Dustin spoke softly. â€œOne day...I will not flinch when you move to touch me. I will not flinch on instinct fearing that touch will mean pain and a mark upon my form. One day...I will realize my father isnâ€™t there to hurt me. To beat me black and blue. I donâ€™t remember...what happened three weeks before I came to that school. It was a blur. They were arguing. Hitting each other. Talking in some strange tongue. Romanian or something. Not sure. It wasnâ€™t English where we livedI. I was hiding in the closet with the slitted doors. Then...it is all just a blur. Transported halfway across the world. They were just gone...no more hurt. No more pain. No more verbal lashing and physical beatings...it was all just...gone. For once...I could breathe...without worry Iâ€™d do something wrong. That Iâ€™d look at them wrong or breathe wrong. Or make a sound when I should have been quiet. Those memories...they left a mark upon my soul...I was...so young when it happened. I wasnâ€™t even a year old.â€<br/><br/>He looked down then at her. â€œOne day...one day I will be able to hold your hand...even if just for but a few moments. I wonâ€™t flinch or try to run or turn to stone...from physical contact. Physical contact wonâ€™t mean...pain. It will mean...something else. Iâ€™m not sure what that something else is...but I know itâ€™ll be a good something else.â€<br/><br/>He fell silent again right as she started talking. He listened to her as she spoke. Flushing a bit and listened to her. â€œI didnâ€™t smile...until I met you.â€ He said honestly. â€œI never laughed...until I met you.â€ He lifted his gaze and met her eyes. â€œThat is because...they are just for you...who I let in my bubble.â€ He said with a soft smile. It was gone within seconds but it had been there. â€œYou see things...I had locked away. I locked away my smile...because it made my mother yell hurtful and cruel things. I locked away my laugh because there wasnâ€™t anything funny about what I went through. You unlocked those things Reni. You inched your way inside my bubble. At a pace that didnâ€™t scare me. You accepted that...it would be a slow process with me.â€ He sighed a bit. â€œWords...can not tell you...how much that patience you have with me means. To know...Iâ€™m important enough to someone...for them to take things at a pace that doesnâ€™t scare me.â€<br/><br/>â€œHeh...alright. Donâ€™t expect me to dance to one of your ballet tunes though. You like to dance in place when you play one of those.â€ He said with a slightly playful tone. He hadnâ€™t realized her parents were there yet. She moved so quickly he fell off the couch when from shock. Groaning and sat up. Blinking and stood up. Flushing bright red from head to toe then went to normal color. Looking down. How long had they been standing there? He rubbed his right arm nervously. Shifting from foot to foot.<br/><br/>He looked at her mother and didnâ€™t know what to say. His eyes panicked and nervous. He wasnâ€™t sure how to react to that. He backed up a step. Then moved behind Reni. Not looking at anyone. The fatherâ€™s commanding tone he visually flinched then turned to stone. His eyes going expressionless along with his face. He fell into himself. â€œYes sir...â€ he said in a shaky and flat voice. He didnt look at anyone. Not even at Reni. His body and mind instinctively switched to this mode. This mode his father had beat into him. The mode where he shut down and locked himself off to the world.<br/><br/>His mind put together in slow motion that it wasnâ€™t his father it was Reniâ€™s father. It wasnâ€™t an evil man it was the kind man. He started shaking and backed up. He felt ashamed as his arms wrapped around him. â€œIâ€™m sorry. Iâ€™m sorry.â€ he said. He started apologizing over and over again like he did with Reni. â€œPlease donâ€™t hate me. Please. Iâ€™m sorry.â€ He was so worried they would hate him now. He backed up into a cornered bookshelf. It was shaped like a right angle. He just stood there and shook. He kept saying he was sorry. Pleading with them not to hate him. Then it trailed of and he was silent.