WARNING: This chapter might be uncomfortable to you so please read with caution. Know that I put warnings because I was once called out for this a few years back and I do not want to make the same mistake again so hopefully you take these warnings seriously.
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"R-Romeo..."
I looked down and almost fainted on what I saw.
Julien was lying in bed, naked.
His pale skin was covered in bruises.
There were marks on his wrist, like he was tightly tied up by something.
There was also blood on the side of his mouth, on his knees, and even in between his legs.
My whole body trembled as I slowly approached him.
"J-Julien..." I called out, making Julien open his eyes wider so he could be able to see me better.
I slowly kneeled down in front of him as my body continued to shake. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was too much for me that tears eventually started pouring out of my eyes.
"W-What did they do to you..." I whispered as I reached out to try and touch him. But I was too afraid to do so because I thought I'd hurt him more if I do.
"What did they do to you?" I asked again, and Julien had to immediately look away from me.
"Please...don't look at me", he weakly says, his body slowly trembling now too.
I gripped on the bed sheet as more tears continued to pour out, "What the fuck did they do to you?!" I now shouted.
Number 14 quickly entered the room. He was about to touch my shoulder when I quickly stood up and pushed his hand away, "How could you leave him like this?!"
"I'm sorry", he suddenly says.
"I'm sorry?!"I angrily answered back
"O-Our boss...he said he'd kill us if we...h-help him", Number 14 nervously answered, his eyes now teary as well.
I was about to say something again when I suddenly heard Julien moan in pain. I quickly looked back at him and gulped, "Baby you'll be a-alright...okay? I-I'll...I'll..."
I was looking around the room. Looking for something when in reality I didn't even know what I was looking for.
My head was spinning and my chest was starting to tighten. My hands continued to tremble as I reached out for his clothes.
But the more my eyes would fall on Julien's body, the more my heart would start beating faster.
There was blood everywhere that I thought my vision was slowly turning red.
I closed my eyes and bit my tongue hard just to get back to my senses.
"J-Julien...just...give me a second, okay?" I nervously said as I slowly walked towards him. But before I could even touch him, Johnson arrives inside the room.
"Romeo I knocked out the-" he immediately paused when he saw us inside the room.
Johnson gasped and quickly ran inside.
"Romeo! What are you doing?! Close your eyes!" he suddenly shouted. He ran towards me and took out his handkerchief to cover my eyes with it.
I fell on the floor as Johnson immediately embraced my trembling body. He patted my head and whispered in my ear, "Happy thoughts...happy thoughts Romeo...think of happy thoughts."
"Johnson...J-Julien...he's hurt and I can't...I can't even..."
"It's okay. Don't think of anything else...just happy thoughts, okay?" Johnson continued to say as he hugged me tighter.
When I was slowly calming down, Johnson quickly lets go of me to stand up.
"Julien, dear god please answer me", I heard Johnson say.
Someone takes a deep breath and answered back, "S-Sir Johnson?"
Johnson sighs in relief and says, "Yes, it's me Julien...I'll have to carry you, is that okay?"
I couldn't hear Julien answer but I knew that he nodded his head because I heard Johnson immediately carrying him.
"Stay awake, okay son? You need to stay awake for me", Johnson continued to say.
"You...please accompany Romeo downstairs. Make sure he does NOT remove that handkerchief, understand?" Johnson commanded as I hear him go outside with Julien.
"Sir Romeo, let's go", I heard number 14 say as I felt his hand touch my arm.
I was about to push him away again but I felt too weak to even do anything.
"He'll be alright", he suddenly says as we continued to walk down the stairs.
"He's a tough man...so he'll be alright", he said again as we finally arrived at our car.
"Watch your head", Johnson says as he pushed me inside the car.
"Thank you sir. Please, take good care of him", Number fourteen stated.
"We will", Johnson answered as he closed the doors before entering the car.
Johnson immediately starts driving off without wasting any time.
"S-shit...shit this is fucking bad", Johnson says as he continued to drive. And by the sound of his voice, he was in a state of panic.
"H-Hello?" Johnson suddenly says.
"Yes, this is Mr. Pollock. I have an injured man with me and he needs to be immediately treated...yes, at the house. Thank you...oh, and, Romeo...he saw a trigger...yes, just now. I covered his eyes but he's still trembling. Okay, I'll inject him the shots as soon as we get home. Thank you doc", Johnson says before ending the call.
"Alright you two. Hang on, okay?" Johnson says as he drove faster.
My vision was black, but the image of Julien continued to flash before me.
I wanted to shout, I wanted to punch someone, I wanted to fucking do something but I just couldn't and it angered me even more.
I was silently sitting at the car, but tears suddenly poured out of my eyes again.
"O-One one thousand...t-two one t-thousand...t-three one thousand-" I counted to calm myself down.
I was pinching on my arm that it was already hurting, but the pain wasn't helping because the image of Julien just wouldn't go away.
The blood was so visible, so red...
Everything was just-
"Help! Please! Help me!" I suddenly remembered.
"There's so much blood, I can't make it stop!" the memory continued to flash in front of me that I suddenly slammed my head on the window.
