You Are Mine (English)

Chapter 370: Chapter 370: I Am Grateful For What You Did

Childe didn’t say a word, and he was concentrating all his energies on attempting to keep his eyelids open for longer than a fraction of a second. He seemed to be searching for something. He walked with uneven footsteps, and he muttered to himself words that sounded like a child, "I can’t find it, mom."

"Childe, who are you talking to?" Edie asked.

Childe never answered; he gained his direction without too much difficulty and started toward a box that was in the far corner of the room. Edie knew there was no stopping him, so instead, she helped him. Once he reached his destination, he smiled as a look of great relief came over his face. "I’ve found it, mom. I thought it was gone," he says and lets out a loud and happy laugh.

He crawled into the box and curled up inside of it. Edie felt a sudden tightening of her chest, an ache that seemed to squeeze into her heart. "He wants to sleep in it," she said, her voice was soft. Right at that moment, Edie understood why there wasn’t a bed in his room. Every night, he would crawl into the box, just like when he was a child. ’Why?’ she wondered.

Childes’ lips parted slightly, as if he were trying to say something, but couldn’t think of how to put it into words. "Mommy...I’m sorry."

Edie leaned closer, trying to listen to him. Looking into his eyes, she said, "I don’t understand."

He finally managed to say, "I promise I’ll behave from now on." He sounded like a child around the age of five or six.

"Why was he apologizing to his mother?" Edie recalled the story he told her. The mental and physical abuse of the little boy. That boy had been through so much pain and suffering. To go through such a traumatic experience at such a young age, it was understandable. Humans are blessed with extraordinary memories, and as much as this might be a blessing, the recollection of negative events can also be a curse. No matter how hard survivors try to avoid them, memories will always come back.

Even though Childe was drunk, he still slept in the box. "Did this mean he suffered some kind of trauma when he was a child?" She thought about the story again and remembered it word for word. "There was a young boy who grew up with an abusive mother. The boy, it was Childe," Edie gasped."Why didn’t I see it before?" Her faint smile disappeared, and a chill spiraled down her spine. "It explains so much. All this abuse is why he hardened his heart."

Edie tried to carry him back to the sofa, but he was too heavy for her. She grabbed a blanket and covered him up. Then she adjusted the temperature in the room, so he wouldn’t be cold. When she was finished, she got ready to leave, but Childe suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.

"Please....Will you stay with me? Don’t leave me," Childe said, his voice trembling. Edie wiped tears from her face and felt like her heart was going to break as she continued to listen to him. He repeated it over and over again. "Please, don’t go," Childe choked out through racking sobs, him seeming more like a frightened child than some arrogant and manipulative man.

Edie sat there in disbelief, she’d never seen this side of him. ’Was he dreaming and who did he want to stay with him? Was it his mother?’ she wondered. It seemed somewhere deep down in his heart, and he had longed for his mother’s love when he was a child.

Edie tried several times to pull her hand from his grasp, but he was too strong. Realizing he wasn’t going to let go, she sat beside him. As she looked at him in all his confusion and complexity, she realized how much pain and suffering he’d endured by his mother. The more she found out about Childe, the more her heart went out to him. Edie remembered the day at the seaside and what he said to her. He said his life didn’t matter, ’Was it true? Did he truly believe it?’

Suddenly Childes’ face twisted in confusion, his brows knitting tighter and tighter as if he were in pain. Edie looked at him lying on the floor, curled like a baby, she remembered what her mother used to do to her when she was a little girl. She began singing a lullaby, "Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry. Go to a sleepy little baby. When you wake, you’ll have cake. And all the pretty little horses. Blacks and bays, dapples, and grays: coach and six-a-little horses. Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry. Go to sleepy little baby....." Her voice seemed to act like a charm and instantly calmed him. The lines in his face were finally relaxing. Edie sang the song over and over again as she drifted off to sleep.

The morning sun was shining brightly upon him, through the window, when he awoke. Childe sat up and opened his eyes, momentarily squinting before they adjusted to the light. "Why aren’t the curtains closed?" he mumbled under his breath. He reached down and felt a blanket, "Who did this?" he wondered. As he looked around the box, he noticed Edie sound asleep and his hand was still in hers.

Childe closed his eyes in frustration, he leaned against the box and thought, ’Don’t lose your cool. Take deep breaths and try to remember.’ A faint memory of himself being drunk through a doorway flashed into his head, but he wanted to go back further. All of those details rushed in and back out of his head in a matter of seconds. ’Edie stayed with me the whole night?’ he was surprised but somewhat relieved at the same time.

Edie started to wake up, and she lifted her hand against the glare in her eyes. Her bones and body aching, she remembered sleeping on the floor. Suddenly, she sensed someone staring at her. She looked up and saw Childe with a faint smile on his face. Feeling embarrassed, she quickly sits up and pulls her hand away from his. "You’re awake?" she asks, almost sounding angry.

Childe could sense that Edie was upset with him. "Yes," he answered coldly. freeweɓnøvel.com

"Good. I have to go," Edie said as she starts to open the door.

"Thank you....for last night," Childe said, his voice was a little shaky.

Edie stops and hesitates, never expecting to hear such words come from his mouth. "No need to thank me. Miss Kate did most of the work," she explained.

"But I want you to know that I’m grateful for what you did," Childe said with intensity in his voice.

Edie was in no mood to argue with him. She nodded her head and said, "You’re welcome."

"I don’t care about anyone else, but it was you who helped me. That means a lot to me," Childe said.

There was such innocent sincerity in his voice that any anger Edie had at that moment seemed to disappear. She didn’t know if she could trust his words and opened the door, and left.

As soon as the door closed, a smile appeared on Childes’ face. "The lullaby was beautiful," he whispered softly.