The Heart's Melody | ✅

Chapter 10: Confessions

Tobias called his father first thing in the morning asking for a few days off. He never did that. In fact, his father often had to force vacation days on him to make him relax a little bit. Marcus was proud of his son, but working without taking some time off became counterproductive. It seemed odd to Marcus that Tobias would call him on Sunday morning for that, but he agreed and told his son to take as much time as he needed, but to be available if they had to talk to him. Tobias happily agreed and hung up.

Everyone in the apartment was still asleep. Tris fell asleep around five a.m. but Tobias couldn't close an eye. Her confession was ringing loud in his head and the subsequent talk wasn't really helping. Tris told him that after she found the videos she called Eric first. At the mention of Tris' teacher Tobias got jealous again, but he trusted her when she told him there was absolutely nothing going on between them. She told him everything that happened after she found those horrible videos, how Eric and Cameron convinced her to go to the police, about the closed trial and how she started therapy. He was proud of her. She wanted to work through things and he was hell bent on helping her.

He made pancakes for her since he knew how much she loved them and prepared everything to take it to her room. He made coffee and squeezed some oranges and went into the bedroom with the tray in his hands. He pushed the door open, since it was ajar, and entered the room. He sat the tray down on her nightstand and kissed her lips softly. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him. She gave him a shy smile, but her eyes betrayed her sadness. He swore to make that sadness disappear and replace it with happiness. She deserved it, probably more than anyone.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said and her smile widened a little.

"Morning, handsome," she replied and he kissed her again. It was a chaste kiss. She sat up and leaned against the headboard staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm glad you stayed," she said. It meant more than it sounded like. He nodded before sitting closer to her and pulling her in his arms.

"I'm not going to leave you, so stop worrying about that," he told her while rubbing her back. He let go of her and she watched him. "I took a few days off," he informed her.

"You shouldn't have," she said quickly. He frowned. He thought she would be happy if he stayed with her.

"I can leave if you don't want me here," he said, trying to sound neutral, but it hurt him that she would send him away.

"I didn't mean it like that," she said. "I don't want you to miss work because of me."

"Work can do without me. But I need to be with you. I know you are strong, Tris, but let me be by your side." She didn't know what to say or if she should say anything at all. She nodded, secretly ecstatic about the prospect of having him with her a while longer. She really thought he might change his mind about her and leave her, but yet here he was offering to stay with her longer than planned.

They ate the scrumptious food he prepared and decided to stay in her room for the rest of the day.

On Monday Tris made an appointment with Johanna and asked Tobias to accompany her. He accepted because he really wanted to show her how much he cared for her and that he would always support her.

They got there by cab and entered the office of the therapist hand in hand. The office smelled of cinnamon again and Tris relaxed a little bit. They sat down and after Tobias introduced himself to the middle-aged woman the session started.

"What brings you here today?" Johanna asked them, a kind smile grazing her features.

"I told Tobias about Drew," Tris said directly. Tobias noticed that Tris never sugar-coated things. She got them out and dealt with the consequences.