Chapter 30 Chapter 30

Sofia’s POV 

“We wouldn’t?” I blurted and watched as he hesitated for a moment before nodding his head once, his eyes still locked with mine, and I knew after a few seconds that it was extremely hypocritical of me to start feeling guilty and weird about being told to keep some stuffs from Luca, when I had literally asked him to the same a few times.

Not like I was ever going to walk up to luca and start up a conversation about how Ryan started to ask me about myself… and would it even matter? Now that I think about it, I honestly do not think it would.  

He stood up and headed for the couch exactly beside mine. 

“So, you are still planning on telling me about yourself, right?” He echoed again.

“Well, will you also tell me about yourself?” I shot back.

“It’s a deal.” He responded smoothly.

“I have a brother. What about you?” I asked and he huffed.

“I’m all by myself, it’s just me.” He echoed and I hummed.

“Can you tell me about what it feels like for you to grow up without a sibling? I want to know how it felt for you.” I heard myself start to say after a few minutes had passed between us in a comfortable silence. 

“I can’t know the difference between growing up with a sibling and growing up without one, and that’s because I’ve never had one.” Ryan paused a few seconds after he had started to reply to the quest which I had asked him and I watched as he waited for a few more moments before continuing. “I haven’t ever had a sibling before, I can’t know what it feels like to have one, so I can’t differentiate between what it would feel like to have a brother or a sister and what it would feel like to not have one, so… yeah.” Ryan finally concluded what he had been saying with a small puff of air slipping past his lips.

“Oh.” I said in a small voice and watched as his head gave a nod which looked somewhat tense.

“Yeah. ” He echoed after me.

“Well then, can you tell me something about your childhood? What it felt like for you, what it was like growing up and finally coming of age, and all those kinds of stuff.” I said to him after a minute and watched as he stared at me blankly for a fleeting moment, right before the sides of his lips started to stretch out a little into a small smile. 

“Why? You’re curious?” He demanded in a light voice and I found myself nodding my head in “I am.” 

He snorted. “You still haven’t gotten around to telling me about yourself, Mrs Ricci, you know that?” He started to say after a moment, the sides of his lips still stretched out a little.

“I would, like I said I was going to some time ago, I’ll tell you about myself like I said I would.” I replied after  a moment.

“How about you start right now then?”

“You didn’t get to tell me about your childhood.” I pointed out almost immediately, slightly staring at him from the sides of my eyes.

“That was because you haven’t gotten to telling me about yourself, remember, after all, I asked first.” He started to say after a few seconds and I rolled my eyes a little before moving forward a little on the couch and huffing out a little puff of breath.

“Fine.” I muttered and lifted my finger to use in moving my hair to the back of my ears when it had gotten into my face way too much that I’d prefer at the very moment.  

