Falling In Love With Him

CHAPTER 43

Chapter 43

"Good morning, baby," I heard Matt say and I felt him kiss me on the lips. I opened my eyes and sighed. I was still exhausted. It felt like I didn't get enough sleep. It was only then that I realized I could her rain hitting the house. "It's raining?" I asked. "Yes, it is," he replied. I nodded. He was sitting in front of me on the sofa while I was lying down. "Wanna get some breakfast?" he asked me. I nodded and he pulled me up. We walked into the kitchen and everyone was already there. It was pretty dark outside so the lights in the house were on. It felt really cosy because the lights were pretty dim and nice. We sat down at the table and Stefan put a plate of pancakes in front of us. "Thanks," I said and smiled at him gratefully. Not only for the pancakes, but for last night. He nodded and smiled back. We all ate while making conversation and it was pretty fun. 

"Come join us, man," Jake said to Stefan. Stefan had a plate of pancakes in his hand and a mug of coffee in the other. "Sure. I'll just give this to Bartolomeo first," he said and took an umbrella. He went outside and I watched as he made his way into the forest. I hope he didn't get lost. I was relieved when he came back 10 minutes later. He joined us for breakfast and it actually felt like real vacation. After breakfast, everyone went to the living room except for me and Stefan. I wanted to help him wash the dishes. I grabbed them off the plate and gave them to him. "You wash, I dry," I said to him. He smiled and said, "I'll do this." "No, I wanna help," I told him. He shrugged and let me help him. "If you ever need someone to talk to or if you ever need some company at night, I'm here for you. I can never fall asleep until 4 AM," he said, breaking the comfortable silence between us. "Thank you," I said and gave him another grateful smile. 

Since it was raining, the whole day, we couldn't really do anything and we all stayed in the house. That night, I tried to sleep so hard but I really couldn't. Matt had already fallen asleep. 

I looked over at the clock on the bedside table and it was almost 15 minutes past 12. I sighed and closed my eyes. I dreamt the same dream, the same nightmare. As soon as I closed my eyes, I dreamt of being stabbed again. I held in a scream as I jolted up. I looked up and Matt barely even moved. He was such a deep sleeper. I sneaked out of the room and found Stefan cleaning in the kitchen. As soon as I saw him, I ran up to him and threw my arms around him and cried into his chest. "What's wrong?" he asked and I heard the worry clear in his voice. He pulled us over to the kitchen table and he made us sit down. "I…" I stuttered. "What happened?" he asked again. "The dream…it felt so real," I whispered. He hugged me tightly and sighed. "It's all over," he kept saying over and over but I couldn't believe what he said. He just held me while I cried for about an hour and when I finally could breathe, I pulled away from him. I laughed humorlessly and wiped my cheeks. "Sorry," I said with a light laugh. He shook his head and he pushed the hair that had fallen in front of my eyes behind my ear. "Don't be. I get what you're going through," he told me. I nodded and gave him a smile. 

"Want something to drink? I make a men hot chocolate," he said with a grin. I laughed, a real laugh this time, and nodded.  After he made hot chocolate, we watched some tv but there was nothing good on so we just turned it off. We started talking since there was nothing else to do. "Hey, I was wondering…" he said, trailing off. "Yeah?" I asked after taking a sip of hot chocolate. "Why did you bring a doctor along?" he asked. "Oh, uhm, you know about me being poisoned, right?" I asked him. He nodded. "Well, they don't know if it had any side effects or anything so we brought a doctor just in case," I told him. He nodded understandingly and said, "Well, are there any effects?" I thought for a second. "Well, not that I know of but maybe these nightmares are?" I said. "Yeah," he agreed with a nod. "So, what do you wanna do?" he asked. 

"I'm going to the mainland to get some groceries. We're running out," Stefan stated and I turned around to look at him. "Can I come?" I asked and looked at him hopefully. We'd been on the island for a week already and it was amazing but I also wanted to see the mainland. Might as well treat this getaway as a vacation. "Sure," he said and I jumped up excitedly. "Let's go, Matt," I said and tugged on his arm. "No," he grumbled and pulled the blanket over his head. We were on the couch together and he had fallen asleep. He looked so cute. He barely had any sleep last night for some reason. "Come on," I pleaded. "Later," he grumbled and I sighed. "Fine, you stay and sleep," I said and kissed his cheek. "Let's go," I said and looped my arm around Stefan's. Over the week, we had gotten a lot closer. He was practically like an older brother to me or a really close friend. We got on the little speed boat that we had incase we wanted to go off the island. The boat ride was about 30 minutes and when we got there, we were already at the small market place that they had. They sold everything from food to clothes. Just to be safe, our parents had gotten us body guards. One of them had gone with me and Stefan and he trailed slowly behind us as we walked. 

