Opposites attract

Chapter XIV

Nikolai

I couldn't think straight, I couldn't speak, as I lay there taking the marks that Akuma was giving me. But for whatever reason, my mind had other plans, I started comparing what I felt now to what I felt in the past. I immediately regretted it as my mind pulled me into another flash back,

"You little shit!" my father yelled as I ran out into the street, he followed me. He would've grabbed me and flung me inside the house had our neighbour, Mrs. Solokov, not walked out with her two daughters. 

I didn't see or speak with them much but I knew their names, Yuki and Yeji, I ran in their direction, hiding behind the tall black-haired woman, "Is everything all right?" she asked, putting a protective arm around me.

"Sorry ma'am, we were playing hide and seek, I might have scared him a bit," my father explained sheepishly, the older daughter, Yuki, gave me a confused glance, I stepped away from the woman and walked in silence towards my father. The woman walked away with her daughters as me and my father went back to the house. Father grabbed my arm roughly , throwing me to the floor, "You think that's fucking funny?" he snarled, I quickly shook my head as I scrambled to my feet, 

"I didn't know they were there..." I stammered, tears welling my eyes making my vision blur.

"But you hoped someone was," Father growled. 

"No sir," I replied, my head hung in what I hoped looked like shame, 

"Clearly I've been to lenient with you," my father said, sounding disappointed, "Clearly, you've learned nothing," he added as he pulled me to my feet, "Go to your room. No dinner for you tonight,"

"Niko?" Akuma said softly, he was staring at me, confused.

"Huh?" was my only response as my mind became aware of what was going on around me,

"Are you okay?" Akuma asked, cupping my face with both hands, it had been so long since someone had spoken to me so softly, with such genuine care in their voice.

"I'm fine, just...zoned out, sorry" I mumbled in response, my earlier lust replaced with embarrassment. I met Akuma's gaze to see him staring at me with what might've been hurt. He slid off my lap in silence, dragging his feet as he went off to his room. I felt guilty, overwhelmingly guilty, I remembered how annoyed and angry I'd been at Akuma for blowing me off and here I was, doing almost the same the thing. 

I got up from the couch, intending to apologise when my phone rang, fishing it out of my pocket, I read the called ID.

"Father"

Fucking. Hell.

Why the fuck was he calling me? How the fuck was he calling me? As far as I was aware he was supposed to still be locked up. And even if he wasn't, he shouldn't be able to call me.

"Hello?" I stammered, trying in vain to keep my voice steady.

"Niko, so good to hear your voice again," my father replied with a light chuckle.

"Why are you calling me. What do you want?" I seethed, sitting down to stop my legs from shaking.

"Am I not allowed to call my son?" Father probed, mockery annoyingly clear in his voice. He went on about how glad he was to be able to get through to me, as he was speaking, Akuma came out of his room, he saw me on the phone and gave me a questioning glance before heading to the kitchen, after a little hesitation, I put the call on speakerphone so Akuma could here. Which coaxed him out of the kitchen, he came to the back of the couch, putting his chin on my head.

"When are you coming over, Niko?" Father asked, not bothering to hide the desperation in his voice. I sighed, pondering over my answer. Did I really want to, or even need to see him? What good would it do for me to return to that hell hole of a house?

"Is he your dad?" Akuma whispered into my ear, I nodded, taking a deep breath before answering my father's question.

"I'm not going to."

"Why?"

"Why should I?"

"I'm your father  Nikolai!" Father snapped, I felt Akuma tense above me.

"Well if you act like that, I can see why he doesn't want to," he growled. My father was quiet for a count of 10.

"Who the fuck are you?" he barked.

"Akuma Ashford, sir" Akuma drawled, jumping over the couch to sit next to me.

"Ashford?" Father stammered, something fell behind -or he dropped it- judging by the loud bang that sounded behind him

"Like Ashford enterprises," Akuma explained, rolling his eyes.

"Why are you with my son?" Father questioned, his breathing, audibly shaking.

Akuma paused, he leaned over to me and whispered, "Does he know we go to the same school?" 

I shook my head is response "He's been in jail for 6 years," Akuma's widened, he most likely would've asked another question had my father not interrupted.

"Hello?" he said, checking if we were still there,

"Sorry Mr Rossi, I was checking some facts with your son. I was wondering, how was it possible you didn't know we went to the same school. The only reason I could think of that you might not know, is that you didn't choose the school yourself," Akuma replied, he paused, then added "Am I right, Mr Rossi?"

For a minute, everything was dead quiet, "Yes...that's correct," my father muttered.

"Right, so, that's what doesn't add up for me. Why would a father not choose or atleast have a say in what school his son goes to? The only answer that comes to mind, is that you weren't around. Which means, Mr Rossi. That either you were arrested, for whatever reason. Or your own son put a restraining order on you. But for you to be speaking to him now would mean he lifted the order. Which, let's be honest sounds highly unlikely. Which means either there was no order, or there was and you're going against it," Akuma explained. All I could do was stare at him speechless with my jaw hung open. My father didn't respond for a good while.

"The fuck are you getting at?" he growled after what felt like forever.

"The fact that you most likely shouldn't be in contact with Nikolai. Tell me Mr Rossi, did Nikolai file a restraining order on you? And I advise against lying to me. Because even if Niko refuses to tell me, I'm very good with tech, if you lie I will find out, and trust me, you won't like the consequences," Akuma replied, a smug smirk appearing on his face. He slid his hand into mine, holding it tightly.

We waited with bated breath for my father to respond.

"...Yes, he did," my father said answered quietly.

"Then I suggest you don't contact him again, if you do, we're going to have a problem. And Mr Rossi, I'm not someone you want problems with," Akuma stated before hanging up.

The minute he hung up, something snapped inside me, I felt a lump form in my throat as my vision blurred and tears welled in my eyes.

"Are you okay?" Akuma asked, worried.

Those words, those three words. They were all it took for the emotions that had weighed on me to come crashing down. My breathing came out in short gasps, tears burned trails down my face, my grip on Akuma's hand tightened so hard it probably hurt him, but he didn't react to it, instead he pulled me closer, pulling me into a hug as a sob tore from my throat and I let go, silently crying on Akuma's shoulder. 

Word count: 1267

If CPS doesn't show up at my house Imma count myself lucky, the amount of research I had to do on restraining orders and how they could be, whether you could do it at a certain age (like teen years or even as a kid), how the parent could end up going to jail and what their sentence would be, also had to check if it was possible to get death penalties in America 😅

What do you guys think of the new format?