Caged Bird | ✔

Chapter Thirty Eight

''imagine you had a secret'' I begin, twirling my two index fingers together underneath the kitchen table nervously

''Okay'' William answers, not looking up from the chessboard, moving his bishop forward

I clear my throat and continue

''- and I know about this secret even though you have never told me about this secret. And maybe you are not embarrassed about the secret but it's a secret for a reason –''

I stop mid-sentence to pick up my knight, then move it in the specific way it moves by skipping a block and choosing which diagonal block after that to place it on

''- and then me, 'the person who knows you secret', whom like I said you have never told said secret to, all of a sudden just brings up your secret in casual conversation'' I say, setting down the knight a bit too hard on its block

William looks up to me, eyes dancing humorously before picking up a pawn and moving my knight off the board, which puts his piece in a position to eat another one of my pieces

I glance down at the board, and then back at him

''Don't you think you would be pissed because obviously how else would I have come to know that secret'' I finish.

He doesn't say anything, contemplating his next move if he should eat the third piece of mine scoring him a three streak annihilation, -which he could do, or just miss it and play differently

''is this 'hypothetical' scenario about you –'' he asks, choosing the latter and not moving my piece off the board

''no'' I answer firmly

He looks up to me, eyebrow raised as if he knows that I am lying

''yes.... maybe'' I fix ''but that's not the point, the point is you wouldn't like it'' I emphasize slowly drawing out my words

He shrugs gesturing for me to make my move, I pick up the nearest piece and move it respectively, not even trying to play strategically as I will most likely lose again

''Maybe I wouldn't like it,- '' he responds ''but If I agreed with how the person came about knowing about the secret I could potentially come to terms with it-''

I groan and cut him off

''No, no. this is not a matter of having to come to terms with something.'' I express enthusiastically ''I know this is contrary to your beliefs concerning acquiring information on people. But if were talking about what's morally and ethically correct....stalking is neither''

''it wasn't stalking'' he interjects

I nearly let out a big snort

''Watching someone without his or her consent...'' I trail off hoping he can complete the thought

I decide against that, thinking maybe finishing that thought is so far out of his realm of general thinking that he might not be able to

''it's stalking'' I finish

William sighs, and runs a hand through his hair

''Are you upset that I know these things about you?'' he asks rhetorically ''even though it's the truth and it helps me know you better, which was why I didn't think it would matter how I came into the power of finding out those details''

'Details' is an understatement. Details; is knowing what someone's favorite color is or that they like surfing. Details is not knowing every book that they have on their bookshelf and how they like to take cock