Stefan carefully made us through the busy streets full of people and we went inside one of the shops. We bought groceries and when we finished, we decided to have lunch since we were already there. As we walked through the streets, I couldn't help but feel paranoid. I looked around me nervously and met the eyes of strangers. Any of them could've been in cahoots with Michael and we wouldn't even know. My breathing had picked up and I could feel my heartbeat getting stronger. Stefan turned to look at me and immediately, concern flashed in his eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked and grabbed my hands. I looked back and saw that the bodyguard was still behind us. I quickly pulled the Stefan into a small path in between two stores and breathed out in relief as we were far away from the crowd of people. "What's wrong, Casey?" Stefan asked me again. The bodyguard had then walked into the pathway and followed us. "I don't know. I guess I'm just feeling a little paranoid what with all the people," I told him. He nodded understandingly and let of my hands. "Let's just take this path and see where we end up. You know where we're going, right?" I asked the bodyguard. He nodded. Our parents hired people who were familiar with the mainland so that they could guide us and we wouldn't get lost. 

I walked ahead of the guys and only then did I notice a guy leaning against the wall. He was in a big black jacket and he hid his face. I looked back and Stefan and the bodyguard were behind me. They were walking together and talking quietly. I breathed in and let out. "You're just being paranoid," I thought to myself and continued to walk. The closer I got to the guy, the more scared I got. When I was barely a meter away from him, he pushed himself up off the wall and stood in front of me. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. "Consider this a warning," he whispered and his voice brought a chill down my spine. Before I even got the chance to reply, he took a swing at my face and I fell back with a sting on my right cheek. He had punched me! I looked up at him in shock and I saw him smile before he started walking away. "Hey!" Stefan screamed and the bodyguard started chasing the guy. He already stepped out of the hallway and into the crowd of people when the bodyguard even got close. 

Stefan dropped down and looked over for my body for any injuries. Other than my cheek, there was nothing else that hurt. "Are you okay?" he asked, panicked. I nodded and swallowed. He touched my cheek and I winced. "Shit," he muttered. He helped me up and I grabbed onto his arm. "We have to get out of here. Let's get back on the island," he said and I nodded. We made our way to the entrance of the pathway and we looked around at the people. We spotted the bodyguard coming to us. "I lost him," he said and grabbed my arm. "Let's get back to the island," Stefan said to him quietly. We pushed our way through the crowd of people and Stefan and the man never let go of me. We got on our boat and quickly got away. I breathed a sigh of relief and I relaxed slightly. "What happened?" Stefan asked me. "The man, he said something and then he punched me," I said and shook my head. "What did he say?" he asked. "He said, 'Consider this a warning.' You don't think that HE found us, do you?" I whispered with shaky hands. He took them in his and gave me a helpless look. "It's possible," the bodyguard said, "But there's a bigger possibility that they don't know there the island is." "How come?" I said to him. "We blocked off all the signal that comes and goes from the island. The last trace that he could probably have of us is when we made a quick stop at the mainland." I nodded at him. 

When we got to the island, we went in the house quickly. Everyone was in the living room and they were all watching some tv show, laughing and enjoying. That was quickly ruined when they saw us. Matt was the first to react and he jumped up off the couch and came to me. "What happened?" he growled and touched my cheek. I let out a hiss and winced at his touch. "What happened?" he asked again. Stefan was the one to answer and everyone let out gasps of disbelief. "How could you let him get so close?!" Jonah barked at Stefan and the bodyguard. "Jonah, don't get mad at them. It's not their fault. It happened so quickly," he nodded but I could see the worry in his eyes. "Does this mean that they found us," Matt's mom asked. "Not likely," Jake answered. He repeated what the bodyguard had said and I could see the relief in everyone. "We should take extra careful measures," his dad said. 

We agreed that nobody would go back to the mainland except for the bodyguards until we understood more about what had happened. We called my dad and he was sending more bodyguards to us. After we all talked about it, we all dispersed into different parts of the house. Matt's parents went to their room, my mom went with Janey to play on the beach and Stefan went to the kitchen to store away the groceries. Dr. Carlton stayed and looked at my cheek. "Just put some ice on it," he advised and he left to go to his room. Matt, Jonah, Jake and I were left in the living room.