You are a young girl of 15 who has a severe phobia of water and of fish. Your therapist wants to try exposure-therapy, and hands you a plane ticket. Can a neurotic girl and carefree boy bring out the best in one another? And what happens when you fi...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TW:// Ercole being creepy in this chapter, just a heads-up!
The excuse that you wanted to experience the town by yourself worked, as you left Massimo's home with permission from the fisherman. You had just eaten, and the question caught both Massimo and Alberto off guard. The older man let you though, proud that you felt safe enough to go out alone. Crimes almost never happened around here, after all.
You knew Alberto was staring at you suspiciously as you stood up and left.
You had to know, though. For your own peace of mind. Excusing yourself, you left the home and walked toward the gelato store.
Just as promised, Ercole was hanging around outside. As he heard your footsteps and turned, he didn't look too surprised to see you, almost as if he had predicted your curiosity making you show up.
"Ercole," you greeted him stiffly.
The older guy smirked, putting a hand on his hip with a raised eyebrow, "So, you showed up. You do not trust fish-boy, right?"
"I didn't say that," you glare, crossing your arms. You weren't sure if it was a self-placating gesture, or if your bare arms were cold. "I have no reason to not trust Alberto, but you keep insisting he's a horrible person so I wanted to get your side of the story. If you're going to keep insulting him then I'm going to go back inside-"
You turn to leave, but are stopped in your tracks as Ercole launches forward to grab your arm, stopping you from leaving. His hand was cold and clammy, grip hard and bruising, and you quickly shook your wrist to make him let go.
With your attention once again, he looked unamused, "Fine! You want to hear what I have to say? I'll tell you. He is not loyal, not in the slightest. The second you go against him, he'll leave you in the dust! It's what he did to the other kid he hangs around with, and he did the same thing to Giulia. You are not the exception."
"I don't believe you," you rolled your eyes, "You're just trying to make me dislike him, and for what? We barely know each other."
Ercole props his arm up on the wall behind you, and you suddenly realize he had been caging you in this entire time, making deliberate movements to back you up against a surface. He was like a shark, and the thought made you feel sick.
His flimsy moustache lifted as his lips formed a sleazy smile. "Because a beautiful girl like you should be with a real man, not a monster like him."
His choice of words was curious and had you thinking, but you could do that later. You pushed into him with all your might, shoving him backwards away from your body. Ercole put out his arms to steady himself as you turned and marched back to Massimo's home, ignoring the verbal harassment he targeted at you as you walked away from him. 'This was a dumb idea, I never should've even entertained his offer,' you thought, wiping some tears from your face, 'I just want to curl up and pass out so I don't have to think about any of this.'
As you stormed through the front door, you noticed Alberto was the only one at the table currently. No food was in front of him, assumptions could be made that he was waiting for your return. His head shot up when he heard the door open, but he shrunk back down as you stormed by him, stomping up the stairs.
You slammed the bedroom door shut behind you and flopped down face-first onto the mattress, trying hard to keep your sobs down. You felt gross, weak, and pathetic for not realizing his intentions before.
Three knocks came from the door, and you looked up just as it creaked open ever so slightly. "Y/N...?"
