Bloom for me

Chapter 36

TW; mentions of domestic violence/abuse, and stalking 

Alette

My vision is blurred from my tears as anger fuels my words.

"Oh I'm sorry, how selfish of me, I wasn't exactly thinking about the alarm system when your ex-fiance came traipsing through like she owned the place. Oh I'm sorry or should I just say 'fiance' considering she's under the impression that you two are getting back together now. I mean what the fuck is that Silas! You never even told me you were engaged! And then you take me to that museum where you both apparently have 'these deep family ties' to. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"

In the midst of my shouting Silas does not say a word. He stays stock still like he's trying to process what I'm saying but my anger doesn't allow me to see anything but a red haze, however even from where I'm stood several feet away I can see the panic in his face.

With my rant over I stay where I am, breathing erratic and hands shaking as my anger continues bubbling inside me as I wait for his response.

My angry gaze pinned on him wavers as I see a slight sway in his stature, almost like he's going to faint.

Instinctively I take a step towards him which seems to break through his trance.

His knees give out from underneath him as he clutches his chest desperately trying to suck in deep breaths.

Oh my god. He's having a panic attack.

It takes me a minute to process everything before I rush forward and sink down to my knees in front of him.

"Silas. Si, breathe. Please just breathe, copy me" I hold his face between my hands and force him to look into my eyes as I take slow measured breaths, hoping he follows suit.

His normal cool, warm brown eyes are wide and wild with panic, it's unlike anything I've ever seen from him before, and that alone puts me on edge.

His breaths are shaky and he starts to check over every part of me, frantically looking for anything wrong or out of place, before he buries his head into my neck and tries furiously to calm his breathing.

"She's okay, she's okay" he mumbles to himself over and over again so softly I barely make out what he's saying.

"I'm okay baby, I'm fine" I take his hand and press it to my chest right over my widely beating heart that's slowly breaking as I watch my steadfast, strong man crumble right before me. "See. I'm okay"

His eyes, still wild and crazy, darts around the room, falling onto my half packed bag.

"We need to leave" he mumbles to himself but I just manage to catch it.

"What?" I ask him, utterly confused.

"We need to leave Alette" he says much louder this time, "right now. We need to go, finish packing quickly, I'll grab some stuff" with that he launches to his feet and darts around the flat in a pace you can only liken to those movie scenes where the main characters are getting hunted by something deadly as they hurriedly gather a bag of all their essentials so they can go on the run.

And yet we aren't being hunted... right?

"Come on Alette! We need to go" he shouts to me from the ensuite bathroom.

"What? Why? What the hell is going on Silas?" I slowly stand.

"I'll tell you in the car" he mutters as he quickly tries to pack all my skincare products into a bag with shaky hands.

"No. You'll tell me right now, what is going on? Why didn't you tell me about Em-"

Silas whips around to face me, "Don't say her name!" he shouts at me in panic as different bottles of moisturisers and face washes go flying around him as he throws his hands around.