Chapter 167 Come Home

Chapter 167 Come Home
Eden’s Point of View

Theron and I stood in silence, my hair in the wind. Uriel was long gone; he left the moment Theron threatened to bite him.

Theron kept his distance, but he was close enough for me to see him; he wasn’t in the best of shape, he seemed thinner, and his stubbles were noticeable, even though it made him look more masculine, it was easy to tell that something bothered him—half of me was excited to see him, I wanted to jump in his arms, the other half was angry.

I told him not to find me… I wanted him to wait for me… Guess he couldn’t do that much.

“Hello, love.” He finally broke the silence. “How have you been?”

“How did you find me?” I asked curiously, taking a step back. I did everything right, didn’t spend from my credit cards, didn’t turn on my phone, and I wasn’t in contact with anyone, not even Lola. “Why?”

“You were in danger just now.” His voice was soft as he deflected from the question. “I wasn’t going to interfere with your life if you weren’t in danger.”

My eyes narrowed as realization hit me.

“You have been following me?” I scoffed. “How long have you been following me?”

“Just today.” He muttered, and I stared hard at him. He then sucked in a deep breath, and a ‘fuck everything’ expression formed on his face. “Fine, it’s been two days now, I hired someone to do it before then.”

“Theron, y—” The words stopped in my throat, I simply shook my head, and then just walked past him. As expected, he followed me.

“Please talk to me.” He urged, voice breaking.

“You never listen anyway,” I complained, my strides hurried.

“I will listen. Tell me anything now, I am here, I will listen.” He followed me, effortlessly keeping up with my pace, but he didn’t touch me. “I promise.”

“Stalking me doesn’t mean you love me; normal couples don’t have bugs and trackers installed in their partners' phones; they don’t pay people to follow their wives; they give their partners space when it is needed… love is not supposed to be oppressive.”

“I am sorry.” He apologized, his voice soft. “I only wanted to protect you, I promise you, I don’t want to control you. I love and adore you; I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I stopped abruptly, and he stopped as well.

“If you do, then you would give me the two weeks I asked for.”

His fingers ran through his hair, and he exhaled sharply.

“Staying two weeks away from me? Just tell me to die instead, that would be easier.” My eyes widened, and he took another step forward. “Yes, I’d much rather die than be away from you; you left, took Snowball with you—what about me? I was left with so many questions. Is it something I said? Something I did? Tell me, and I promise to fix it.”

I fell silent, looking at the sincerity in his glossy eyes.

“If you need space, then I promise not to interfere with your life until you have taken all the time you need; just let me follow you, and protect you in the way I can—I won’t talk, I won’t touch you, I won’t even look at you; but let me have this clarity that you are at least safe.”

I bit down on my quivering lips, unable to look away from the endearing eyes of this man, and tears stirred in my eyes.

“It’s you. You’re the problem, Theron.” I confessed, and a shaky sigh escaped me. “How did you think I was going to feel when you gave up on everything that makes you a human to become fully devoted to me? You’re willing to give up on your morals, your self-control, and even the very one thing you have struggled to get all your life. While you made that decision, did you think about what it would make me? A hindrance? Is that all you ever want me to be to you?”

More tears welled in my eyes, blurring out my vision.

“I have been thinking; you were fine until we got married, you were fine until I came into your life. But for some reason, in every single circumstance where you lost control, I was involved. Was I the problem? Was I making it worse? These questions have kept me up late at night, but somehow, I didn’t want to talk about it, because I was a coward.”

The tears finally fell, rolling down my cheeks, and the rest of the words got stuck in my throat: heavy and bitter.

In a big stride, Theron covered the distance between us, and he fell on his knees, his large arms wrapped around my waist as he pressed his forehead against my stomach. His warmth seeped into me, and more tears just fell from my eyes.

“I’m sorry, please forgive this selfish husband of yours.” He pressed soft kisses against my belly through the skin of my stomach. “You were never a hindrance, you were never the problem, it’s me… it has always been me, please just stop crying.”

“How can I stop crying when you’re trying to ruin your life because of me?” Another sob escaped me. “Since you are here, it must mean you already resigned formally—all your hard work was for what?”

“No, Eden. I didn’t give up, I assumed the position of the chairman, it’s not official yet, but that’s the reason I came looking for you, to take you back with me.” He finally glanced up at me, his eyes were red too, and I could see tears in them as well; he had always been soft and delicate with me, but today was different—his gaze was way too tender, and his voice filled with emotions that I had never heard before. “I let you go once before, when I saw you in my cabin house for the first time, because you were young and inexperienced, even though I liked you, I knew I was going to ruin you if I got too close, because I didn’t know how to be soft.”

A soft gasp escaped my lips when he took my hand, his palms hot as he touched me, and pressed a long kiss on my fingers.

“Right from the minute I left the bathroom naked and dripping, from the minute I looked into those brown eyes of yours, I just knew it had to be you.” He confessed, and I felt my heart slam hard against my ribcage. “Fate brought you back to me again, and I was certain I wasn’t going to let you go this time. Even if you run to the ends of the earth, I will follow you hopelessly. No matter how many times you cast me aside, I will always find my way back to you… and I will devote the rest of my life to you.”

I swallowed hard, looking deeply into his eyes.

“I will do better, I promise you will never have to be worried or scared.” His arms tightened around me, as he pressed the sides of his face against me, and I felt my resolve breaking, my fingers slipped into his hair.

It didn’t matter that we were both in the middle of the lonely dark streets, and anyone could hike or ride a bike by; I just wanted to hold him and be held by him.

The uncertainness melting away with the warmth of his body, but my eyes narrowed when I noticed he was burning up. “Please come back with me, Eden.”

“Theron, you’re burning up.”

“Tell me you’ll come back with me, please.” He held my hands.

“You need to lie down somewhere; you’re having a fever.” I urged, trying to drag him up to his feet, but he didn’t budge. “Come on, get up.”

“Just tell me, you will come home, Eden.” He inhaled my palms deeply. “Please come home with me.”

“Yes, you dummy.” I cupped his face in my palms. “Of course, I will go home with you.”