77 - The chapter where Christian takes care of Rose

Rose

A knock again sounded on the door, and one more time I ignored it, staring at the white wall on the other side. But to my surprise, the bedroom light was turned on by Christian. I hid my face on my knees once more as he locked the door, before approaching the bed, placing something on the bedside table before climbing into bed.

He said nothing, silently brought his hands to my wrists, forcing me to let go of the knees I was hugging before making me lift my head, though I tried to resist.

All I didn't want was for him to see me like this, and even after I lifted my head, I avoided looking into his eyes. Still silent, Christian stood up, then walked away and began to go through my painting materials, but I didn't dare look at him, my gaze was locked on my violet hands. My skin had lightened a little after the bath, but was still far from returning to its natural color.

Christian held my hand, pulling me out of bed. I didn't resist, just following his commands, still without looking into his face. At that moment I felt so ashamed that I couldn't speak or look at him, I never imagined I would react this way, but I also never imagined I would go through a situation like this.

His hand wrapped firmly around my jaw, even though his touch was gentle, forcing me to lift my face to face him. I shot him an irritated look, trying to demonstrate a strength and petulance that didn't exist within me at that moment, but contrary to what I thought, I didn't find the amusement or pity that had been present in almost every look I had received since it had happened. No, in fact, there was nothing but affection and concern in the depths of those ice colored eyes.

He released my jaw, bringing his hand up to my cheek, briefly caressing it before his hand went to the back of my head, pulling me into a brief kiss. His lips lingered on mine for a few seconds, making me sigh before pulling away.

Still silent, Christian brought his hands to the hem of the T-shirt I was wearing, beginning to lift the fabric, exposing the stained skin of my body. I didn't wear a bra underneath, in fact, I took the most comfortable clothes I could find in the closet, dispensing with details like underwear. But that didn't seem to matter much, and without paying attention, he bent down, helping me to take off my pants, leaving me completely exposed at that moment.

Christian looked at my body for a moment, before walking away to the bathroom. I watched my body covered with stains, feeling even more humiliated by this further exposure. What did he think, that it would be fun to have sex with a girl painted purple?

But to my surprise, he returned to the room holding a washcloth and a sizable pot that I used to do my painting jobs when necessary, filled with water.

" What are you doing? " I found my voice.

" Isn't it obvious? Cleaning you.”

" I already tried, it won't come off," I insisted.

But instead of answering, Christian grabbed a large bottle of alcohol gel, filling his hand with a considerable amount before he began to rub it on my abdomen. To my surprise, the pigment began to run down my skin, as Christian rubbed it with his hands, taking the washcloth, dipping it into the jar before taking it to my skin, wiping the dye that had run down, and to my surprise, it was working.

" Why did you turn off your cell phone? Did someone do something? Did they text you, or... " He asked after a few minutes of working in silence, changing the water in the pot when it got too dirty. It wasn't easy to get rid of that color, but with patience he was doing it.

" I didn't turn it off, my cell phone broke when it happened," I looked away.

Christian closed his eyes, clenching his jaw as he took a deep breath, seeming to hold back his irritation as he wiped my collarbone, having already gotten rid of the other stains.

" Do you know who did it? On the video I couldn't tell," he practically growled.

" The girls in your class...the ones who pick on Cam," I took a deep breath and started to feel better as I realized that I would soon be back to normal.

And of course all the love and care that he was taking for me also had a lot to do with it. Nobody ever took care of me like that, both when I was sick and now.

" They…”

" They did it because Audrey told them to. She had surrounded me earlier while I was going to class in the morning and she wasn't happy about the whole I threw booze on her thing," I began to explain, "besides, there's no way those girls would have known about the music. And... all the rest…”

" In the video they called you an insane bitch," he looked away, "I'm sorry, I never thought…”

" Hey, I'm not offended when you call me that, but... look I just want to forget what happened” " I closed my eyes

Christian had managed to wipe my collarbone and a few stains on my arms, which hadn't been so badly hit because they were protected by the sweater.

" You better go clean this up in the bathroom, I'll wait for you here," he suggested. “You can get dressed now if you want to.”

" If I want to? " I gave him a weak smile for his satisfaction.

" I don't see any problem if you want to keep it up," he winked at me, before lying down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling nonchalantly.

I went to the closet and grabbed an already ink-stained sweatshirt and T-shirt, knowing that I still had to clean my face, but just getting rid of the bodily stains was a relief.  I spent a few minutes in the bathroom cleaning my hands to get rid of all the violet color that had taken over my skin.

" Are you done yet? " I heard Christian ask as I dried my hands on my shirt, since he had taken my washcloth to clean myself.

I could be upset about that, after all it was a new towel, but he did his best to help me. I left the room, seeing the boy kneeling on the floor, pulling a packet of absorbent cotton and micellar water from a bag.

" Yes, I am here.”

" You'd better wipe your face with micellar water," he raised his face to look at me, and motioned for me to sit down in front of him.

I settled there preparing myself for him to start working on my face, but to my surprise, he leaned in, kissing me again, this time more gently, and I didn't hesitate to respond.  His lips moved over mine, and his tongue danced with mine as his hand caressed my cheek.

He pulled away, leaving me with a shy smile, his forehead resting against mine.

" What was that? " I stared at him.

" That? " He kissed me again briefly, before abandoning my mouth, running his lips down my cheek to my ear "you may consider it the only time I will ever willingly feed this gigantic ego of yours.”

That sentence made me let out a little laugh, feeling a little lighter than before.

" And how are you going to do that? " I glared at him out of the corner of my eye.

" By reminding you how beautiful you are," he whispered in my ear, making me close my eyes, "wonderful.”

Christian nibbled the skin of my neck, causing a shiver to run through my body before he began to distribute soft kisses over the area.

" Incredibly hot... even if it's painted purple.”