Cloud Nine

13.

JOSEPHINE LANGFORD

"Does it hurt a lot?" his finger slightly tracks the edge of my wound, which only makes me feel better the way he's so softly touching it.

I shake my head, but I can tell it doesn't convince him. He wraps up the medical kit, and stands up on his feet, departing from the dining area. I instantly feel cold when he's away from my sight, and I impatiently wait for him to join me again.

After yesterday, I couldn't have gone to my mother. Or anyone but him. I snuck out the moment Nate fell asleep and I was sure he was out for the night because if I had left during the fight, he would have come after me or worse, wouldn't have let me leave at all.

It feels as though whenever I'm alone, the events of last night pop into my mind and my hands start shaking again.

I am trying my best not to show it. But I'm shattered from the inside. Because he crossed a line yesterday, and I saw him for who he really is.

He was this maniac all along and just kept pretending to seek vengeance from me because I had gone on a trip with a man alone. He said the moment he saw Hero and me coming out of the airport, he knew I had betrayed him. When in reality, I had always been the faithful one. He believed a child, his child, would keep me from interacting with Hero, moreover, it would give a final seal to our forced relationship from which I would never be able to get out.

All I could hear when he was saying all of that was, "I'm a psychopath, an obsessive piece of shit Jo, you could just never see it"

At first, I couldn't believe that all of it was even happening to me, but then I started reminiscing about his past behavior and how I should have fucking left the first time.

I knew that I couldn't stay with that man any longer, not as much as for a night, when he had laid hands on me, not drunk and aware of the fact that I'm with his child. I couldn't care less about my father, about his reputation, and about any other shit in the world, I just knew I had to save myself from him.

So I sat in my car and drove to the only person my bleeding heart was calling out for.

"You wanna watch something?" his voice brings me back, and I feel warm and safe again when he prompts me with a curious smile, heading towards the living room couch.

I shake my head. I don't feel like doing anything right now. Not a thing I could think of doing willingly.

"Not even Gilmore girls?" he asks wide-eyed and I half smile at the fact that he knows me too well to know my comfort show. I don't say anything and just join him on the couch, staring at the 54-inch TV in front of me.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that girl last night... I'm so sorry I interrupted you guys" I speak when he comes back again and the image of the half-clothed girl leaving his apartment in the middle of the night flashes inside my mind. I was not in my senses to acknowledge her much, but it bugs me that I disturbed his privacy in so many ways.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I was coming back up last night from a jog and she was in the elevator, claims she lives in this building too. And it was really late, I don't even remember how she ended up in my apartment" he rambles, but I have a feeling he does remember, he just doesn't want to go into those details with me. And I won't push him either.

Two episodes pass by— both of us silently watching the show, and for a second there I get too consumed by it, by Lorelai as a matter of fact, and that makes me feel a bit better of course. She always helps lighten up my mood, she is one of the people I know would always make me smile.