Page 138 of The Cute Psycho

I know he's not telling me everything, and it's killing me inside to see him like this.

"Why?" I throw the question at him, doubt niggling at me.

His eye twitches as he forces a smile on his face.

"I told you, Sisi. You keep the demons at bay." Is all he says as he pulls me into him, his lips on mine.

I let myself enjoy the kiss, but a foreign thought invades my mind.

He's never told me what demons.

Hell, the most I know about his problems is that he has bad episodes. But besides that, he's still an enigma. I know his history, I know his quest, I know all the facts. But why do I feel like I'm missing the biggest piece of the puzzle?

The truth is that I'm too far gone to consider what that might mean for me or for our relationship. I already love him too much to ever consider leaving him, regardless of what he's dealing with. I'll just do my best to help him through it.

I know that as long as I'm useful to him he'll never leave me, so I'll just have to make sure I'm indispensable to him.

"Okay," I agree in a soft voice. "Never let me go and I'm yours. That's my only condition, Vlad." I take a deep breath, "I know who you are, and what you are capable of." I raise my hand to caress his cheek, his eyes pinning me with their intense stare, "And I accept all of you as you are." I brush my thumb against his lips, "The bad and the good. Just don'teverleave me." My own lips tremble as I utter the words, baring my soul and my one weakness to him.

"I don't think I can imagine a world where you're not, Sisi. Not anymore," he confesses and my lips tug upwards.

"Good." I give him a full smile.

Because I don't think I can imagine a world without you either.

It wouldn't be fair to say I'm not scared of the future, especially since Vlad is so... volatile. But I knew the moment I realized my feelings for him that loving him would never be easy. It will always be a battle with myselfandhim. With myself because I don't think I'll ever stop yearning for his love, even while knowing he'snotcapable of it. And with him because there might come a day when his logical mind will tell him I'm a liability, and of no further use.

As long as he never lets go, I will never let go.

"I love you." I lay my head on his chest, whispering the words so softly he can't hear them, because he wouldn't even know what to do with them. No, they're for my benefit only as I'm trying to materialize this love I feel so deep in my chest.

"What was that?" He frowns, but I just shake my head and smile.

"Nothing," I say, taking refuge in the warmth of his arms, the only type of warmth he's capable of giving me.

Acouple of days in the hospital and Marcello is discharged to come home. For all his protests that he hadn't tried to kill himself, the doctor in charge asks me to supervise him so that he doesn't try anything again.

Vlad has been spending all his free time with me while I've been alone at the house, even though I know he has some outstanding matters to attend to as well. His gesture has been sweet, and we've found ways to entertain ourselves.

He's definitely been overly enthusiastic to share his favorite movies with me, even though I didnotfind them romantic in the least. Why, I should have known that with a title likeHuman Centipede,I wasn't bound to find anything remotely sappy inside—other than a lot of freely flowing bodily fluids.

Considering it was one of the rare times I'd seen him so immersed in something, I tried to share his enthusiasm, especially as he delved into the science part, gushing about the creativity of the scenes.

"Maybe you should try this next time you torture someone," I'd joked, and he'd turned to me wide-eyed, giving me a big smooch as he told me I was a genius.

"Why didn't I think about it before? Fucking hell, this is exactly what I need for my next experiment, and there doesn't have to be too much blood either." He'd become so excited and I'd listened patiently as he started designing the experiment, using some pointers from the movie, but putting his own spin on it.

But two days and I've been spoiled by his presence, and now thatMarcello's back we need to be more careful. At least until things settle down.

I am still skeptical about whether Marcello is suicidal or not, and because of that I want to be extra careful with Vlad, already anticipating how Marcello's going to react to the news.

"Do you need anything?" I ask my brother as I help him to his room. The mere fact that he's allowing my touch when he'd been a beast to the nurses is astounding. I'd gotten some details from Vlad about his aversion to touch, but nothing concrete.

"No." He sounds surly as he answers, hopping to his bed and resting his leg on it.

"Marcello..." I start, but he doesn't even let me continue as he asks me to step out.

Sighing, I do, but that doesn't stop me from visiting him every few hours, just to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.

---