Always | Protector 3.3 (#Wattys2018)

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Nolan

       I was glad when I woke up the next day and I was already feeling a lot better. In fact, I was more than happy to actually leave the bed and even leave the hotel room. I kept feeling bad because Jerome spend a lot of money for us to be here, but he kept saying it didn't matter. If I wanted to stay in bed all day in the hotel, he was okay with it.

       I still didn't know how I lucked out on marrying the best husband out there. He was just so sweet and patient. While I did worry I would annoy him from time to time, he kept assuring me that nothing I would do would ever annoy him.

       You know, unless I kept stealing his hoodies. Which I definitely was going to keep doing. He couldn't stop me.

       Walking through the streets of Paris was definitely an amazing feeling. Not only was it such a beautiful city, but it was nice for me to get some fresh air after who knows how long of constantly staying in my room, even back home.

       Before going to the Louvre Museum, we went to a cafe for lunch since it would be my first actually eating at a cafe in Paris. I mean, I already tried a lot of the food since Jerome would always bring food from the nearest cafe, but it wasn't the same of actually sitting in the cafe, looking out the window to watch the scenery.

       "I'm glad to see you're doing better," Jerome said as we were eating our lunch. Kingsley, who was sitting in a high chair, had completely demolished the food we had given him and was now just picking smaller pieces to eat.

       I smiled softly at Jerome and thankfully, it didn't feel like a forced smile. Of course, I wasn't just suddenly feeling one hundred percent okay, but I was genuinely happy, even if it was just a small amount.

       It was better than nothing.

       "Thank you for being so patient with me," I said. "And for taking me here. I know I've been spending most of the trip in bed, but--"

       Jerome shook his head. "But nothing. I keep telling you, there's nothing wrong with staying in bed when you don't feel like you can do anything. Even if you did stay in bed the entire trip, you still tried a lot of new food, and you're constantly looking out the hotel window just to look at the scenery. It's okay."

       This. This was exactly why I loved Jerome so much and couldn't imagine my life without him. He was just so patient with me and never made me feel guilty or feel like I was lazy. Ever since I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, he had been so understanding with it.

       "I love you," I said, which was a bit random and out of place, but it was one hundred percent the truth.

       Jerome smiled at me. "I love you, too. And since I love you so much, you should give me back that hoodie you're wearing."

       I looked down, forgetting exactly what hoodie I was wearing. Although, I should have known it was one of the hoodies I stole from Jerome. I didn't even remember the last time I wore one of my own hoodies and not one I took from Jerome.

       I looked back at my husband. "I can't give it back. It's mine now."

       Jerome sighed, but I knew it wasn't one of annoyance. If he really did have a problem with me stealing his hoodies, he would just tell me. "I still don't get how you could hide all those hoodies on me when we live together. I know every nook and cranny of the house. I've searched ever nook and cranny of the house and came up with nothing."

       I smiled innocently. "Clearly, you haven't searched every nook and cranny if you can't find them."

       Jerome narrowed his eyes at me as if he was trying to scan my thoughts in order to find out exactly where I've hidden them. I think Jerome genuinely didn't know about the place where I've hidden them, but if there was one thing for sure it was that I was not going to tell him where it was.

       To be honest, I kind of wanted to see how long it would take for him to find it.

       Once we were all done eating, we headed to the Louvre for what was, in the end, my favourite part of the trip so far. I knew some people found museums boring, but I definitely didn't. I loved looking at all the art styles. Not only that, but I actually got to see famous, legitimate pieces of art that I learned about in school.

       I didn't think it was possible to love Jerome even more than I did right now, but visiting the Louvre did make me love him even more. He wasn't really interested in art as much as I was, but he still took me here because he knew how much I wanted to do here.

       I know I didn't have to repay him, but I did want to give him some kind of thanks when we get back home. Or even here, if I could think of something. Well, there was something, but it would kind of be hard to get done with our son here.

       Even once we finished touring the Louvre, we didn't head back to the hotel. I told Jerome I was still feeling more than okay to walk around the city, so that was what we did. We just walked around, taking note of places that seemed interesting for us to visit later.

       It wasn't until we started getting hungry for dinner that we decide to go to the hotel. I would have loved to go out for dinner, but I had been around a bit too much people for the time being. 

       "Sorry for wanting to come back," I said to Jerome once we were in the hotel room, the door closed behind us. "I know you want to go out to dinner instead of just getting room service."

       "Nolan, I keep telling you that it's okay," Jerome said. "We're still going to be here for a few more days. And as for tomorrow, or a day we want to go out to dinner, we can always head to a park or anywhere else without that many people. Or we can even stay in until you're ready to go out for diner. We're just going to be playing it by ear."

       I smiled at Jerome. "Okay."

__________________

SORRY FOR THE TWO YEAR WAIT BETWEEN CHAPTERS. it doesn't help that i have a lot of aus with jerome and nolan, since it's not like i miss them. (missing characters are normally my motivations for updating)

 but like i've said before and in my bio, if you want me to update a book, just tell me on my profile! as soon as i see the message, i'll update the book you want no later than a week later. (in fact, it's normally the next update day after i see the message unless there is something else i need/want to update first)