The Unintentional Collision

8. Closed book & Open book

No matter how comfortable and nice the bed was, I couldn't seem to make myself to go to sleep. I tossed and turned but couldn't even force myself to fall asleep. I ended up giving up and sat up on the bed, frustrated. I turned to my right and saw the huge window that covered half of the wall; covered with curtains but a bit of moon light was able to shine through on the floor next to the bed. I wanted to see the moon clearly, so I got out of the bed and walked towards the window to open the curtains. As soon as I opened the curtains, the moon shone on me as if I was being dragged out of darkness. I felt content. In that sort of situation people would be freaking out that they're staying with their boss, but I was feeling the opposite. It was like I was where I was meant to be. It was as if I was home.

Walking helped me to sleep better so I decided to go to the garden. I gradually opened the door to my room and began to walk down the stairs. The stairs were a little left to my door when you came out, so it wasn't far. As I walked down the stairs, I made sure not to be clumsy and wake everyone up. I was halfway down the stairs when I saw someone sitting on the couch in the dark, with only a lamp on the side table. Their back was turned my way so I couldn't figure out who it might've been, and the lamp didn't have enough light. I tucked my hair behind my ear and approached their way carefully.

Could it be an intruder? I really need to shut up. I overthink for everything. Surely, there are guards outside so no one can intrude even if they want to. 

I walked over to the couch, only to see that it was William. I was wondering if I should go over to him because he would always be a bit bipolar. I was about to head back into the room when I heard him call me from behind.

"What are you doing up so late?" I turned around and saw him still sitting down on the couch, but his body turned around to face me.

"I couldn't fall asleep." I paused and then carried on. "I could ask you the same question. What are you doing up so late?" I expected him to say something like, 'This is my house.' Or 'That's none of your business.' But surprisingly he responded with, "I can say the same thing as well. I couldn't fall asleep." He sighed and turned to look at the front. Without realising my legs took me to sit next to him on the couch. He didn't turn to look as I sat down. It seemed as if he was in a deep thought. As always, I became curious. I knew that it was his business, but I was simply going to suggest, and the rest would obviously be up to him if he wanted to share or not. I didn't even know how to ask him either. What was I meant to say? Was I meant to start off by saying, 'Is there anything you want to say?' or should I have asked, 'Do you want to share anything?' I was planning on what to say when he spoke up first.

"Do you want to say something?" He was staring in my eye while asking, for some odd reason I couldn't seem to bring myself to say what I wanted to say. He made me nervous? Probably. Most likely.

"No. I mean, yes. I do. You obviously were thinking about something or worrying about something." He became stiff and made me regret saying anything at all.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not in the position to know."

"I know you probably wondered where my parents are. I mean, someone with a house like this would clearly keep their parents with them." He chuckled. I felt guilty because I didn't really think about that.

"I'm sure there's a valid reason." I don't know why but at that moment I felt like there was nothing wrong in telling him a bit about myself. "I don't really stay with my parents." He turned my way to give his attention. He didn't ask 'why', but his eyes gave away the fact that he wanted me to go on. It seemed like he was interested in knowing more. I tucked my hair behind my right ear. This gave him a better view of my face. The house was quiet, as if it was only us in there. The lamp provided us with enough light to see each other's faces. "We had an argument over..." I paused for a bit and thought about how to phrase it and then continued. "... over someone. We basically stopped talking and never said a single thing to them ever since. I probably should but I don't think they even want to hear my voice every again." When I finished, I felt as if my eyes were tearing up so I let out a shaky breath and looked up at him with a little smile, only to see that he was still gazing at me. It was almost like he never thought I was going through anything. You know what I felt like doing that moment? I felt like hugging him. I felt like hugging him until we both didn't feel anymore pain.

"Talk to them." He finally said after a few seconds of silence. "Talk to them and sort the issues out before you lose the chance." He avoided looking into my eyes. It gave away that there was something that definitely happened between him and his parents, and I didn't want to push him to tell me. But my curiosity was still there.

"My parents, they died in a fire."

I didn't know what to say. All I managed to say was, "I'm sorry." In my case, I wasn't talking to them and it was our choice, but he didn't have that choice, he was left alone.

I looked up at him and felt bad for him. No one deserved to be without their parents like that. It's brutal.

How did the house catch on fire? I was tempted to ask him but the fact that he even opened up and told me about it meant a lot and I didn't want him to regret it. 

"They were murdered."

Another proof that he wasn't human.

He read my mind.

As soon as that sentence left his mouth, he gritted his teeth and balled his fists while leaning forward. I moved my body forward as well and placed my hands on his fist, making him look at me with his blood shot eyes. He wanted to cry, but he was holding it in. I wanted to say that he could cry, he could share more if he wanted to. Most of all, I wanted to tell him that he could trust me, but I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to say any of those. The person that I used to see as a cold-hearted person, in fact the person that everyone thought was a cold-hearted person was actually just broken. Alone.

"Someone deliberately caused the fire to happen. I swear to god, I'm going to make their life a living hell." His eyes were piercing mine, and I couldn't seem to avoid them. There was a rage; a rage that had the ability to destroy everything and everyone that came in the way.

My hand was still on his and I just gave it a little squeeze to show him that I'm there for him as a support. Someone that he could rely on and trust. I didn't know why I needed him to know that, and I didn't know why I was willing to support him, but I would've done whatever it took to help him get back together and not feel broken anymore.

"I'm sure you will."

If he wanted me to then I would've helped him get the murderer in jail.

They will get what they deserve.

"I will help you to get them into jail." I sent a reassuring smile in his direction, but he ended up removing his hand from mine and moved away and got his mask back on his face. The mask that deceived everyone into believing that he was heartless, but that moment I realised that he wasn't heartless; that heart was just broken and needed to be fixed by someone.

"You should go back to sleep."

"I-" He cut me off and told me to go to sleep but in a more stern voice that time, so that was what I ended up doing. I got up from where I was sitting and made my way up the stairs and into my room. I closed the door behind me and dropped my body on the bed lazily.

He was opening up to me. What made him go back to his usual self? He moved away when I mentioned about putting them into jail, but that's what he wants, right?