Angel (Damiano David & Victoria De Angelis)

Chapter 4

"Damiano...you can't avoid her forever. Just pick up the phone.", she tried to convince him when the phone rang for the 10th time that day. It had been like that since the big reveal. "I don't want to...I don't want to have to face her.", again, he was back in his hole of depression, not really able to do anything by himself and it honestly seemed to get worse and worse because unfortunately, it was almost impossible to overlook the hate they were getting. The only luck they had was that nobody really knew where their villa was, so at least they had their privacy. "She's your mother, Damiano...I'm sure she's just worried." She was sitting on the ground by the pool next to him, holding his hand to make him feel at least a little better. Only 3 days had passed and he had already lost quite a bit of weight because he could barely keep anything down. "Hey, Damiano...is it alright if I talk to Victoria for a few minutes? Can you stay with Thomas?", Ethan asked, holding his hand out for Victoria to grab. "I'm not sure this is a g-", she tried to protest but Damiano cut her off quietly: "It's okay...just...please be back soon..." She nodded, reluctantly grabbing Ethan's hand. He guided her up to his room and they sat down. "Vic...we need to talk about this. It can't go on like that. You are suffering, I can see that. And he is too..." She avoided his eyes, knowing he was right: "I know...and I'm trying to help him...but...I feel like I'm not doing anything. I know it takes time to heal but it's fucking hard to see him in so much pain." He rubbed her back in a friendly and comforting way: "No, don't get me wrong. You're doing a great job and you're helping him a lot because you are literally the only one who can calm him down. But we don't know how and when it's gonna get better and we can't hide out here forever. At some point we will have to face the consequences...and for that we need to get him to a point where he isn't going to make a suicide attempt after getting hate." She nodded, looking at her hands: "I know...and I'm working on it but...fuck, Ethan...I love him, okay? I know, we haven't made it official but I love him...and he loves me too." She blushed while saying that...even more so, when she felt that Ethan was smiling brightly: "I know, Vic. I've always known. Do you really think anyone would believe that you are just friends? You two belong together...you always have and you always will." That actually made her smile a little but that short moment of happiness was destroyed shortly after, when she heard Thomas yelling out her name.

She rushed outside, relieved when she saw that nothing had happened to Damiano. Of course, that didn't mean that he had called her for nothing. He was sitting on the edge of the pool, his legs in the water and he was harshly scratching his arms, making them bleed. She almost jumped into the pool, so she could stand right in front of him, only hearing Thomas apologizing very faintly. "Stop...stop, Angel...it's okay. What happened?", she asked in a soft tone of voice while gently grabbing his hands and holding them to stop him from hurting himself more. "They just won't stop...why can't they just believe me?", he asked desperately. She grabbed his phone which was still unlocked and that's when she got really fucking angry. In his DM's a so called Fan had sent him a photoshopped picture of Carla raping him. "Those little shitheads. They don't even deserve to live. No joke, anyone who does things like this needs to leave the world as soon as possible...come here, baby...it's gonna be okay...I'm gonna fucking kill them.", her voice was switching from angry to soothing and back to angry while she pulled him into her arms where he started sobbing quietly. She didn't care that the blood from his arms was getting all over her own body. It wasn't important. All that mattered was that she was able to hold and comfort him.

During dinner, he once again refused to eat but this time, she decided to try a little harder. She made some noodle soup for him because she figured it would be easier for him to keep very light stuff like that down. "Come on, Angel...we're gonna eat outside, okay? Just you and me.", she spoke in an optimistic tone of voice as she guided him outside to their garden where they sat down by a table. "There's no pressure, okay? You can take as much time as you need and it's okay if you have to throw up – I have this.", she showed him a bucket: "But I need you to eat that whole bowl. Your body really needs it." He shook his head. She noticed that his eyes had constantly been teary ever since their last concert. "I know you're right...you're always right. But I don't think I can..." She felt so bad for forcing him but she knew she had to: "I'm really sorry, Angel...but you have to." And with that, she made him eat the first few spoons. He seemed to be struggling badly, clutching the bucket in his arms. Not even half way through it, he threw up for the first time...that's also when he began to cry again. "You're doing so good, baby...I am so proud of you.", she praised him while rubbing his back. "I don't want to eat more, Vic...I feel sick and...and my stomach hurts." It was extremely hard for her to keep her composure because she really wanted to just give in and let him be but she couldn't do that. "Just a bit more, okay? I know it hurts but you need to eat.", she was speaking in a soothing way while continuing to feed him which got increasingly harder for her to go through with because his crying got worse and worse, though he continued to open his mouth when she needed him to. She took that as a sign that he was actually hungry. Eventually, the bowl was empty and he had actually managed to keep some of it down. "Good job...good job, Angel.", she praised and took the bucket away, sitting on his lap, so she could comfort him a bit better. She placed gentle kisses all over his face, tasting his salty and hot tears on her lips. His aura was consisting purely of anxiety and pain but it had something undeniably beautiful to it. She didn't know what it was exactly, but something about the way he was showing his vulnerability to her made her value this relationship even more. It had something special to it because she knew that nobody else on this whole planet had a connection quite like theirs. Even if she explained it in depth, those who hadn't been through it would never truly understand...this was a horribly wonderful thing that only she and him shared. And nobody would ever be able to take that away from them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

So, todays chapter is a bit earlier because I am pretty busy in the afternoon but I hope you like it anyway :)

So...do you think it's a good idea to force him to eat? What do you think about the conversation between Ethan and Victoria? And do you think her way of thinking is strange or is it a good thing that she can still find beauty in the relationship? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

- Thalia