Seven

Once the two grown men picked themselves off the ground and pulled themselves together it was already time for me to go home. I finished up the legal forms, this time keeping the curtains open and it took FOREVER!

This time I actually read through the documents to make sure they weren't tricking me into anything as well as reading through the documents I'd signed earlier the day.

We finally met with a lawyer and had everything finalized and I was free to go.

Just as I was about to leave 32 started banging on the windows again and whining. I hope this doesn't become a nightly occurrence...

Everything in my body fought for me to stay and make him happy, to stop him from whining but I somehow managed to leave.

This time instead of feeling better the further I got, I felt worse. He never left my thoughts, all I could think about was how he held me.

**************************************

The next day when I arrived I couldn't help the intense excitement running through me. I was practically skipping down the halls to greet 32.

When I stepped into the room Dr. Shawl gave me a large smile as always.

"Hey Dr. Shawl"

"Please, call me Rob."

"Okay Rob, what's the plan today?"

"Well," He started, his excitement building, "I wanted to see if you would be up to something different, potentially dangerous, a very big step."

"What is it?" I asked suspiciously, crossing my arms and noticing his nervous posture.

"How would you feel about going into his cell today? I could give you a children's book and you could start teaching him our ways."

I smiled, it wasn't nearly as bad as he made it out to be, I weirdly wasn't scared at all, a little nervous, but not scared at all.

"Hell ya!" I said a little too eagerly.

Rob quickly went over the safety measures and precautions, going through the basics. He handed me a book that showed farm animals, it even had those little patches of fur so you could feel the animals while you learn them.

I nervously took the book and headed towards the door.

I opened it, popping my head through to find 32 on the verge of punching out another window, fist raised as he looked at me with a guilty face like he was a 5 year old just caught staying up past his bedtime.

"Don't you dare!" I said shaking my head as the door clicked closed behind me.

He lowered his face, looking at me in confusion, nothing the book in my hand.

"I was sent in here to teach you some English so we can communicate better, okay?"

32 just stared back quizzically, still eyeing the book in my hands.

I walked over to him, sitting on the ground against the padded walls patting the space next to me for him to sit in.

We walked over to me as I settled in weirdly comfortably.

Before I even knew what was happening 32 had scooped me up and sat down with me on his lap.

I gasped and gave him a disapproving look while trying to scooch off his lap but he held me stubbornly in place.

"32! Let me down!" I said annoyed which just made him smile, his grip around my waist not moving an inch.

I huffed out a breath of frustration, realizing there was no way I was going to get out anytime soon.

"Fine, but we're reading the book!"

He just looked at me with a smile and I took that as a yes.

I opened the children's book to the first page where there was a picture of a cow.

"Cow." I said slowly, pointing to it but he wouldn't look away from my face.

I pointed to it again, more forcefully this time and repeated myself.

"Cow. Say, cow."

I sighed, pointing to myself, "Opal" Then I pointed back to the picture, "Cow."

"Opal" He repeated and I swear I almost melted right there and then. I smiled widely.

"Yes! That's my name! Opal"

"Opal" He repeated in his deep husky voice, sending shivers down my spine. I reprimanded myself in my mind. I can't be attracted to him! He's basically a toddler in his mind! It would be wrong.

I pointed back to the picture. "Cow"

I repeated.

"Opal."

I sighed, "Yes, that's my name, now can you say cow?"

"Opal"

"Cow"

"Opal"

"C-O-W" I said slowly, emphasizing each letter.

"O-P-A-L" He repeated in the same manner.

I sighed, deciding to move on. At least he said something, even if that's all I got its progress.

I turned the page to a picture of a sheep, it even had a little patch of wool on the drawing you can feel to help learn.

"Sheep" I said pointing to it.

"Opal" He responded.

Don't get annoyed, don't get annoyed, don't get annoyed. I repeated in my head before trying again.

"This is a sheep, look, touch it, its soft." I encouraged it, stroking the patch of wool.

He looked down at it for a second.

"Sheep" I repeated encouragingly, demonstrating how to touch it.

"Opal" He repeated but this time he brought his hand up and stroked my face, his whole body beginning to rumble, almost like a purr.

My cheeks instantly burned red and I knew he could see it. My skin was pretty tanned and usually you couldn't see my blush, but with out close proximity and how hot they felt I knew he could see it.

He smiled and connotes stroking my cheek while looking into my eyes. We just sat there for a while in silence before I managed to snap myself out of it. I shook my head, removing his hand from my cheek before trying again.

