Chapter 497 Nightmare
It was almost dawn when Eugene reached home. He kept thinking about North so he went to Olivia’s house. Going to North’s room to take a peek, he found the little fella sleeping soundly. Initially, Eugene had wanted to sleep in Olivia’s room but he was worried that she would blame him for sleeping on her bed, and then have a row with him. So, he just took a shower and slept on the sofa pitifully.
Suddenly, a very soft whimper reached his ears. Is someone crying? Eugene instantly opened his eyes and sat up on the sofa. He looked around confusedly, only to realize no one was around. Could it be…
His heart skipped a beat and he got up hurriedly, rushing to North’s room. As expected, North was curled up under the blanket and his face was red from him holding his breath. His lips were pressed together tightly and whimpers were coming from his throat.
Eugene was shocked and quickly picked North up before calling his name softly, “North! North—”
However, North couldn’t hear him and his tiny body continued to shiver. Eugene patted North’s cheek as he shouted, “Son, wake up! Daddy’s here. North—”
It was as if North was holding back for a long time and couldn’t take it anymore, so he cried out loudly. Eugene’s heart ached for him. He held North in his hands, coaxing him softly, “Don’t be afraid. Daddy’s here. No one would dare to hurt you ever again!”
North opened his panic-stricken eyes. Looking around, he realized he was at home and in his dad’s arms. He was instantly relieved. With tears in his eyes, he wrapped his tiny arms around Eugene’s neck.
“There, there.” Eugene patted his back lightly. “It’s alright. Did you have a bad dream?”
North didn’t say a word but his arms tightened subconsciously around Eugene’s neck. He buried his head into Eugene’s chest, showing his anxiety. Eugene stroked his back lightly, hoping it would quickly calm him down. “Or were you afraid of sleeping alone?”
North shook his head.
“What was the dream about? Can you tell Daddy?” Eugene’s voice was gentle as he coaxed North.
North kept quiet for a long time before mumbling, “I dreamt about the day I was kidnapped by Anna.”
Hearing that, Eugene felt a chill go through his body. Olivia and he had thought that since North didn’t have bad dreams, it meant that he was alright. But in fact, the incident had always been in the back of his mind. It had always been in his nightmares.
Eugene’s heart felt like it was being pierced by millions of needles, aching and hurting. He felt that leaving Anna at the mental hospital was too merciful and she should’ve experienced what it was like to have nightmares every night. His huge palm stroked North’s small head as he comforted him, “Don’t be afraid, son. Anna is in the mental hospital now. She won’t be able to hurt you ever again.”
North nodded but he remained in Eugene’s arms. Eugene, too, was in no hurry and he continued to patiently coax his son. In fact, he was very willing to grow closer with his son. For the past seven years, he didn’t fulfill his obligations as a father so he wanted to make up for it. “Do you want to listen to a story?”
“What story?”
“It’s a story of your uncle and I when we were young.”
North mulled it over before giving a nod.
“When your uncle and I were about your age, we were afraid of animals with pointy beaks like chickens, ducks and geese. One day when your grandma was not home, our babysitter Miss West had someone who was sick at her place. To make it easier to take care of us, she took us to her house. Back then, she had a lot of chickens and ducks at home. Knowing that we were afraid of them, she rounded them up. The next day, a goose escaped the fence and it happened to be a species of male geese that tended to poke people with their mouths; it was like it wanted to bully us on purpose. It stretched its neck, quacked loudly and chased us all around.”
