Chapter 139

A very tear-stained and sad face looked up at him, seizing his ability to feel anything else but compassion. Rick, who had always looked so confident and unbothered, looked up at him with snot in his nose and fresh tears in his eyes. Steven bent to the boy’s eye level and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug, which was the very thing that sent Rick over the edge as nerve-wracking sobs tore through his body. Steven said nothing but just held the child as he wept, letting him get whatever sadness he was feeling out of his system. Scolding, if at all necessary, could come later. After twenty minutes of crying, Rick leaned away from him and said,

“Thank you, Uncle Steven.”

“Don't worry about it. Can you stand now?” Steven asked

Rick nodded and Steven helped him up to his feet. Rick, who was usually bold, was looking everywhere but at him. Perhaps, his head had cleared a little and now he was beginning to realize that he was going to be in a lot of trouble. Steven took out his cell and texte