May this promise last a lifetime

Chapter 28 - The second call

Neuvillette's POV

 As soon as I finished narrating the contents of the first page there was a loud bang followed by-

 "F*ck! Son of a b*tch!" Wriothesley cursed slamming his fist on the table.

 "Wriothesley-"

 "That f*cking- Damn! An emergency call is an emergency call! You have to check it out even if someone changes their mind halfway! That damn-"

 The rest of his words came out as muffled noises as I covered his mouth with my hand.

 "Sigewinne is still sleeping. Keep it down a bit." I tried to reason with him.

 There was no reason for him to be this angry.

 Even I wasn't.

 I had long become numb to the memory of it.

 It was too long ago.

 There was too much that was far worse later that remember much more vividly.

 He gripped my wrist, pulling my hand from his mouth with a glare.

 "You- How can you not be angry?! How are you-"

 "It is simple. Anger was never an emotion I associated with this memory. Fear, yes, but not anger."

 There was simply too much fear. There was no more space left for me to be angry.

 And...

 "It was almost 30 years ago. Leave it be. Let's just move on from it, okay?"

 He had to take a few deep breaths but he calmed down somewhat.

 "Is this... Is this okay? We can stop. We don't have to continue."

 His voice was shaking a bit, but there really was no need for it.

 "This file isn't that long. We can just continue."

 He was still hesitating even after that.

 Was he...

 "Are you afraid that this would hurt me?" I asked.

 A quiet 'yes' slipped from his lips and I couldn't help but be surprised.

 No one had ever worried about that when asking me about this.

 Not the police and definitely not the lawyers during the trial.

 Why?

 Why is he worried?

 We're not that close.

 At most we are acquaintances.

 Does he have a soft nature because of his daughter?

 "I'm quite alright. I can assure you."

 It was too long ago for me to cry about it now.

 Not that I cried much back then.

 Crying, after all, is one of the most useless things one could do.

 Nothing good comes from crying.

 Suddenly, I felt a gentle but reassuring squeeze on my hand.

 Ah...

 He was still holding it.

 It's nice.

 It feels warm and gentle instead of cruel and rough and I can't feel a single ill intent from his hold.