Chapter 15

She leaned out and drew the lines carefully. Carlisle rushed forward unexpectedly and snatched her into his arms.

“What are you looking at?”

She tensed as his powerful body cradled her in his arms.

Carlisle was an adult, after all, and his behavior was the same as when he was a child.

Abella didn’t seem to mind, despite the fact that she’d raised him from a very early age, but she began to feel a bit odd as Carlisle stammered against her body.

“Mommy.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, why, did you call?”

“I’m stiff.”

Abella’s eyes widened after a brief pause as she felt Carlisle’s hands begin to caress her forearms and shoulders.

“Baby……!!!”

“What, are you in pain?”

“Oh, no……. It’s not that it hurts…….”

He massaged the delicate flesh on the inside of her forearm, which tickled. Carlisle spoke when Abella jerked away from his touch in embarrassment.

“Oh, is it…… uncomfortable…… for me to do this?”

Carlisle’s face darkened slightly as he read the space between us in Abella’s tightened gaze.

“I’m…… sorry.”

“It’s not…… I’m just a little surprised…….”

“I was just…… remembering how you used to rub my legs when I was little…….”

Abella was scared to get a good distance between herself and the now-grown man, but whenever he brought up his childhood in such a way, she was soon taken back to the beginning.

She finally cupped Carlisle’s cheek and murmured.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about……. I was just a little startled by your sudden touch…….”

“Really……?”

“Yeah, really, that’s all.”

Abella soothed, and Carlisle hugged her again, a relieved look on his face.

“……that’s good.”

This kind of hug was one of those things that threw Abella off, but she couldn’t resist and awkwardly patted him on the back.

“By the way, Mom.”

“Huh?”

“I think your shoulders are really tight.”

“Oh, yeah……?”

Abella averted her eyes and said it was nothing.

“It must be because the shop’s been busy lately……. It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about it too much…….”

“Let me rub your shoulder.”

Carlisle interrupted her casually.

“I’m not kidding, mom, you look tired a lot lately.”

“Oh…….”

It’s just that your rubbing up against me without even trying has overwhelmed me……

Abella was afraid to voice the words. She knew that saying something like this would greatly upset Carlisle.

To her, Carlisle was a vulnerable child with very low self-esteem who was easily hurt.

Carlisle grabbed her up and brought her to bed after a brief hesitation.

“Oh, baby, you don’t have to do this!”

Abella exclaimed, surprised, but Carlisle simply gently placed her on the bed.

“I really need to do this…….”

Carlisle glared at her as he climbed on top of her to massage her shoulders and back.

“It’s not like, I’m uncomfortable……?”

“…….”

“Mom, you’ve been feeling weird lately.”

“Baby…….”

“You used to be such a good hugger, but now you don’t even give me a good hug first…… and when I hug you, you push me away with a surprised look on your face…….”

Abella had apparently been like this since Carlisle grew bigger.

In fact, Carlisle is aware that she is uncomfortable, even if she is only denying it.

“I only know my mom, but…… she’s been so……. lately.”

“That’s because…… so…….”

“You said before, when I grow up, we were going to go shopping together.”

“…….”

“But you suddenly said no to that, too…….”

Carlisle’s brow furrowed as he dried his face.

“Yeah, well, it’s because I’ve suddenly gotten bigger……. I guess that’s the reason why.”

Abella bit her lower lip, unable to deny it.

“But mom……. I really…….”

The low voice in her ears trembled a little. The corners of his eyes suddenly became moist.

“I really…….”

Carlisle finally broke down and sobbed like a child, despite his best efforts to remain calm.

“I don’t want you to do like this, you suddenly avoids…….”

He wiped his tears with the back of his palm, despising the way he looked like a child crying.

“I’m scared….., I’m scared, I’m scared…… you’re just about to…… ask me to leave this house again…….”

As he spat out the words, his shoulders shook. His big shoulders bounced pitifully up and down, as he wailed furiously.

Carlisle’s behavior surprised not only Abella but everyone else as well.

“I never thought……, I never thought…….”

“Oh, baby…….”

“I don’t want to be an adult…….”

Carlisle tightened his fists, attempting to hold back the tears. Unfortunately, his efforts were futile.

Carlisle wailed through his tears, which was out of character for his ruggedly gorgeous face.

“I hate…… I hate my mom…….”

Carlisle sobbed as he hugged her.

“I’m sorry…… sorry, baby. Mommy hasn’t been okay……. lately.”

“Is it because I grew up…… do you hate me…… that much?”

“No, I’m not doing this because I hate it, believe me. Okay?”

Abella caressed his hair in an attempt to calm him, but her gesture had little effect on his already pounding heart.

Carlisle’s significantly larger body was strange, but Carlisle was Carlisle.

Abella felt a sense of remorse as she pitied him for being a big guy on the outside yet so little on the inside.

“I’d rather cut off all my limbs,” he exclaimed, her eyes widening in amazement at the chilling words that followed.

“If that’s what it takes to make you feel like a little boy again and be pampered by you…… I’ll do it.”

Abella recognized it the moment she heard it. He wasn’t joking; he was serious.

Goosebumps appeared on her arms quickly. She gaped, then stiffened, speechless.

She would normally have slapped Carlisle on the back and railed at him for his stupidity, but she was suddenly silent.

But she was frightened that if she remained silent any longer, Carlisle would cut off his limbs, so she pushed her voice to come out.

“I’m sorry, baby, it was my fault, but honestly, you just got too big and…… a little strange, and that’s why I did it.”

Carlisle, even as an adult, longed to bathe Abella like a kid and often wanted to hold her in his arms.

It was understandably overwhelming for Abella.

“I’ll try. I’ll really…… try, so don’t say such scary things. Okay?”

“I’m the one who’s ……really scared.”

Carlisle said, burying his face in the nape of her neck.

“I’m…… I’m scared that if you kicks me out…… I won’t have place to go and I won’t have anything…….”

“Baby…….”

“Lately, you hasn’t been talking to me…… so I’ve been scared, and I wonder if you’re going to send me to the mountains again…….”

Abella patted his back and said.

“I won’t do that, I promise.”

“……really?”

“Yeah, really. I don’t know about everything else, but I’m not going to get rid of you, baby.”

“Really, really?”

“Yeah, really. And the store is…… Let’s go out together starting tomorrow. How about that?”

Carlisle’s cheek was tenderly touched by a little hand.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you are this upset.”

“…….”

“……I guess I was being too selfish.”

He’s all grown up, yet behind it all, he’s still the same adorable little Carlisle who enjoys making others laugh.

Carlisle, too, loosened his crumpled expression and inquired hesitantly, “What’s wrong?” Abella swallowed hard and smiled sweetly.

“How about a bath…”

“Huh? Bath?”

“Yeah…… We always bathe together.”

“Oh, that’s…….”

Abella’s tongue tightened once again; showering meant getting n*ked with him.

She’d showered with him all the time as a child, but going n*ked in front of him now that he was an adult was a different story.

“I loved bathing with you at sunset…….”

He enjoyed soaping up with his mother and, when he was younger, splashing around in the tub with her where his feet couldn’t reach.

Carlisle reminisces about those days.

“After the bath, I loved having my mom dry my hair and brush it, and…… then we’d cuddle in bed together and fall asleep, and I’d feel like I had all the love in the world.”

“…….”

“I ……want to take a bath with you like that again.”