I’d Give Up The World For You - Chapter 210

Rukelion noticed a pattern in the following months. Whenever he came home from the therapist’s office—which didn’t get any easier to deal with—Daisy was especially nice to him. Sometimes she cuddled him, sometimes she kissed him, and a few times he was particularly wrung out she made love to him.

He felt oddly like he was being rewarded for doing as she had asked. Wonderful as it was, it was also confusing and hurt his already shattered heart because he didn’t know if it meant anything to her or if she simply felt sorry for him.

Amy made things worse by frequently questioning his relationship with Daisy or trying to tell him he needed to have a life outside of her. That wasn’t possible since she was all that he cared about.

Rukelion did start his summer classes though and that took him away from her more than he liked. His therapist seemed pleased that he was supposedly putting himself out there but he hadn’t bothered to tell her that he was only going to college to help make his wife’s dreams come true.

He didn’t care what Amy or anyone else thought of his plans. He knew what he wanted and he was going to achieve it at any costs.

If he could take over an entire country, he could win his wife’s heart back. He was certain of that. It may be a long game but he knew how those worked. He could wait. He was incredibly experienced with that.

Aside from being away from Daisy for longer, going to community college brought on a whole other set of challenges. Such as group projects. And pestering females he could not care less about. He was so sick of dealing with them that he started telling people he was married.

Unable to part with his wedding ring, Rukelion had been wearing it on the middle finger of his right hand rather than the ring finger of his left. That way it looked generic enough to be a casual fashion statement.

He had only done this so his wife wouldn’t get the wrong idea and think he was married to someone else when they met. What a tangled web he had woven for himself! Now he needed to go back to how it was before to get unwanted people away from him.

This reminded him a lot of why he and Daisy had gotten engaged in the first place. Having a ring on your finger served as a deterrent to most people. He had never thought he would have to use that method himself.

No one had been interested in him during his army days because he hardly interacted with females who weren’t directly connected to his wife. Obviously, they weren’t going to try and pursue him.

Rukelion wore his ring properly for days before Daisy noticed anything and called him out on it. “…why are you wearing your ring like that?”

“To get people at school to leave me alone,” he replied simply.

She snorted. “You’re seriously using a version of the fake boyfriend trick? Who’s been bothering you?”

“Some girls in one of my classes who were in a group project with me. But I’m not interested in them! They’ve been driving me crazy so they need to know I’m taken.”

“You aren’t taken though.”

Rukelion frowned at her. “Yes I am. I already told you; I’m yours. Whether or not you’re mine back doesn’t change anything. I only want you, Daisy Miller, and nothing in the world will make me change my mind.”

Daisy didn’t reply to that right away. She momentarily looked troubled before mussing his hair and calling him a sap.

He noticed about an hour later that she chose to lean against him instead of the back of the couch while crocheting a beanie listening to a podcast. That was what she normally did. Was this because of what he said earlier? He truly did not understand her anymore.

The day after that she surprised him yet again by showing him a screenshot of a website for lawyers specializing in defamation. “I’ve been looking around and I found someone to help you sue Juliet Gallagher. They think you have a strong case based on the issues you’ve been having with people harassing you in the streets and whatnot.

“You should be able to get a sizeable chunk of her movie money. That should help you pay for college so you don’t have to take out student loans. You might be able to get yourself a better car too.”

The car Rukelion had bought to get himself to and from school was ancient and barely ran. Daisy knew a fair amount about minor car repairs and had helped him out more than once already despite not owning the car for very long.

He had only gotten a piece of junk because he hadn’t wanted to take out an auto loan. His credit wasn’t well-established enough yet and his APR would have been through the roof. Or so Daisy said.

He trusted her judgment. Based on her calculations, he would have had to use a sizable down payment and still have monthly car payments if he had done it the other way. As it was he had only paid a little over a thousand more to buy a whole car free and clear.

Rukelion wanted Juliet to suffer and he did need the money…but doing this would mean he would have to see her again, didn’t it? Would he truly be able to control himself or would he finally snap and kill her? He didn’t want to do that and ruin everything he had been working for but Daisy had specifically done this for him because she wanted to help without knowing the full scope of the situation.

“You really looked into that for me? Why?” he asked.

“Because she deserves to pay for what she did,” she replied contemptuously. “It’s been giving you a hard time and I won’t stand for that.”

It had been giving him a hard time. The movie was coming out at the end of the summer so the trailers had been a lot more frequent. He had gotten countless comments from people at school about it and every time it happened he got closer and closer to snapping.

The real question was why Daisy wouldn’t stand for it. Rukelion knew she was the type to look out for her own but she hadn’t been nearly so fiery back in his world. Though he supposed the situations were also very different. She was on her home turf here and didn’t have to follow another culture’s rules and customs.

“You care about me that much?” he asked before he could stop himself.

She turned red and wouldn’t look at him, fiddling with her daisy bracelet. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I? We’re friends.”

That seemed like an awful lot of effort to go to for a friend. Calling around must have been tiring. Had she changed her mind about him somehow without him noticing? Wouldn’t he have noticed that though? Her behavior hadn’t changed much in the past few months.

Rukelion sighed. “Is that all I am to you still?”

“Well…no. It’s hard to explain. The best terminology I have for it is that you’re probably my best friend. Honestly, Leo, you told me once that I was all you’ve got and I’m kind of in the same boat. You’re my only friend so that automatically makes you my best friend.”

His confused heart began to race. Her best friend. That was what he had been before! She never would have married him if they hadn’t been best friends first even if she did feel backed into a corner.

Unable to help himself, he picked her up and spun her around before kissing her. She protested, blushing all the more furiously.

“Leo! You can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re going to give me a heart attack!”

“So what? We kiss all the time. What’s so different about it now?” Rukelion asked uncomprehendingly.

“Yeah but that’s only when I’m ready for it,” Daisy muttered under her breath. “Having is happen by surprise is a totally different thing. I’m not good with surprises like that.”

“So can I kiss you if I warn you about it beforehand?”

“I…I really backed myself into a corner with that one, didn’t I?”

“You kind of did,” he agreed.

Daisy threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “You know what? Screw it! Go ahead and kiss me. I don’t care if I have a heart attack so do what you want. It’s not like I’m going to—”

Rukelion never found out what she was going to say because he was too busy kissing her. She had given him permission so it was fine. She kissed him back eagerly and he let himself momentarily believe that things were normal between them.. That this was a regular everyday occurrence just like it used to be.