The Engagement | COMPLETED

ELEVEN.

"Show me?" Before I could say anymore, he pulled his shirt over his head and revealed his torso. My jaw slacked. I was not expecting to see what I saw.

There were lines of various thicknesses etched all over his body. I also saw round marks nearing his shoulders and the left side of his chest. What happened to this man?

I stood up from my seat and walked over. My right hand reached out, to see if all this was real.

"Alex," he called out, attempting to stop me. I heard him, but I wasn't listening. He took a step back, trying to create some distance in the somewhat tiny room, but I kept advancing.

My right hand reached out and my fingers traced over the largest scar, the one that ran halfway across his chest. He breathed in sharply and his muscles tensed as if the scar was still a fresh open wound. Something that was still causing him so much pain. His eyes were closed shut, probably reliving the memory of how this was craved into him in the first place.

"That was done by a broken beer bottle," he said with a tight voice.

"Who?" I asked quietly.

"My mum."

NATHAN.

He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed and mouth ajar. "Your mum? You're still calling that woman your mum after all this?" I could almost feel anger and confusion boiling within him. I was surprised that he was getting angry, for my sake. 

"Biologically, yes. Whether or not she's fit to be one, that's another issue altogether." I took another deep breath as his fingers continued to skim across my skin. It was ridiculous how gentle he was being, like he was afraid I would crumble any moment.

"She was young. The man that she was with had knocked her up and abandoned her. Her family thought she was a disgrace so they kicked her out. Essentially, she was all alone." My breathing hitched as he continued to trace over the scars near my shoulder.

"Go on. Tell me more," he said quietly, encouraging me to continue.

"She spiraled out of control. Drugs and alcohol became her comfort. I became her punching bag. She would come home with a beer bottle in her hand, hardly sober enough to stand up."

"What did she- how did she do this to you?" he asked carefully.

Another deep breath in. "The scars are mostly done by things like canes and her thin-ass belts. When she couldn't find her ashtray, I was the next best thing. She would very often fling her bottles at me while I tried to run. If she didn't have a bottle, she would throw anything she could grab her hands on. Believe it or not, the scars are nothing compared to what she said."

His hands cupped my face and he looked straight into my eyes. I found comfort in them, as if they were telling me that it's okay. It gave me the strength to keep going.

The thought of being open with anyone has always scared me and that resulted in me avoiding unwanted attachments with anyone.

'They will all leave, you're never safe with anyone' was a mantra that I repeated over and over in my head for years on end.

Yet here I was, being completely vulnerable with Alex. Strangely enough, I felt safe with him. His fingers continued to trace over the various lines on my body and something stirred within me.

"She would never fail to mention how unwanted I was in her life, how I was dragging her down. I was.. a burden. Some useless existence. I was to blame for her being abandoned. She would beat the shit out me, psychically and verbally. Then, she'd hug me and say how sorry she was while sobbing. Her remorse lasted 5 minutes before she would start burning holes in me with her cigarette."

I could feel cold sweat running down my back just from remembering. All the words she threw at me became permanent, repeated over and over in my head.

"Is that the reason why-?"

"Yeah. I only found out that I could no longer let anyone close after I was placed into a foster home. My foster parents tried to hug me and I screamed so loud the entire block could hear me. Kinda became my defense mechanism."

ALEX.

My heart ached for the man in front of me. Even though I had an inkling, hearing it first hand was something else.

His muscles tended wherever my fingers touched and chest heaved. As if the pain from the past was still flowing through the scars. There were so many. Somewhere fainter than others, some were just outright striking.

It hurt. I was hurting.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, not knowing what else to say. "I'm sorry that you had to go through all that."

"Don't be," he said as he held my left hand in his right, placing it over his heart. "At least you're here now, and I won't let you go anywhere," his voice husky and dangerously low.

The atmosphere between us did an entire one-eighty, changing from somewhat solemn to sensual. The air around us became thick and it was getting difficult to breathe. It suddenly hit me that he was shirtless.

I gulped. The tension between us grew with every passing second and I know he felt it too. His gaze darkened and it had something different from the first time we were so close. It felt like he was staring right at into my soul.

He guided my left hand that he was holding on to his waist, placing it there. 

"You know you're very hard to resist right now?" He said in a husky voice as he tilted my head up by the chin. It sent shivers running down my spine and rendered me speechless.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere," he repeated as his hand slid to the back of my neck as he started to lean in. 

Oh god. 

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(1614 words)

A/N: I had a particularly hard time writing this part because my little heart aches for Nathan too.

And it was difficult to make it so that I give enough details, yet not too much details. This part ended up being one of the longest ones I wrote so far.

But ohmaigosh are they gonna kiss this time?!?!?! Read the next one to see!

How did you find this part? Please leave a comment to tell me your experience with this part. 

See you all in the next part!