Chapter 106

I keep slapping away the hands he tries to lay on me, hysteria building crazily from deep down inside, and he seems to give up entirely. Lifting his hands defensively as though trying to show he would stop grabbing me if I calmed down. My eyes locked on my face in an expression that screams at me to breathe.

“Okay… okay… I’m done. I’ll drop it. I didn’t want to upset you and make this worse. I’m not touching… look… I swear. I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want to keep fighting with you.” He seems pensive, that face not giving much away, but his voice is unusually hoarse, even if it’s soft-toned and low, and his eyes are boring into mine in an almost pleading way. Nodding at me as if to make me look around and realise he has let me go. He’s trying to corral a wild animal with a soft approach.

I try and calm myself a little, aware that people around us are looking our way, and take some heavy inhales to self-soothe; I wipe my face and bring myself back to sane as sha