Chosen (Damiano David & Victoria DeAngelis)

Chapter 22

"Don't freak out, okay? I'm just gonna take a look...", she was very reluctant to touch him without asking after what had happened the last time but she knew it was important to check. He nodded but looked away, probably embarrassed. As careful as possible, she rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie, holding back a gasp for air. "Damiano that...that doesn't look good.", she said worriedly as she looked at the deep wounds on his arm. Some of them were fresh, some of them weren't but one thing was obvious: they were way deeper than the ones last time. "I know...I...I didn't...you know...clean it...", he mumbled, clearly ashamed. She did her best to normalize it a little for him and take away his shame: "That's okay...but from now on we gotta take care of this regularly...you are close to an infection already...", she explained and went to get some utensils she needed. She kneeled down in front of him, not sure what exactly she was supposed to do as they were extremely deep and some of them were pretty swollen. "I'm just gonna wipe the blood away a bit. It might feel a little uncomfortable but I think we need to cool them down a bit...I'm not sure though...I'm no expert.", she decided to be honest with him. He nodded, still looking away, not daring to face his wounds: "Yeah...cooling down sounds good...they are itchy and they feel a bit hot." She was glad he started talking a bit more again. "Yeah...I can imagine. It's gonna feel better soon...I'll make sure.", she assured him and slowly wiped the blood off a bit, cooling them at the same time. He shivered but just endured it: "Vic...can you maybe stay for the rest of the night. I...well...I don't wanna be alone." She blushed a little bit as she was taken by surprise but she nodded immediately: "Of course...and tomorrow we gotta talk...first thing in the morning." She had some very important points to talk to him about but that could wait for now. Right now, the only important thing was to be there for him and to make sure he would be alright. "Okay...tomorrow we have our day off and I want you to come with me and buy some stuff because we can't keep disinfecting it with rubbing alcohol. That is more painful and less effective than it needs to be.", she stated as she grabbed the bottle to clean up his wounds. "Ah fucking hell please stop...shit that hurts...", he moaned in pain and held onto the bedsheets while she was pouring the liquid into his open wounds. He was totally tense and tears were sparkling in his eyes, even after she had patched him up.

"It's gonna stop hurting soon...I promise.", she soothed, laying by his side in the now dark room, her hand resting on his shoulder. He was in pain which was totally understandable and even though she knew the pain would pass soon, it hurt her to see him like that. She was constantly stroking his shoulder with her thumb, feeling his warm skin underneath her own. He wasn't wearing his hoodie anymore, finally letting her see his vulnerable side. "I'm really sorry, Vic...about everything. Nothing should've happened the way it did...but...you were right...I need you...", he admitted. It was good that he became more open but she still needed to find out what exactly was going on. "I know...and I'm gonna be there for you...but I gotta ask you something...when you were crying earlier...was it because of me? Please be honest.", she needed to know...not only because she was feeling extremely guilty but also because she wanted to slowly start uncovering the truth. He tensed up again but answered in a very quiet and reluctant voice as if he was afraid anyone could hear him: "Partly, yes...but it wasn't the only reason..." She decided to leave it like that as she didn't want to pressure him into talking about it as it was quite obvious that he was uncomfortable with it. "Okay...I'm sorry about giving up so easily...I was scared and shocked and I overreacted. I shouldn't have because I knew what you were going through." She could feel him shaking his head: "No...it's not your fault. I shouldn't have pushed you...and I shouldn't have said what I said but...I just snapped, I guess..." She couldn't help but ask the question that she was dying to have answered: "Did it have anything to do with the phone call?" Again, he tensed up: "What? No...I have no idea what you're talking about...but it's not because of any phone call..." Now she was absolutely sure that her suspicion was true because that was the most obvious lie she had ever heard in her life.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

So, what do you think? Who is the person on the phone? I know I already asked that question once but I would like to know if your opinion has changed at all :) So, please let me know who you think it is in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

- Thalia