"Sheep" I said, but it came out a lot more breathless than expected.

"Opal" He replied so softly it was almost a whisper. My heartbeat then flew out the window as I lost my breath a little.

I eventually turned back to my senses, Rob was probably watching from outside, oh my god. It was probably around lunch time at this time and I needed a little break to clear my head.

I tried to stand up and he reluctantly let me go, whining lightly.

I smiled to him, "I'll be back, don't worry."

With that I managed to convince my body to leave the room and I could breathe properly again.

I looked over to Rob who looked pretty smug, sitting at the desk with the curtains open, indicating he was watching the whole thing as expected.

"Good job" He said, trying to suppress his smile. God this is so embarrassing!!!

I knew my cheeks were still bright red as I walked to the refreshment table for some coffee.

"Come sit and I'll update you on the case."

I sat across from him, happily sipping on my coffee, sighing slightly.

"Since he is responding so well to you and has clearly posed no harm we've hired a couple other people, similar to you who are experts in this area. They will be able to teach 32 properly and considering how you were able to get him to learn your name so quickly they should have him talking pretty soon. Depending on how these go you may or may not stay on the case, I just want to say either way you did a great day, if it weren't for your lack of experience we wouldn't even ask these people to come in, but you understand this is a sensitive matter."

I felt a little pain strike through me as I listened to him. I knew it was best for him but a part of me, the selfish part, wanted to be the only one to bond with him and work with him. I wanted to be the only one able to tame the beast.

I know, selfish. He deserves the best, and I am certainly not an expert, I'm just a receptionist with barely any educational background to begin with.

After a few minutes 2 people walked in. They were both females, one tall with tanned skin and dark brown hair, like me, the other shorter with bright blonde hair and pale skin.

"Ah, Olive, Panda, come join us"

The two girls walked over with smiles on their faces.

Everyone in the mental care service was extremely friendly and gentle and these two were no different.

They sat down on the two chairs next to me, a bag in each of their hands as they looked around excitedly.

"Opal, this is Olive" He said gesturing to the tall tanned woman, "And Panda" He said gesturing to the small blonde.

"Hi, nice to meet you guys"

"Nice to meet you too! I've heard about all the work you've been doing and I've got to tell you how impressed I am! Considering how little experience you've had you've really gotten some amazing reactions out of him. Even today, you were so patient and calm!" Panda rambled excitedly.

"Panda, deep breaths, your rambling again" Olive said calmly with a smile before turning to me, "Its nice to meet you too, Opal"

"Alright! We'll start with Panda then. We've pretty much one over everything before, you can just head on in then." He said with a smile.

Panda happily trotted over to the door before popping it open and striding happily inside.

"Hi Thirty-Two! My name is Panda!" She exclaimed happily as she secretly examined him.

It was clear that she is one of those people that people generally underestimate. She seems so bubbly and naive but I noticed the way her eyes swept over everything, examining things, noticing things and acting accordingly.

Thirty-Two looked at her for a second with a bored expression before looking back to the mirror, somehow looking at me through it.

"The mirror's on right?" I mumbled. Maybe they turned it back into a window.

"Yes... Very peculiar" Rob said, scribbling down some notes in his notebook.

Panda took out her phone, walking over to sit in front of him.

Thirty-two didn't even acknowledge her as she tried to get him interested in the phone, showing him a kids game she had downloaded. It was one of those learning games to help learn the alphabet.

After a few minutes of him not paying attention she became more tense and stern.

"32, I'm talking, its very rude to ignore me" She said in a voice so threatening that even I gave hr my complete and undivided attention.

32 reluctantly turned to her, breaking eye contact with me one he heard the tone.

"Good, now, why don't you try playing the game?"

Thirty-two titled his head, reaching out for the phone.

Panda perked up handing it to him excitedly. He held it in his hand for a moment and we all heard our breath, happy he was finally playing the game.

Suddenly he looked up, locking eyes with me again somehow before throwing the phone at the mirror so hard it shatter, leaving a crack in the window.

Panda looked enraged as she glanced at her phone, shattered to pieces on the ground. She rubbed her eyes, exiting the room for a second to gather a vacuum to clean the pieces of the broken screen up before leaving the room permanently.

"That was one of the worst experiences of my life. I have a whole new appreciation for you patience Opal" She said dramatically, launching herself onto the couch with her hands over her face.

I just laughed, nodding my head.

"At least no one laughs when you're stern"

Rob snorted when I said that and I shot him a death glare, not that that affected him in any way.