Chapter 371: The Time to Trust (Part 1).
Nick made an attempt to get out of bed and immediately fell back onto the pillow. The head buzzed as if it was being used as a drum and someone played it all night. Only they did it not with light wooden sticks, but with large iron hammers.
"Damn Taubert, I hate you," the guy hissed and, overcoming the spasm in his temples and the room floating in front of his eyes, after two unsuccessful attempts, he finally managed to sit.
It was the strangest New Year he had ever seen in his life.
Firstly, it was the first New Year that he celebrated with such a large company. He used to spend previous holidays with Ashley and Armand only. It's not that they didn't like guests, it's just that it so happened that the three of them had enough of their small family.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, he got drunk for the first time in his life. He was so drunk that he vaguely remembered coming back to his room and going to bed.
And this damn Marcus Taubert is the one to blame!
Who said twins have so much in common? Don't believe anyone who tells you this! All that the Tauberts had in common was just their appearance!
Armand had alcohol, cigarettes and any harmful substances under a strict ban. The man raised Nick in the tough Sparta regime, and at twenty years old, young Anderson did not know what a hangover was.
Until this morning.
Nick let out a deep roar and slid off the bed. He trudged towards the bathroom, stumbling and nearly falling over his trousers that were lying on the floor. The guy looked around the room. A T-shirt, sneakers, other things, a backpack - it felt like a tornado had passed through the room. It did not touch Nick, but everything else suffered more than a lot.
"What the hell was I doing here?!" he scratched his head, sober up in a couple of minutes of contemplating the apocalypse in one room.
Forgetting about the morning needs of the body, Nick began to quickly collect the scattered things, as if an inspection was about to break into his room. The reflex, developed over the years, like that of Pavlov's dog, under the "sensitive" guidance of Armand, said one thing - there should always be order in the room. And not just order, but perfect cleanliness!
But when Nick asked why this requirement only extended to him and not Ashley, Armand averted his gaze and pretended not to understand what was being said.
Double standards in action!
Nick picked up his backpack, which was on the floor instead of lying in the closet, and was about to put it back when he stepped on something small. He pushed his foot back and saw a pendant on a gold chain, lost in the high pile of the carpet.
The guy's face instantly became serious, he grabbed the pendant and threw a quick glance at the door, making sure that no one saw him. And who could see him in his own room without his consent? Realizing that came a bit late to him.
"Armand was right, alcohol is evil," Nick muttered under his breath, looked around, went to the bedside table and put the pendant in the top drawer. He took a step towards the bathroom, stopped. He looked over his shoulder back to the desk drawer where he had put the pendant.
"Damn," Nick pulled on his pants, took out the pendant he'd just put in the drawer, and put it in his pocket. That's better. And safer. With these thoughts, the guy finally reached the bathroom.
A displeased grunt met Nick in the hallway. Sean was walking towards his room and pretended not to notice a relative, whose presence in their house had strangely taken longer time.
"Good morning," the guy greeted in his usual cheerful manner, Sean threw a displeased look at Nick and was about to silently walk by when Nick grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt. "Hey, what is about this ignoring? Answer when the elders talk to you!"
"Screw you, Nicholas!"
Nick was momentarily taken aback by such rudeness. Sean seized the moment and broke free from the guy's grip, but could not get far.
"Did you lose your mind?! What are those words?!" Nick grabbed the boy by the ear and pulled him up, "I don't tell your parents that you look at me as if I'm your enemy, but I'm not going to stand open rudeness!"
Sean grabbed Nick's wrist and tried to pull himself away from the guy, but the adult was stronger, "Let go! You moron!"
"It seems that someone must learn his manners. Maybe I should teach you a lesson?"
Nick blinked as the boy disappeared, but the next second, a blow to the knee knocked Nick off balance and the guy fell to the floor. Sean bounced aside, "Just dare to get into my head again! I'll tell dad everything! And don't go near Ashley, okay?! Stupid!" the boy showed his middle finger to Nick, ran down the corridor and slammed the door of his room.
Nick lay on the floor for a few more seconds in complete shock, analyzing what had happened. "What was this? He gave me a finger?! Me?! Did he?!" When an outsider tells you to get lost, that's one thing, but when the childish version of your own self does it, it's...
The guy jumped up, straightened his T-shirt and, with the same frown as Sean had earlier, followed the boy into the room.
