𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 [𝟏𝟖+]

030: promise

A small thud from downstairs in the otherwise completely silent house catches my attention. I place a finger between the pages and close the book I was reading, straining my ears to pick up on any other sounds. As the seconds tick by, I feel myself growing nervous.

'What was that noise?'

No one is at home at this time of the day other than me. Adrien is in college and Theo is God knows where. I pick up the bookmark from the nightstand and replace it with my finger, properly closing the book this time, and setting it next to me on the bed. I wasn't even reading thriller or horror, and yet, I find myself feeling nervous in broad daylight.

No other sound reaches my ears and everything goes back to being dead silent. Did I even hear correctly? I am sure I heard a soft sound. A silent gasp leaves my parted mouth when a sudden question comes to the forefront of my mind.

'What if it was an intruder?'

The question feels like a punch to my gut. All the air gets knocked out of my body in fear. Because I'm not lying when I say I have absolutely zero survival skills. What if it is indeed an intruder? What am I going to do now?

The sound came from downstairs and that's where the kitchen is. I can't even risk going downstairs to grab a knife. And I don't play any sports to have a baseball bat or something of the sort lying around in my room. Oh, God. Why are you doing this to me? Let me at least fully recover from the events of last night. I don't want to die yet.

I swing my legs off the bed and my feet land on the floor. I shakily get up from the bed and walk towards the door to my bedroom.

I gingerly walk down the stairs, taking each step excruciatingly slowly, and trying not to make any sound. I mentally pray to God that the sound was only a trick of my mind since I'm all alone in this big house. When I finally reach the bottom stair, I hear the sound of water running.

'This is definitely coming from the kitchen,' I think to myself and momentarily forget how to breathe. There goes my chance of grabbing a knife for self defence. And I forgot my phone in my room. Just great.

I walk around the corner and the sight that greets me is an empty living room. Nothing looks out of the ordinary. I turn around with baited breath and my eyes land on a figure in the kitchen. Back turned to me and clad in his signature black t-shirt, he is washing his hands in the sink.

I release the breath that I had been holding and clutch my chest where my heart was about ready to jump out of my ribs.

"Theo?" I ask, entering the kitchen and taking a few steps towards him.

"Princess," Theo says in a surprised tone and turns his head to look at me. His expression soon changes to a neutral one as he turns off the water. "Why aren't you in school?

"I, uh, didn't feel like going today," I quietly tell him, fidgeting with my thumbs. "What are you doing here? I thought you were away for—"

I stop short in my sentence when I notice a small trail of blood running down the side of his temple.

"Theo?" I gasp and he gives me a puzzled look. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

I immediately rush closer to him and hold his face in my hands. I turn his face to look for other injuries, but find none.

"How did this happen?" I ask again, letting go of his face and stepping back.

"It's fine. I'm not hurt," Theo replies simply. He tears a small piece from the paper towel and wipes his face where my eyes are trained.

"How can you say that you're fine?" I look down at his t-shirt and find some dirt on it. His jeans look relatively cleaner.

"Where were you?" My voice rises just the slightest and my heart starts to beat faster than normal. Theo avoids my eyes as he discards the used tissue.