Love me, will ya?

Traumatizing past

As soon as they finished decorating the tree, the rest of Jeremie's family came back just in time for lunch. They were all surprised at the decorated tree, but they adored it.

While the rest were chatting together, talking about random stuff, Aelita didn't even notice that Jeremie was gone. She still cursed herself for not stopping immediately when Jeremie began to be nervous and hated herself for making him cry just a little bit.

Although she was curious...Jeremie looked like he was scared. Even after the incident, he didn't look too good.

And that's when she spotted a chance to learn something; his cousin.

She had learned while traveling back here that he and his cousin Patrick were good friends, almost like siblings. He even said that he and Patrick share their secrets with each other, talk about traumas, and so on.

He must know why would Jeremie be scared.

She saw that Patrick was sitting on the sofa in the living room, so she excused herself from the large dining table and walked into the living room, almost fully closing the door.

Patrick noticed her almost immediately, and with a smile patted a place next to him, but not too close; which Aelita wouldn't mind, but was very polite.

"Hey, Aelita," Patrick said, lowering down the volume on the television.

"Hi, Patrick," Aelita said as she sat down, straightening her sweater. "I have a question."

"What's up?" "Have you noticed how Jeremie looked when you came back?" Aelita asked as Patrick began thinking.

"Yeah...he seemed scared. Did you two throw the decorations at each other?" Patrick asked, chuckling afterward.

"No, but..." Aelita began, looking down. "I...Can I talk to you like a friend that will be serious, right?"

"Sure," Patrick said, turning the TV off completely. "But I'm not sure if I'm ready to hear what I'm gonna hear."

"I...wanted to have a little bit of intimate time with Jeremie," Aelita said, as Patrick nodded, but then as if he remembered something.

"And he was scared." "Yeah," Aelita said. "I don't know what I did. I was calm, jokey, maybe I just went with it too fast." 

"Maybe, I don't know," Patrick said. "But...Jeremie doesn't have the best history with these things."

"Jeremie?" "Not in the way you would think," Patrick said. "Do you want to know why he was scared?"

Aelita took a single deep breath and nodded. Patrick grabbed her hand lightly as if for comfort.

"Jeremie was...molested when he was younger," Patrick said, making Aelita open her eyes wide.

"W-What?" "And...by a close person to him...his grandfather," Patrick said, looking at Aelita, who was already crying.

"P-Poor J-Jeremie," Aelita said between sobs, hoping no one outside the room would hear them.

"He had probably the worst childhood because of it. And the worst part was that no one believed him." Patrick said, offering a tissue from the table to Aelita.

"He got over it, eventually, just before going to Kadic, but..." Patrick said, and Aelita nodded, wiping away her tears. "The mark is there."

"I need to be careful with him," Aelita said. "I must make him know that I won't hurt him, that I will be with him no matter what."

Patrick giggled, which seemed to confuse Aelita slightly.

"He doesn't deserve you." Patrick joked. "You are too nice for him."