Thorn in the Rose {Book 1 Of The Once Upon A Time Chronicles}

Chapter 48: The Look of Heartbreak

"Not now, petit cerf." 

"I'm just saying I wouldn't have moved it here."

"That's because you're allergic to physical labour."

"I'm not allergic to physical labour," he shrugs, "I'm simply a firm believer that not doing things like this is the way to enjoy life more." 

I roll my eyes and playfully punch his shoulder. He laughs and shoves my shoulder.

"Have you settled into your room?" I ask after a brief stint of silence. 

He nods. "I managed to get my mom to give me the last of my possessions this morning."

"What was it?" 

He reaches down his shirt and pulls out a silver chain decorated with an ornament shaped like a puffy bow that I've seen many French men wear back in my home town.

"My grandfather made this for me before he died. My father was going to keep it from me but she managed to get it for me."

I scoff and shake my head. "Your father is a prick."

"Yes he is, but it doesn't matter. I got what I wanted and now I have no more reasons to go back there. If in the future my mom wants to see me she can come here because I won't set foot in that place ever again."

An uneasy silence settles over the room and I can see all the pain floating in him. I know Adrien is happy that he finally stood up to his father and left home but that doesn't mean it hasn't been hard on him. I can't pretend to not see the moments when his smile drops when he thinks nobody is looking. I can't pretend that I don't hear sniffles and muffled screams and sobs coming from his room in the middle of the night. 

Glancing at him, I take quick notice of the tears starting to dot the corners of his eyes and his hands starting to tremble. More importantly, I can see him trying to keep it all locked inside. 

"Why a bow?"

"What?" he asks with furrowed brows and squinted eyes. 

I point to the necklace, "Why is the ornament on your necklace a bow?" 

"Oh," he looks down at the necklace and smiles for a second before looking back up at me, "He loved wearing bows like this. He had two that he loved very much a black one and a large red one. He said they made any man look classy."

I purse my lips and move my head from side to side. "Not always."

He chuckles. "Yeah, it's not a look for everyone. But he liked it." 

"I wish I could have met him." 

"You would have liked him and he would have loved you," he says with a smile. Suddenly he bursts out laughing. "He probably would have tried to convince us to get married." 

Unable to control myself I burst out laughing. Clutching at my stomach and wiping away tears that are trickling down my cheeks I shift toward my bed falling onto the soft mattress. 

Adrien may have been laughing alongside me in the beginning but the longer my almost uncontrollable laughter goes on the quieter and quieter he becomes until he goes silent and I'm the only one laughing. Little by little my laughter dies and it isn't long before the room is captured in the steel vice of silence. 

"Are you okay?" I ask. A large pit of uneasiness cuts into my stomach the longer I gaze into his eyes so shining with so much pain they're almost unbearable to look at. 

"I'm fine," he tries to smile but it doesn't work, "I was just thinking about something."

"About what?"