“I’m all ears.” He said in reply and I rolled my eyes a little before moving my hair away from my face towards the back of my ear once again. 

~~~

Luca’s POV 

I didn’t really know what it was that had woken me up exactly, all I was sure about, was the fact that there was something like a weird noise sounding around me, like it was coming from a spot right beside my head, and that sound had kept increasing and heightening up until it had ended up dragging me right of the deep sleep that I had been in, a close second ago.

I blinked my eyes awake and stared up into my roof, my brain lazily finding it hard for me to comprehend what it was that had woken me up in the first place. My brain was working slow at a really bad time, because it took over a minute for me to realize that the sounds which I had been hearing right from my sleep, hadn’t been my imagination, and had been happening in real life, right there beside me on my bed.

My eyes widened as my eyes zeroed in on a sobbing Sofia and my heart had skipped a few heartheats at that very moment, as I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

I shifted closer towards her, and slowly realized that she wasn’t even awake yet, and had been crying right from her sleep.

She wasn’t even crying, it was more like she was whimpering like a wounded puppy, but it was way more stronger and pitiful than that of a puppy. 

“Sofia?” I called out while still staring at her, trying to block out the sounds of her whimpers and how it was literally wrenching my heart, coupled with the fact that her tear stricken face was messing with my head. My heart was really fast and all I wanted to do at this very moment was to kill whoever it was that was behind what was happening to her at the moment.

“Sofia?” I called out once again and got nothing in reply, except the fact that she had started to full on sob after a few moments, and I stared at her helplessly, not knowing what it was that I was supposed to do at a situation like this. 

It was obvious enough that she was having a bad dream at the moment, but how do I wake her up and pull her out of it. I reached out and touched her bare arm, using it to shake her a little, in hopes of making her come awake and get her out of whatever it was that she was facing in her head. 

It didn’t help a bit because she didn’t come awake, and had instead started to whisper jumbled up words that sounded so much like broken pleas, and it made my heart squeeze really tightly in the middle of my chest that I found it hard to breath for a few seconds.

Shoving all thoughts to the wind as well as everything in mind that wes trying to make me understand that what I was about to do was a really bad idea, and that you shouldn't do it, but I ignored it and shifted even closer to Sofia’s body until my body was touching hers. It was the first time our bodies were going to be touching each other on the bed, and it sent a warm feeling into my body… I just wished it didn’t have to be this kind of incident that would have a hand in making our bodies touch each other for the first time here on this bed.

Trying to block out the sounds of her voivr breaking as each whispered and stuttered pleas slipped past her lips, as well as more sobs– out of my ears as I got even closer to her, I stretched out my hand out and slipped the first one underneath her body, pulling her into my arms immediately. I dragged her body up until my arms were circling her body and I was holding her fully in my arms, hating the way my bare chest was getting wet super fast, due to the tears she was shedding.

“Sofia? You’re alright, yeah?” I murmured in a low voice as I started to stroke my hand down her back, while my other hand held her firmly into my body. I was trying my very best to offer her as much comfort as I could, in order to pull her out of what she was fighting in her unconscious state. My hands found my way into her hair and I started to run my fingers through the roots, pulling her even closer to me and hoping I’d be able to wake her up this way.

It took a few more minutes until her cries started to quieten down, and after a few more moments, her body stiffened against my body all of a sudden, which was the proof that I needed, to make it known to me that she was finally awake, or was about to. 

“Shh, it’s only me.” I whispered against her hair and pulled her even closer towards my chest, and I felt how fast her heart was beating against mine, which pointed out the fact that I was really nervous at the moment.

I had no idea if she was even completely out of her head yet, or if she was still thinking she was still dreaming.

“Sofia?” I called out and tightened my arms around her when she started to struggle like she was about to get out of my arms.

“Let me go…” She stuttered out in a small voice and I breathed out a low sigh, this wasn’t helping one bit, it was obvious that she was still in her head.

“Sofia? It’s Luca,” I whispered against her head once again, purposely making my voice a little louder than it was before, in order to try to penetrate into her head, but she started to shake violently against my body, her body trembling against mine, and I knew what I had to do in the next second to stop all these.

I rolled us around until my body was blanketing hers completely, trying to convince a voice in my head that I wasn’t planning on doing a damn thing to get at the moment, and was only doing this because it was obvious she needed it in order to come back to reality. 

I pressed my body down on hers with my second hand still buried in her hair, and my heart broke as I stared at her face which was wet with tears, with her eyes still squeezed close and her head shaking from side to side. 

“Sofia?” I called out while watching her and at the same time allowed almost all my weight to drop down on hers, in order to make her feel the weight on her, and hopefully help her get out of her head, because this was really unusual for me and at this point, I was running out of stuffs to do, in order to help her.

It thankfully worked before she finally gasped out shakily and fluttered her eyelashes which were wet with tears, and stared up at me with eyes which were glassy and really wet with tears.

“You’re alright, ok?” I whispered to her, my face only a few feet away from hers and I watched as she kept on staring at me like she couldn’t believe what was happening, and was just starting to piece all what was happening around her all at once.

“Nothing’s going to happen to you, alright?” I said to her as I brought my other hand around and cradled her face in my hand and I watched as her eyes fluttered once again, tears spilling out from both her eyes, as well as a choked sob which slipped past her lips, just as her eyes slid close.

Knowing that she wasn’t in her head anymore and had thankfully woken up was enough for me, this breakdown which was happening at the moment wasn’t much I knew I’d be able to handle it. I turned us around once again, taking her along with me and rolling around until she was almost laying on top of me, my arms closed around her almost immediately and I was pulling her against me even more.

“Shh, you’re alright, nothing’s going to happen to you.” I whispered soothingly with my fingers once again returning back to moving lightly throughout her hair, with my other hand holding her firmly against my body. 

“It was only a dream, it can't be able to get to you here, alright?” I continued to speak, my voice coming out really softly as I stroked my fingers through her hair, and after some time, she finally started to quieten up, the feeling it tears running down my chest wasn’t as frequent as it was some minimum ago.

“You’re safe here, alright? You’re safe now.” I continued, pressing my lips against her head for a few moments before pulling her even more against me.

She had completely gone quiet after a few more minutes, leaving us in a blanket of quietness which was quietly disrupted by the sound of her sniffing on and on.

“Um, can I– can I leave your embrace?” Her voice came out quiet, low, hoarse and scratchy, and I felt my heart tightened almost immediately, that I pulled her against my body and tightened my hold on her without even realizing it.

“No.” I replied and realized just how I had sounded to my own ears.

“You can’t leave my embrace, you’re sleeping in it tonight, alright?” I rephrased, my lips moving against her forehead as I spoke and her skin felt warm against my lips.

A few moments passed before her quiet voice cut through the blanket of silence above us.

“O- okay.”

I held her firmly and didn’t stop moving my fingers through her hair, feeling her stiff body start to finally relax slowly against my body, some minutes later and she had finally fallen asleep in my arms, her body completely against mine, and almost on mine.

I moved my nose through her hair and breathed in deeply, pulling her more closely so that her head fit beneath my neck perfectly, and I fell back asleep after a few more minutes, with my arms still wrapped firmly around Sofia.