"Romeo!" Johnson shouted from shock.
"A-Ah! Stop! Stop it! P-please stop it!" I shouted as I was tugging on my hair to numb the pain.
Tears continued to pour out of my eyes as I slammed my head on the window for the second time.
"R-Romeo please! We're almost there!" I heard Johnson shout.
"Help! Please! Help me! Someone needs to help me! Please!"
"No! Stop!" I shouted louder even more.
"Shit...Romeo you have to calm down...Romeo..." Johnson tried to say.
I was about to hit my head on the window for the third time when suddenly, "R-Romeo..." Julien silently calls out from the back seat.
"Y-Your pain...is my pain", Julien weakly says as he reached out to touch my arm.
"So p-please...that's enough", he says as he squeezed my arm, finally calming me down. I was panting heavily as the painful memories slowly drifted away.
"Happy thoughts", I remembered Johnson say earlier.
Just happy thoughts.
"I like you too", I remembered Julien say a few days ago when I confessed to him.
Johnson suddenly slams the breaks, almost throwing me off from my seat.
"We're here", he immediately says as he went out of the car.
People were running towards us, and I knew that all of them were the maids. They were supposed to welcome us back but they didn't expect to see us like this.
"Help your master! Hurry!" Johnson suddenly shouts as he opened the door.
"But sir, we can't touch-"
"Now!" Johnson shouts even louder, making the maids wince.
Seconds later I felt more hands touch my arm. They pulled me out of the car and assisted me back to a room.
When I was now lying in bed, the door suddenly slams open.
"Where's his medical kit?" I heard Johnson ask.
"It's in his room sir", the maids answered. Somehow easing me since they didn't bring me to my own room.
I heard Johnson run back and forth. But when he got back, I suddenly felt a cold needle pierce on my skin.
"J-Julien..." I whispered.
"He'll be fine. Now go ahead and rest", Johnson answered as he patted my head for the last time.
Seconds later, I fainted.
*****
I opened my eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
It took me a while to realize that I was actually sleeping inside a different room.
I slowly sat up from the bed, my head aching like crazy.
"What happened?" I asked myself as I looked at the time.
9:43 PM.
"It's already this late?" I asked again as I slowly stood up from the bed.
I walked towards the mirror and saw my reflection. My eyes were all red and my head felt like someone just punched me really hard. I was also wearing different clothes now too.
As I continued to stare at myself, my heart suddenly started beating fast. But then, my eyes immediately widened when I remembered something important.
"Julien!" I shouted as I ran out of the room.
I ran towards the guestroom where Julien slept on a few days ago. I immediately opened the door and saw Johnson applying a wet towel on his forehead.
"Romeo, you're awake", Johnson says as he stood up from the chair.
He quickly walks towards me and held my shoulder, "Thank god you're looking better. I was so worried about you", Johnson tells me, but my eyes were glued on Julien that I wasn't even able to answer him anymore.
Johnson suddenly clears his throat and puts his hand down from my shoulder.
"The doctor said that he'll be better after a week. He's resting so it's best if you don't wake him up. But if he does, I'll just be downstairs if you need me", Johnson says before leaving the room and closing the door.
I stood there, staring at Julien with disbelief.
But after a few seconds, I gathered enough courage and slowly walked my way towards him.
I sat down on the chair in front of his bed and stared at him again. Julien was resting, but the bruises on his face made me feel like he was still in pain even while he was sleeping.
I gulped and looked down at his slender hand. I took a deep breath and looked at my own hands, then, without any hesitation, I removed the gloves on my left hand.
My hand was trembling as I slowly reached out for Julien's own hand.
Finally, the tips of my fingers touched his pale skin. When I felt his warmth, I didn't think twice anymore and just grabbed his hand.
I gripped on his hand as tears started pouring out of my eyes again.
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry", I say as I continued to hold his cold yet warm hand.
"I shouldn't have let you go that day. I should have told you that I didn't want us to just end our relationship like that. I should have told you everything so you wouldn't leave my side", I say as I pulled his hand closer.
"This wouldn't have happened to you Julien...you shouldn't have experienced something like this", I say as I was pulling his hand closer to my face.
"You're blaming yourself again", Julien suddenly says, quickly making me look at him.
"Julien..."
Julien looks straight at me, then he looked at his hands, causing him to weakly chuckle, "You're touching my bare hands Mr. Eg-"
I didn't even let Julien finish as I quickly stood up from my chair to hug him. I hugged him tightly and quickly said, "Please be mine."
"Romeo?" Julien asked confusingly, but I ignored him and continued, "Be mine and let me protect you. I'll change, just so I could protect you. I will kill anyone who will try to hurt you again, I will do everything in my power just to make sure you're okay."
I broke from the hug so I could look straight at his eyes, "I might be a weak man now. But for you...I will be strong, okay?"
Julien continued to look at me. Seconds later, his eyes started becoming teary as well.
"Are you sure about that Romeo?" Julien asked me.
"Yes, I'm absolutely sure", I quickly answered him.
Julien takes a deep breath. He then lifts his hand up to gently touch my cheeks, "Then I'm yours...always."
- END -