"They'll hurt you and my friends" he mutters and starts shaking while sobs come out of his body.
"Oh my little bear" I mutter holding him tight against me.
"Ssshhh you're okay, just breathe buddy" I try to comfort him while rubbing circles on his back.
After a while his sobs turn into hiccups.
"You can tell me, bud. I'll make sure that everything will be okay. Nobody's going to hurt you, your friends or me." I reassure him.
He looks at me skeptical, "you can't tell anyone not mom, dad, aunties, uncles, grandma, grandpa or my and your brothers" he tells me.
"I can't promise that. If it's not necessary then I won't, I promise but if there is something that I can't solve on my own with you then I will have to, to protect me and you and your friends, okay"
"Okay" he agrees after a minute.
"There are these new kids a couple years older then me. T-they hurt me. I try to stop them but they're just so much stronger and taller that they have me in their grip so tight and fast that I-..I can't escape them. They said that if I try to do something that they would not only hurt me but also my friends and you. Well not exactly you but their older brothers would hurt you, I don't want you to get h-hurt Val" he hiccups.
I don't say anything for a couple of seconds just hug him tighter.
"Are you physically hurt now?" I then ask.
After considering and doubting to tell the truth he nods his head.
I suck in a deep breath, "c-can I see? Just to make sure that the injuries aren't too serious."
He nods before going out of my grip and lifting his shirt up. His stomach and chest are covered in bruises, some yellow indicating that they are healing so that's good.
"Can I?" I ask while reaching out my hand to his chest.
He nods so I touch his ribs to make sure that they aren't broken or anything.
They aren't, that's good.
"Does it hurt when you breathe?"
"A little, especially after... but it subsides over time" he answers.
"Okay"
I press a little on his stomach after telling him to lie down.
"I need you to answer honestly do you have any of the things that I'll be summoning?
Dizziness, severe weakness, passing out, low blood pressure, acute visual problems, numbness, weakness on one side of the body, severe headache, severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea"
"Yeah, like after that I'm a little dizzy, nauseous and it's hard to breathe like it hurts."
"Is it difficult to see sometimes or painful headaches?"
"No not really"
"Have you passed out?"
"No I don't think so."
"Okay, I don't think you have an internal bleeding. The nausea, dizziness and painful breathing is probably just from the impact from the...beating." I tell him before pulling his shirt down.
"Are you going to tell the others?" He asks with hopeful eyes.
I think for a while before answering, "I won't for now at least, we're going to try something to stop it all but if it doesn't work then I'll have to tell the others, okay."
He nods before giving me another hug, I hold him in my embrace while we look at the city once more.
"Tomorrow morning I'll come pick you up with firefly and then we'll drive to school. There we will face those assholes together."
"How? What're you going to do? What if they think that because I can't defend myself you're there to help me or something, then they'll hurt me even more." He worries.
"When we go there and they try to hurt you, you'll have to stand up for yourself. If you can't get out of their grip...insult them. Hurt their pride, that's why they are hurting you. They want to feel better about themself by hurting someone else. If you hurt their pride then they'll stop..hopefully. If they do hurt you then I'll come in between you guys get them off of you. If hurting their pride doesn't work try to hurt them back, if you fight back they'll get bored and hopefully stop too. You know I was bullied at my old school.-" He looks at me in shock waiting for me to continue, "-one day I fought back, a girl hurt me and I hurt her back, nobody touched me again because they knew what could happen. Another tactic is to ignore them, if they call you names let them. When they can't get a reaction out of you, the reaction they want, they'll stop because they will bored. You need to stand your ground, tell them to stop with confidence. Even though they are bigger and older, if you stand tall physically they will stop. And if that doesn't work then I'll deal with them but then I'll also have to tell your mom or dad, okay."
He listens to every word carefully and agrees with it.
I get a notification on my phone from Lorenzo saying that dinner is served and that we need to get downstairs. I send him a message back telling him that we're on the way.
"Come on, dinner's ready. Don't let the bullies win Matteo. You're better and stronger then them, okay"
"Okay"
I give him a big smile making him smile too.
I take his hand in mine then we walk to the elevator once more.
When we walk back to the VIP room, I have my arm wrapped around Matteo.
Opening the door I lead Matteo to his seat.
When he is sitting down I give him a kiss on the head and push his seat under the table.
After that I walk back to mine and sit down myself.
"Is he okay?" I hear Amy and Roman ask concerned at the same time.
"He will be" I answer back giving them a small smile.
Everyone starts to eat just like me when Roman suddenly gives me some fries.
I look at them alarmed before looking back at Roman.
"It's okay, you can eat them." He tells me.
"No, thank you. It's your dinner, you can eat them" I say giving him a small smile while inside my heart and mind are going crazy.
Being around unhealthy food is sort of okay. Eating that is more then difficult.
"Val..if you don't want to eat it that's okay but just know that you do deserve it and can eat it without terrible things happening." He says intertwining our hands and letting them rest on my lap.
I nod my head but don't make an attempt at reaching out to the fries too scared and nervous.
I eat half the plate of salad and not wanting to disappoint Roman, I reach out to a fry.