Free Web NovelChapter 119: I Am in Love with Alaric de Villier
Nico
Alaric gave me a sudden, questioning look. For a terrifying second, I thought he was going to pull away from me, but his grip on my shoulders only tightened. "Why on earth should I hate you, Nico?"
I almost wanted to reply with a sarcastic remark—to remind him that he had been doing exactly that ever since we left Kazue’s cabin—but I knew now wasn’t the time for shields and bitter jokes. He had every right to have been distant with me back then, because I was the one who had left him hanging when I could have just explained what was happening to me.
"How can I ever hate you, Nico?" Alaric continued, his voice softening into something incredibly gentle. "Even though you are incredibly annoying, and you make me roll my eyes every single time you open your mouth, and you constantly get on my nerves... I could never hate you. Even when I thought I did, you know what I truly meant."
A wet chuckle escaped my lips at how confused he looked trying to sort through his own feelings. Hearing him say something so typical of our dynamic made me laugh through my tears, a breathless sound that relieved some of the crushing pressure in my chest.
I heaved a deep sigh, rubbing my damp hands against my jeans.
"You didn’t have to hear all of that disgusting garbage tonight," I whispered, my gaze dropping to the space between us. "Now I just feel so ashamed to even look you in the eye, and I—"
My words were cut violently short as Alaric reached out, wrapping his strong arms around my waist and pulling me forcefully across the console into his chest.
"Alaric..." I gasped against his shoulder.
"Stop talking," he muttered, holding me so closely that I could feel the steady, powerful thumping of his heartbeat right against my own frame. He buried his face near my ear, his breath warm against my skin as he whispered slowly, "Nico, it’s alright to be vulnerable. Especially in front of me."
In front of me.
The words resounded in my head over and over again, shattering the last of my defenses.
I raised my heavy arms and wrapped them tightly around his back, clutching the fabric of his jacket as I let the rest of my tears flow freely down my face, soaking into his collar.
"You didn’t deserve a single second of that nightmare, Nico," Alaric murmured, his voice steady and grounding as he held me through the worst of my tremors. "I know it happened in the past, but the trauma... the feeling always remains. No matter what I say, the past won’t just disappear. But I want you to know that you are an incredibly strong man. Even though you are annoying as hell, you managed to grow up from that terrified little boy locked in the dark. Letting all of that out tonight must have taken an immeasurable amount of courage."
Alaric paused for a moment, inhaling deeply as he rested his chin on top of my head. I didn’t raise my face from his shoulder, nor did I try to interrupt him. I just allowed myself to completely depend on him for once, hugging him even tighter as if he were the only anchor keeping me tethered to the earth.
"You survived through the absolute worst," Alaric whispered, his hand gently stroking through the hair at the back of my neck. "And that... that is healing. I am so incredibly proud of you for that."
"But you helped me through those moments," I choked out, the truth pouring out of me before I could stop it. "It was mostly thanks to you that I even became what I am today."
Hearing that, Alaric gently pulled away from the embrace, his hands returning to my shoulders as he looked down at me with a thoroughly baffled expression.
"What the hell are you even saying?" he asked, his brows furrowing in genuine confusion. "I know your mother said something at the table about you watching me all those years, but it couldn’t be true. I wasn’t actually your idol, was I?"
I looked directly into his eyes and nodded. "It’s the truth, Alaric," I told him, my tone turning completely serious, stripping away every ounce of the mockery I usually used as a weapon.
Alaric shifted immediately, his posture turning rigid as he stared at me, silently waiting to hear the explanation.
"I... I looked up to you as my idol because of a video," I confessed, my voice quiet in the dark car. "One day, when things were at their worst, I stumbled across an old video of you online. You were just a kid, taking videos with your father, and you looked right at the camera and said you were going to be the top racer in the world one day. I was completely intrigued by you. Your drive, your focus... it was everything I didn’t have."
I paused to catch my breath, my heart starting to thud in a completely different rhythm as I laid my soul bare.
"Ever since that day, you became my solace," I whispered, looking at the shock registering on his features. "Every single time I was locked away, or whenever I had a horrific day and felt like I couldn’t breathe, I turned toward those videos of you. I would watch them over and over, and I would talk to the screen. I told you everything about my day, like you were right there with me. You were the only person who kept me sane."
Alaric’s eyes widened completely, his lips parting slightly, but no sound came out. He just stared at me intensely, his gaze searching my face as if he were waiting for me to laugh and say it was all a twisted joke. But the vulnerability in my expression told him everything he needed to know. It wasn’t a lie.
It was the absolute truth.
And as he stared at me like that, with a fierce, unwavering intensity that seemed to pierce right through my chest, a sudden clarity washed over me.
The frantic, wild pounding of my heart whenever he stepped into my space. The desperate need for his attention, the bitter obsession with beating him on the track, and the absolute, soul-crushing devastation that had torn me apart when his accident happened. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Every single unanswerable question I had carried about my bizarre obsession with Alaric de Villier suddenly aligned, fitting together perfectly like the pieces of a puzzle.
I had realized it a little too late. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
I was completely, utterly in love with Alaric de Villier.
