Chapter 95: Troubled Niko
Rory’s pov
"Dad, I was called a monster today." Niko said as soon as he trudged into the house behind a worried looking Anna. I was on FaceTime with a few of my staff snc had thankfully muted the call as soon as the kid’s arrived. My eyes instantly widened and I told thr staff that I’d get back to them later, and then I got up to meet Niko and Anna, a worried expression already across my face.
"What? Who said that?" I asked, feeling my heart fly up onto my throat. The warm, watery scent of Niko smelt burnt and unhappy and I frowned when he averted his gaze, staring down at his twirling hands. I glanced over at Anna who still had a worried expression on.
"Honey, did something happen?" I asked and Anna pursed her lips for a moment, and then she bursted into tears. My eyes widened and I felt frozen in place and unsure of what to do to both distressed kids, however, I told myself to not panic as I tugged Anna into my arms to give her a tight hug just as she began to speak.
"It was on the bus, and a kid in my own grade kept messing with me. I told him to stop over and over again and he wouldn’t listen and kept tugging on either my hair or my bag. I know Kenny told me to stop fighting, but I got fed up and shoved the kid. He ended up falling, but he got up and was about to punch me, but Niko stepped in and... and beat him up! Then everyone started calling Niko a freak and a monster, but he only defended me! And Niko is sad and I hate it because he only defended me, so I just feel so guilty. I tried talking to him to remind him that he wasn’t a monster but he didn’t want to listen, and- and I didn’t know what else to do."
My eyes remained wide open once he was done speaking and I let out a long exhale, feeling like my whole world just got upturned. When I turned towards Niko, he wasn’t crying, but his eyes were filled with so much anger that it made chills engulfed me for a moment. I massaged Anna’s shoulders and kissed her head till she stopped crying, and once she was quiet, she got out of my arms and I turned towards Niko whose gaze was still averted.
I could feel waves of restrained anger pouring off his body and I swallowed emptily as I tentatively reached for him, but he jerked away from my touch and I resisted the urge to gasp from shock, not wanting to set him off further, but that had never happened before.
I waited a few seconds and decided to not touch him this time.
"Niko baby... what’s wrong?" I asked carefully and about a minute passed before he let out a huff, refusing to speak.