"Baby, let me be your man, so I can love you. And if you let me be your man then I'll take care of you. For the rest of my life, the rest of yours."

--- Zayn Malik

●●●

●●●

"What?" He asks taken back.

"Yeah, you heard me right."

"What happened?" He asks holding onto my hands tight.

"There was a group of guys and they were always talking shit about me," I say. "Not like making fun of me but like how much they like my ass and stuff." Tears blur my eyes.

"What did they do?" He asks with pain and anger in his eyes.

"One day they started touching me here and there and I fought back. They manhandled me and I had a few bruises here and there, enough for some proof. They were aged 15 to 17." I explain.

"I didn't know what they wanted from a 13-year-old. When they realized they were in deep shit, those fucking pricks thought it would be good of they got rid of the evidence and that was me." I continue with tests dripping from my eyes.

"Ria, where were your parents? Any other adult?" He asks with such a pained voice.

"I'm getting to that." I try to chuckle but fail miserably. "They took me inside a bathroom where there was a bathtub, they filled it and drowned me in it. They had a story where they would say that when we were out, I got lost somewhere and someone forced themselves on me and I committed suicide. They had it all planned."

"I thrashed and kicked. All of the water was going inside my mouth and my lungs were full of water. I couldn't breathe. The more I tried to the more it got worse. I hated the feeling. Finally I stopped struggling. I didn't have the power to. It was making it more difficult. Especially when it was such a small place. But the weird thing is I felt really peaceful.." I continued not giving him a chance to speak.

"My eyes closed and I felt someone pulling out and apply pressure to my chest. I coughed out all the water and fainted. When I woke up, I saw Freddie and Emily. My caretakers. They gave me the news that I was finally adopted by a lovely couple."

"Adopted?" He asks with wide eyes.

"Yup. Adopted. All this happened in an orphanage. That couple already saw my file and they wanted to adopt me because I looked a lot like my adoptive mother. In that file there was everything.

My behavior, my grades, and everything. They knew they wanted me. My roommates were also some A-grade bitches fucking every single guy they laid eyes on.

They were just one or two years older. They were watching everything and not stopping them. When my adoptive parents and the caretakers came inside they handled the boys while my adoptive dad performed CPR and managed to save me."

"Baby, I'm so sorry." His eyes were also a bit teary now.

"It was not your fault, don't be." I give a half-smile. "After that, I found out my new parents were amazing and they helped me a lot. They treated me like their own. They spoiled me in every single possible way. But after the incident I was diagnosed with PTSD.

"I'm claustrophobic and scared of water. The doctors said if I go inside the water I could overcome my fear but I never tried. And today when that waiter touched me that way some memories came along with it. Thank God you were there or el--"

He cuts me off with a small peck. "I'll always be there for you. Don't worry. I'll always protect you."

"Thank you." I give him a small hug. The sudden sound of lighting makes us both flinch and suddenly it's drizzling.

"I hate Washington's Bipolar weather." I curse out.

"Let's go before it starts raining." He laughs pulling me inside the car.

We laugh and sit in the car completely forgetting my confession.

"Hungry?" He asks.

My stomach answers for me by growling. I smile sheepishly at him.

"I'll take that as a yes." He teases.

While driving he takes off my hands and intertwines my fingers with his and pretending that he is not doing anything.

"What are you in the mood for?" He asks.

"I wanna eat Mexican. Something spicy or sushi." I look at him.

"Sushi it is."

●●●

We are sitting in a booth at a sushi restaurant. And we have ordered our sushi.

"It is raining hard outside. I think we should stay the night at a nearby hotel or motel. Whatever is closer." Christian tells me.

"Yeah. I won't recommend driving in this weather." I say just as our orders come in.

I take a bite dipping it in the sauce and moan at the taste.

"You shouldn't moan like that in front of the guy." I look up to see Christian with a smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry but I'm not sorry, I just had the best foodgasm ever." I eat another.

"I can give more than just a foodgasm and make you moan louder than that." He whispers huskily.

I choke on my sushi but then get stable. I clear my throat. "I don't think you can handle me so don't bother."

He looks a little taken back.

"You not eating?" I ask innocently.

"Would it be embarrassing if I told you, I don't know how to use chopsticks?"

"Yea, it would be but it's okay, I can teach you." I shrug.

After a few minutes of trying I give up. "You're hopeless. How do you even eat it?"

"Hands." He shows me his hands.

"Right..."

"But not in public though." He says.

"Ugh. Sometimes I think how did you survive 25 years without me." I laugh. "Here open wide."

I raise my chopsticks holding sushi and feed him. He moans at the taste.

"This is so good." He tells me.

"See I told you," I smirk.

The dinner goes like that me feeding him, throwing jokes here and there. Him throwing gazes at me. Me blushing. Nothing new and special.

Currently, we are running from the parking lot towards a motel because it was nearer than the hotel and it is raining very heavily so we both are completely drenched.

When we finally reach inside the motel laughing our asses off. We make it to the reception and take a room, and this time I pay.

Let's just say my glare was enough.

And a little scene took place in front of a few people because I paid. It kind of went like this.

"You suck." He says suggestively.

"And you swallow, choke and then gag." I go towards our room leaving dumbfounded people including Christian.

It's going to be an interesting night.

●●●

●●●