Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 57: Being forced to lay on the bed with her

Chapter 57: Being forced to lay on the bed with her

Neil observed Mia’s blank stare at the glass wall as the raindrops began to tap against it. She looked frozen in place and her fingers were holding on to the clothes he gave her so tightly they were trembling. Her face had drained of any color. The ominous atmosphere outside matched the tension within his room as he continued to watch her expression wondering what was wrong with her.

As Neil was about to ask if she was alright, lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder roared, making her scream. Her body began to tremble and the clothes fell away from her hands. When the rain intensified, she crouched down on the floor and pressed her hands against her ears, and desperately began to call for her mother.

"Mom, it’s raining...take me away from him. Take me away..." She was muttering with her body trembling.

Neil, surprised by her reaction, approached cautiously, trying to comprehend the sudden fear gripping her. He crouched down before her, "Hey, what’s wrong with you?" He asked with a deep frown. He had never seen a grown woman get terrified of rain. And if he remembered clearly, she used to like rain as a child. Whenever it rained, she would always drag him out to play in it. But now she looked so terrified as if it was going to eat her despite not being outside.

As she continued to murmur words he couldn’t make out, Neil didn’t know what to do and stared at her. When another thunder rumbled from outside, she let out another scream and moved back as if to become one with the wall behind her.

Attempting to offer her comfort, Neil reached out to hold Mia’s hands, but she recoiled, pleading tearfully for him not to hurt her. "Don’t hurt me please, I won’t say anything..." She cried out while moving away from him.

Seeing her broken expression, Neil suddenly felt a gripping uneasiness in his chest. Who could have caused her such anguish to elicit such a reaction from the rain? She resembled a frightened child, afraid of a monster ready to devour her. She was literally weeping, clasping her knees to her chest. Her typically carefree brown eyes were now filled with terror as they locked with his. And that expression, for unexplainable reasons, made him want to kill whoever it was that had hurt her and caused her to be traumatized by mere rain and thunder.

Neil may not possess the expertise of a psychologist, but he understood the effects of trauma, as he had experienced it himself years ago. Despite years of therapy, he still struggled to function properly when confronted with triggers reminding him of his parents’ death and the lives he failed to save two years ago. And in this moment, as he gazed at Mia, he sensed that there must be something significant that had led her to this state.

Unable to watch her continue to cry, Neil reached out to assure her, "I won’t hurt you, Harrison. I don’t know what you’re afraid of, but I’m not here to harm you." He attempted to calm her, but with another thunderclap, Mia screamed again, moving away from him.

Horror and desperation filled her brown eyes as she begged, "Please, please don’t hurt me. I won’t tell anyone, I swear."

Neil, not used to handling emotional situations, didn’t know what to do again. She was afraid of his touch. In all his life, he had never had any situation where he had to console someone. He had lived an isolated life away from normal people who went to the military. He was the kind of person to handle things with his fists rather than his mouth, he hated it when people get emotional and cry, the sight of tears always made him want to hit someone to their senses so they could shut up, but witnessing this one before him cry like this, he didn’t have such an urge or harbor the thought to shut her up with his fists.

Instead, he made the bold decision to do something completely outrageous, something he would never have considered in his entire life. He started singing the song she enjoyed, the one his mother used to sing in her garden when watering her flowers. His voice wasn’t as good as it had been when he was a young boy, but he continued to sing it when he noticed that she wasn’t backing away anymore.

"_amidst the whispers of the midnight breeze, I search for a love that was never present. I have never experienced the warmth of its embrace, but in my dreams, I pursue an elusive beauty. Come to me, my..."

Neil felt ridiculous singing the song that was about longing for love. He had liked the song once, but hated it when he realized his mother sung that song because she never found love with her husband. However, he liked the song again when he heard it from Mia, but now singing it himself, he hated the sound of it from his mouth. Fortunately, he didn’t have to continue singing it before Mia allowed him to touch her without retreating.

As Neil held Mia’s bare shoulders, he noticed the contrast between her cold skin and his warm body temperature. Seeing that she didn’t move away, he picked her up and carried her toward his bed in a bridal style. She was still trembling and sobbing from her previous cries. In that moment, as he placed her on his bed, he didn’t have any thoughts of hating someone being on his bed. None of those thoughts crossed his mind as he gently laid her down. However, as he tried to move away, thunder rumbled in the sky, causing her to tug at his shirt and scream.

"Please don’t leave, stay here..."

Seeing how her slender fingers were holding tightly to his shirt like she was holding on to her dear life, Neil reached out and uncurled her fingers from his shirt and held on to her hand instead. She was still wearing the towel around her body and the injury on her forehead was still left untreated. Even though he would like to see to that eyesore of a wound on her forehead, she didn’t seem like she would allow him leave her side to go and get a first aid kit.

He remained by her side, holding her hand and didn’t move to even sit down on the bed, Mia cried out when the thunder kept rumbling every second, perhaps the haze of her trauma induced state had caused her to forget who he was, but with the coming of another thunder clap she cried once more asking him to please hug her and make the thunder stop.

Upon hearing her murmurs, a deep frown settled between his brows. "You are asking for too much, young woman. You have made me sing a ridiculous song and embarrassed myself, you will not make me sleep beside you nor hug you. The least I can do is hold your hand like I’m doing right now. Now close your eyes and think about happy thoughts instead of letting those rumbling sounds outside get to you." He advised nonchalantly. He had already gone out of his way by singing her that song, he wasn’t going to lay down and hug her to sleep.

And when he didn’t do what she wanted, she cried even louder and held onto his hand so tightly that her nails dug into his skin. "You must be kidding me," he muttered in disbelief as he looked down at the childlike adult on his bed. Was she always like this when it rained, or was she just throwing a tantrum to get him to lie down with her?

Neil would have believed the latter if he hadn’t seen the horror in her eyes. If he had known that she reacted like this to rain, he would have just taken her home when she refused to get into the elevator with him. But his pride had made him force her into the elevator, and now he was paying the price by having to do ridiculous things to comfort her through her trauma.

The only time he ever laid in bed with a woman was when he was satisfying his own needs as a man, but even then he never used his own bed. He always went to hotels, and he never stayed in the bed with the nameless women afterwards. He would leave and wash off any lingering scent of them from his body. But now there was a woman on his bed pleading for him to lay beside her and hold her to sleep.

The fuck he would! He wasn’t going to move anywhere close to her!

When Neil saw that she wasn’t going to keep quiet until he’d done as she pleased, he sighed, reluctantly taking off his shoes and climbed onto the bed. Even before he laid down, she had moved closer to him, wrapped her arm around his midriff and buried her head between his body and the bed. He stiffened as her arm tightened around him. Although he despised physical contact and anyone invading his personal space, he was still a man with a human body. He wouldn’t have some traumatized little woman mess with his manly instincts in his own bed.

Neil thought as he tried to push her away from him, but she clutched to him like a glue and refused to let go. He could push her away from him if he added his strength, but then he could hurt her in the process. Thus he was left with one option; to simply lay down beside her until she fell asleep and he would get the heck away from her.

With that thought, Neil patiently laid down and she immediately moved even closer to him and hugged him tightly. He could perceive his body wash she used to bath earlier on her body, she smelled like him whenever he came out of the shower. He couldn’t help but also realize that her body was cool against his warmer body temperature.

"You’re going to regret making me do this, Harrison." he muttered softly as she nuzzled her head into the curve of his neck.