Departed With A Belly {1}

Almost Bitten Off

However, no matter how many times he called her name, she made no response. It was as if she had completely shut herself off from the rest of the world. Alaric was getting increasingly anxious as he looked at her..

The traffic light had turned green. His car did not move, and all the cars behind him began to honk impatiently. Alaric heard the endless honking as well, but he ignored it and abruptly bent over. Lifting Victoria's chin, he kissed her lips.

Just as he had expected, her teeth were tightly gritted together. He couldn't break through them no matter how hard he tried. With his brows furrowed, he then moved his hand to Victoria's waist and
lightly pinched her.

Victoria was a ticklish person.Hence, though she didn't yell and dodge like she usually did, her stiff body still reacted to the pinch. Alaric quickly took advantage of her short response time to pry open her
rows of white teeth.

Because of the proximity, he immediately detected the strong scent of blood. However, before he could even blame Victoria for doing this to herself, he felt a painful sensation that and groan loudly.
"Ouch!"

He was in so much pain that he had the urge to push the person in his embrace away. However, he managed to stop himself from doing so. He then pinched Victoria again, this time with more force than before.

After retracting his tongue and leaving her lips, he quickly held her chin,
preventing her from biting herself again. "If you don't wake up now, Victoria, I'll do something more to you right now," he said harshly. Possibly as a result of his harsh tone, Victoria trembled slightly and she slowly relaxed her jaw.

After regaining her consciousness, the first thing she heard was the endless, impatient honking sound, together with the yelling and cursing of the other drivers outside the windows. What made her even more startled was the breathless man right in front of her face.

His masculine aura surrounded her and his fingers were still holding onto her chin. "You're finally awake." Victoria blinked several times and her blood-stained lips moved as well. Just as she was about to say something, Alaric let go of her chin and started driving.

After a while of the car steadily proceeding on the road, Victoria finally
remembered what had happened earlier.
She then secretly looked at Alaric and noticed that his lips were stained
with blood as well, most likely caused by her.

Perhaps aware that she was secretly looking at him, Alaric suddenly opened his mouth and said aloofly, "If you're awake, clean yourself up. You'd be scaring people at the nursing home otherwise."

Given that she was in the wrong, she didn't talk back and merely took her
mirror from her bag. The moment she saw herself in the mirror, she was taken aback.

A large pool of blood had formed at one corner of her lips, leading to her chin.
If she truly reached the nursing home looking like this, everyone would
surely be terrified. With this, she quickly pulled some wet tissues from her bag to clean herself.

When she pressed the wet tissue against her lips, the pain caused her to take a deep breath. "Ouch! It hurts," she exclaimed reflexively. Then, as if she thought of something, she fell silent.

But Alaric had heard that. With a sneer, he said, "Why did you bite yourself so hard? If I didn't stop you, you would have bitten yourself to death." Victoria knew she was at fault and could only apologize.

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure what happened earlier, but I just couldn't stop myself. Your. Is everything okay with you?"
She deliberately asked him in a general manner. When she spoke, her lips moved as well and that hurt. She could only try to tolerate the pain.

Alaric, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes and asked grumpily, "My what? Why didn't you continue?" Victoria was rendered speechless. She could only purse her lips tightly and remain silent. Their relationship was so awkward now that she had no idea what to say.

"Don't you dare to continue?" Alaric persisted.

Victoria simply lowered her gaze, feeling uncomfortable. Alaric found her demeanor amusing. "Luckily I'm not dead. It was only my tongue that you nearly bit off," he said, his voice cold.
Hearing that, Victoria raised her head, appearing to be shocked.

"Was it that serious?"

"Isn't it obvious from the injury on your lips?"

Victoria was at a loss for words again.
He's right. I saw myself in the mirror earlier. I bit myself so hard, let alone
him. She could not think of anything to say in response. As such, she lowered her gaze and apologized once again.

"I'm sorry. If I do the same thing again the next time, just leave me alone ."However, Alaric frowned when he heard that.

"The next time, you say? Do you enjoy hurting yourself, Ms. Snowball? Don't
you ever allow the same thing to happen again, you hear me?" If he wasn't by her side today, it would be fatal.

"I have no control over it, so how will I know if it will happen again or not?"
Victoria muttered.

Alaric swept her a glance, his face solemn.
She's right. No matter how many times I shouted for or spoke to her earlier, she appeared to be completely oblivious. Her mind was trapped and only her body reacted slightly to external stimuli.

I'll have to take her to the doctor when this matter is over.

After making up his mind, Alaric murmured in a low voice, "Grandma has only fainted. Although her condition is unclear now, she has been in good health recently. Even if there's anything wrong, the worst that could happen is that she won't be able to have her surgery in these few days. Don't scare yourself."

Given what had happened earlier,Victoria had also calmed down. I was indeed too panicked. I was so terrified that I lost my rationality the moment I heard something
happen to Grandma. Thinking back on it, Alaric is right. I should have kept my cool.
"Okay. I got it."

They then arrived at the nursing home.
After the car came to a stop, Alaric opened the door and stepped out, with Victoria following behind. "Wait."

Alaric turned his head and looked at her with a frown. "Why?" Victoria then handed him a piece of wet tissue. "Wipe away the blood stains on your lips." Alaric was stunned for a moment when he heard that. Then, he took the wet tissue and wiped his mouth casually.

However, the blood stains had dried up during their journey here and couldn't be removed cleanly with simple rubbing. Victoria had no choice but to point to the corner of his mouth and mutter, "There's some over here."

Alaric tried to wipe at it again. "No. You're wiping the wrong spot," she said. Alaric pursed his lips and wiped patiently again.
"Why do you keep wiping the wrong place?" Victoria asked.

That made Alaric lose all his patience.
With his brows furrowed, he handed
her the piece of wet tissue and growled coldly, "Wipe it for me, then." Victoria was rendered speechless.

She would have thrown the wet tissue in his face because of his cold attitude if it hadn't been for the fact that he was injured as a result of her. She then took the wet tissue from Alaric and began wiping his mouth.

As he was tall, Victoria had to go on her toes to wipe his mouth, which caused her some effort. Noticing this, Alaric silently bent forward a little, his gaze dark.

But that did not escape Victoria's eyes.
Her eyelashes fluttered as she realized what he had done. She continued to wipe the blood stains at the corner of his lips with care while also checking his lips for other injuries.

Her gaze was lowered. Hence, Alaric was unaware of what she was doing. While she was checking his lips, he was examining her as well. After a while, Victoria heard Alaric ask, "Didn't you say you slept well last night?"
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Edited on: February 19th 2024
Time: 12:40 pm
Word count: 1383 words