Keep it a secret / Arthur Leclerc (english)

Chapter 5

I woke up with a scream. I sat up, breathing heavily. Tears ran down my cheeks and I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. I sobbed, trembling. I couldn't do it anymore.

Suddenly the door was pushed open and Arthur was standing in my room. He looked at me in panic: "What happened? is everything ok?? Who hurt you?' He seemed genuinely concerned. Tears continued to flow down my cheeks and before I could answer, he was already sitting next to me on the bed and pulling me into his arms.

Glancing towards the door I saw Charles, Lorenzo and Pascale standing there. Arthur didn't even notice them. He hugged me tighter as I started shaking again, rubbing his hand gently down my back, "Shh... It's fine. I'm here." I am here. Nothing can happen to you anymore." Unsure, I hid my face on his shoulder and let the tears flow again.
Arthur wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and began to hum softly. He seemed to know exactly what to do to calm me down. We sat like that for at least an hour. I kept dozing off, but Arthur still stayed with me. He knew that I didn't want to be alone now. The entire time he stayed awake and made sure I stayed relaxed.

When I woke up a few hours later and looked next to me, Arthur was still lying next to me. By now he had fallen asleep too, but he still had one arm wrapped around me.

After a quick glance at the clock, I closed my eyes again and fell into a not very deep, but restful sleep. After about two hours I woke up to find Arthur gone. There was a small note on my bedside table. "I'm sorry if I stepped too close to you last night. I just thought that after an incident like this, I guess it was a nightmare, you didn't want to be alone. If you're hungry, just go to the kitchen. Arian will cook you something. I'll be back no later than 8 p.m. I hope you slept well after all, Arthur." This small gesture put a smile on my face and actually my stomach kicked in at that moment. So I changed into sweatpants and a soft sweater that smelled suspiciously like Arthur.

After a few minutes, I walked barefoot downstairs and went in search of Arian.However, I found Pascale. When she noticed me, she smiled slightly: "Good morning. You must be hungry, right? I'm making an omelette, do you want one too?" I nodded slowly and after about ten minutes it was already done. I had asked for a cocoa and was now sitting with Pascale at the dining table."I saw my son at your place last night... I assume you were having a nightmare and that's why you were so upset?" she asked me. I nodded as I chewed and Pascale started talking again: "Just so you know, Arthur was really worried about you yesterday. He was up all night watching over you. I asked him if I shouldn't do it, but he said he wanted to be there for you. He only slept for two hours to be there for you..."

I took a sip of my cocoa: "I'm sorry for causing you such trouble... I don't know why I keep having these nightmares... It's all good so long ago but it still haunts me." Pascale looked at me sympathetically: "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm not forcing you. Okay little one?" "But I would like to tell you..."

An hour later, when I had finished speaking, we were still sitting at the table. Arian had put away the plates in the meantime and he also made sure that I drank enough and didn't get cold. I probably would have found that overprotective under normal circumstances, but at that moment I was pretty comfortable.

Pascale was quite shocked when I told her about the incidents that caused these nightmares. However, that was probably normal considering that it all happened at my father's house.

We talked for a long time, played a few games in between and had a pretty nice day. Finally Lorenzo joined us.
He was telling a story from Arthur's childhood that made us all laugh when the door finally opened and Charles and Arthur entered the house.

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Here's the next chapter of "Keep It A Secret"! I hope you like it.

Btw, thank you so so much for over 1 K reads on this book! It's incredible and I'm so thankful for every single one of you. Please tell me if there are any things I could do better or so. I'm also happy if there are some people commenting, but you don't have to.

I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes but I was in a hurry when I wrote and translate this chapter and I'm also in a hurry now, so I will correct it at some other time.

Have some great holidays and stay tuned for the next chapter!