ATTENTION: This episode indicates sexual abuse. Read with care!

Cheryl obviously was surprised by our decision. I bet she thought we would run away. But we didn't. For the second time we stood in front of the plain, white door. Next to me, Kaami sharply inhaled the air before entering the room.

"Tau?"

Silence.

"Tau, are you here?" "Where else would I be", we got in return. His voice seemed calmer, yet sharp and annoyed.

"Tau, we have to talk for a bit."

Cheryl tried hard to keep a calm voice while walking towards the kid. Tau was sitting on the floor, next to the chair in the middle of the room and stared at us. When he recognized Kaami, he crossed his arms before his chest and avoided looking at him. In safe distance Kaami and I stopped and watched Cheryl getting closer.

"I ain't talking to him." "Sure. As long as you don't scream, everything is alright." "Whatever."

Cheryl sighed, quickly looked back at us, then turned to Tau.

"May these two come a bit closer?"

"Whatever."

Gosh, this kid was unbelievable!

"Okay. Mr. Saab and Mr. - uh - what's your surname again?" Embarrassed, Cheryl looked at me. "Whatever. I don't care. Just call me Nik", I shrugged and made a few steps forward. While doing so, I felt Kaami follow me like an anxious dog. His sensitivity didn't help in situations like these. When I stood next to Cheryl I grabbed Kaami's hand and sat on the floor right where I was standing.

"So, can we introduce ourselves again?"

For the first time, Tau looked me in the eyes, like, really looked at me. And I could finally see the colors of his dark eyes. At first I had thought they would be just black, but they weren’t. Like his skin they simmered in different dark blue and green tones – mostly blue. They were beautiful and surrounded by black, long lashes. He sure was a very handsome kid!

Tau shrugged as if he didn’t care.

He cared.

Because when Kaami leaned a bit forward he leaned back immediately.

“My name is Kaami Saab”, Kaami said and smiled at the boy. I have to say: when a tiger smiled at you for the first time it could be thrilling for some people. When Kaami had smiled at me for the first time, it reminded me of his origin in nature. When he smiled, all of his teeth – especially the fangs – were visible.

Tau did the most natural thing he could do and moved a few inches back. 

“I’m thirty years old and work as a pastry chef in a hotel.” “A pastry chef.” “Yeah.” “In a hotel.” “Yes.”

Tau fell silent.

I guess he didn’t know if the things, Kaami was telling him, were true or not. He surely doubted that.

“I know, he looks like the Big Bad Wolf, but he is all bark and no bite – believe me”, I tried and leaned at Kaami’s shoulder to reinforce my statement. “Suuure. All people say this about the person, they fuck.” “Tau, that’s not very nice”, I could hear Cheryl hissing at him. Even though she was right, I wanted Tau to trust us, not to fear us. So I just smiled at him and gave Kaami a tight hug. Beneath my hands I felt his racing heartbeat. His whole body was stiff as a board.

“That’s what we do. All adults do that, when they’re in a healthy relationship.” “You mean, all adults just fuck what they can get their hands on.” “That’s not what I said.” “Liar!”

Kaami stopped me from talking.

“You’re just making it worse, babe.” “Babe?” Tau laughed. He didn’t laugh for real, like he was having fun right now. His laugh sounded wrong for some reason. It was too loud, too squeaky, too much.

“You call him that, because he’s smaller? ‘cause you can dominate him?” “HEY!”

Now I was the one leaning forward. I pointed my finger at him. He was just too much! If he didn’t want a family, I didn’t want him, either!

“Just because you are a brat doesn’t mean you can assume some bullshit! Who on earth allows you to talk to my boyfriend like this. That’s disgusting! Didn’t they teach you some manners here? You can’t always play the victim!” “I don’t play the victim”, he screamed. Impulsively he jumped up and hid behind the chair. “I AM the victim! I didn’t ask for this pervert tiger to FUCK me! I didn’t even want a family. I just want to be ALONE! Leave! NOW! FUCK OFF!”

With impressive strength he threw the chair in one corner of the room. He screamed again like crazy.

That’s it.

I turned to Kaami, who sat there without movement. He just watched the boy. He watched every single move, the kid made.

“Kaami, let’s go.”

But he didn’t respond. It was like he had only eyes for Tau, as if I wasn’t even there.

“Kaami?”

The only thing he moved was his arm. He stretched it towards Tau and spread the long, furred fingers.

“You like dogs?”

“What?”