He found the child fiddling in his closet among the mountains of things. Toys were scattered on the floor, a stack of books lay on the table in the same chaotic order. Nick became so eager to get rid of the childish chaos that reigned in the room. He seems to have begun to understand Armand.
"I didn't allow you to enter my room!"
"And I didn't ask your permission. I wanted to go in and I went in," Nick grinned and folded his arms over his chest, trying to look as stern as possible. But Sean was not impressed.
"Listen, kid. I understand that you are used to getting away with a lot, but this time you clearly crossed the line. In the place where I'm from kids are punished very severely for such behavior."
"In the place where you are from?" Sean walked away from the closet and closed the door, as if he didn't want to be noticed that he was looking for something, "How is that?" the boy folded his arms across his chest in a reciprocal pose, mirroring Nick, "Getting inside the head? Or are they trying to kill you while you are asleep?"
"What?" Nick was confused by such an unexpected question.
"That!" shouted Sean, picked up the first toy he came across from the floor and threw it at the guy's head, Nick dodged. "You don't think I noticed? You wanted to kill me! There! In the hospital! And you got into my head when we were in the jungle!"
"What?" Nick was even more confused. Not that the accusations were unfounded. But because Sean knew about it. "I wasn't going to kill you," but Sean's piercing gaze was certain that he was.
Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After the situation in Mexico, when Elena almost died, Rick fell into a coma, and Sean turned out to be Marcus's puppet, Nick was so confused that he did not understand what he was doing.
If not for Sean's intervention, he would have killed Marcus back then. Nick was sure of that. Therefore, that situation had such an impact on his emotional state. There was still a lot he didn't know at the time, including the fact that Marcus is Elena's father.
"I was out of my mind, sorry," admitted Nick, "I have no purpose to harm you. You are still little, and you do not understand many things."
"Are you an adult? Is that why you don't ask me and climb into my head? This is a violation of the code of honor! For this, I may call you to a duel!"
"What?" Nick arched an eyebrow. Sean tried to look confident, but the guy did not escape the way the child clenched trembling fingers into fists.
"That's what they say in the pirate movie, the one that Ashley loves," the boy explained in a condescending tone as if Nick didn't understand the obvious. "But now I know what a villain you are! A two-faced traitor. That's the reason why mom and dad didn't take you with them. They know too."
Nick tensed. They didn't take him where? Something in the child's malicious look alarmed the guy.
Sean, feeling his superiority in knowing the information his opponent was obviously not aware of, smiled, "Parents and uncle Marcus are leaving on business. Far away," the boy shrugged, "Who knows, maybe they've already left while we were talking."
Nick, without saying anything more, rushed out of the room. Sean closed the door and sniffed. Tears appeared in the boy's eyes. He wiped them off with his palm and returned to the closet.
The child pulled out a small backpack from under the heaps of things and took out the phone, hidden there a couple of minutes earlier.
Mom hasn't noticed the loss yet. And if she has, she won't have time to look for it.
Sean unlocked the screen, found the needed contact among the last calls and poked at the photo. After a few seconds, a melodic female voice answered on the other end of the line,
"Hello, Elena? Something happened?" Corey sounded alarmed. Sean knew that she and his mother had been talking a few minutes ago since Elena called her friend in front of her son.
"Aunt Corey, this is Sean."
"Oh, Sean! Baby, I thought it was your mom calling again," Corey replied after a short pause, her voice became softer.
"Can I talk to Ashley? She's nearby?"
"Yes, I'll give her the phone now."
Sean was poking at the dinosaur sticker on his backpack, waiting for an answer.
"Hello?"
"Ash, hello. How are you? How is your dad?" the boy was suddenly embarrassed. They hadn't spoken like this for a long time, they usually met in person. But lately, the girl spent all her time in the hospital.
"Daniel said that dad is better today. Is he still there? He promised me to bring the cake that aunt Elena baked for the new year."
Sean remembered that mom had saved two large pieces of cake yesterday for Ashley and Corey as they sat at the party table with the guests. He thought that Ashley would come at least for a holiday, but the girl stayed with her mother in the clinic.
"He has already taken it. I think he will come to you soon," Sean replied. The dinosaur sticker fell off the backpack and he had nothing left to distract himself with. "Ashley, are you my friend?"
"Of course! I'm your best friend!" the girl confirmed, and a smile spread across the boy's face and he felt warmth in his chest.
"Thank you," Sean wiped his still wet eyes and said, "Will you help me save my parents?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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