Sinful Wishes

Four

After 10 or so minutes of being in the limousine with Jackson, and Nickolas looking in the car- gawking at the sight, we finally arrived home, and stepped out of the car, leaving Jackson to do his thing. "Wow..." I heard Nickolas whisper when he looked at the humongous mansion, and I turned to him, smiling softly "amazing right? That was my reaction when I first came here." At hearing this, his head turned to face me, and tilt in confusion "oh right, this isn't my house. Now I know that sounds wrong, but it's nothing like that. My foster parents own this place." I nervously chuckled and fixed my little slip up, and I cleared my throat, finding the floor rather nice to look at right now.

"Astrid..." I heard a faint whisper, and I look up to see Nickolas already staring at me like I was his whole world "yes?" I whisper back, feeling my breath hitch for a few seconds as his gaze never leave mine, and he whispered to me "what happened?" I tilted my head in confusion as he stepped closer to me by an inch- even though it felt like more- and he looked me and down with pity "your real parents, what happened with them?" I looked away as I felt tears spring to my eyes, and I sniffled "they didn't want me." I could feel him tense beside me, as if he felt the pain I was feeling in this moment, and feeling guilty for asking in the first place.

I broke our short silence by asking "aren't you the quiet boy? Meaning you don't talk?" I looked at him and by then, my tears were gone, and he chuckled lightly after a good few seconds "yeah. Everyone thinks that, because I'm the "quiet boy" but they don't know even half of it. I'm not quiet because I'm shy or anything like that, I'm just quiet because I love to be observant of all the shit that happens in school." At this, I giggled. He had a fair point there- dramas in school were always amusing at some point if the right audience is attracted. After some more small talk of school, we entered the mansion, and his eyes widened at the light interior of the house. A light creamy beige wall splayed across the entire 3 story mansion, and white Vinyl flooring complimented the house with a soft, sweet and welcome feeling that just felt... like home.

I smiled softly as he continued to admire the house as we entered all the different rooms on the first floor, and I explained what each floor was. "So, as you can see, Nickolas, the first floor is dedicated to the cooks, the maids and the butlers of the household- as well as our entertainment room, and Benny's "man cave' as he calls it. Then, up here is the second floor, which is Benny and Margot's floor. They tend to be up here only when they have rest, or for their studies with the company, which is rare for both- as they're always out, basically living at work, or they are on a business trip. So I'm home alone all the time almost 25/8." I finished showing him Benny and Margot's room, which had a light interior matching the rest of the house, with crystal chandeliers on the ceiling and glass bedside tables, and then I led him to my room.

When we reached my floor after three flights of stairs, he noticed that the interior was different then the rest of the house. Light grey walls and polished black tiles, and I explained to him the meaning behind the interior change "Benny and Margot had a son a while ago, a few months before they adopted me, and when I first came here, Margot had told me of him." I said to him, my vision getting all foggy with tears, and a small sniffle sounding loud in this sudden silent hallway "she said that he had suffered from depression, severe anxiety and some other mental health issues that made him loose his mind at times." I looked at him, and his brows were raised slightly in worry and pity, his hand twitching at his side in contemplation of touching me for comfort or not.