that sparkled under the dim lamps.

"Are you really willing to give up your Mom for me? Your life and family for partial immortality? For me?"

I nod without hesitation, unable to smile from the typhoon of emotions.

"Are you certain about that?" He asked. "Rosalie, if you're forcing yourself down this path for my sake, please don't. I— I will still love you, even if you chose to remain a human. You know that... don't you?"

He is so uncertain of the words that had come out of my mouth; I'm actually surprised that he didn't want to talk me out of a sudden life-changing decision like this. Maybe like me, he was also selfish too.

Taking me for all to himself...

...

I'm not mad about that at all.