Two Ghosts - Ruel Van Dijk (Completed)

Chapter 25 - Valory?

TW this chapter very briefly mentions abuse!!

The ride home was long and awkward. I had called my mum to come pick me up, and she said Kate and Ralph were out for dinner so she was going to pick up Ruel as well. So here we were, both sitting in back seat of the car, both sopping wet, dripping water everywhere. Luckily mum wasn't going to yell at me because Ruel was in the car, but I honestly would have preferred if we walked home.

If we had walked home, Ruel would've maybe talked to me. But with my mum in the car, he wouldn't dare say anything. And it was annoying because I knew mum was itching to yell at us for dripping water all over her car.

I was staring out the window of the car, just admiring each star I could see on this clear night and trying to distract myself from the fact that Ruel was sitting beside me. But that unsurprisingly failed miserably.

I glanced over to the other side of the car where Ruel was sitting. He was sitting there, his hoodie stuck to his wet body, the fleece from the sleeves peeking out the ends of the wrist cuffs. He was also staring out the window, his face resting delicately in his hand. He seemed to soak up the moonlight, his skin seemed to embroider it in his soul. I swear to this day he had some relation to the moon. He just looked too perfect when moonlight hit him. The way his skin glimmered a silver, his damp hair reflecting the light. And his eyes. The way the green consumed them in the moonlight, as if the brown in them was only a dream.

His other hand laid limply on the middle seat, as if he didn't know what to do with it. I knew I would probably regret doing this later, but I did it anyway. I reached over to his hand and intertwined only our pinkies. His skin was smooth, surprisingly smooth seeing we had just been in the water for like 5 hours. And it was warm. It always had that velvety warmth to it that felt like a campfire to my soul.

I watched his eyes move to our hands, but he didn't move his hand, nor his head. He just watched. He trailed his eyes to mine, to which I mouthed a slow I'm sorry. I felt bad for making him feel uncomfortable. I should've known better than anyone that I had to be slow and patient with him, he didn't open up easily. He said nothing, but moved his eyes back out the window. I had no idea what that meant. He was mad at me? He had forgiven me? I didn't know, but I didn't ponder on it. I looked back out the window as well, leaving our fingers intertwined, just savouring the feeling of his skin.

*

We had dropped Ruel home, and now we were getting ready for bed. I was just lying flat on my back on my bed, with a hoodie and sweats on, staring at the ceiling. I knew I had done something wrong that day. I was almost certain it was me asking about the bruise. I needed to know who had done it, but I had taken it a bit too far, clearly.

I heard a soft knock on my door, breaking the loud sound of my thoughts.

"Can I come in?" a strong feminine voice half-called-half-whispered from the door. I rolled my head over towards the open door to see that blonde bob I had seen so many times before. She was looking at me sympathetically, almost as if she knew exactly what had happened. I suppose in a way, she probably did. Ruel had probably shut himself in his room again, the way he always does when something like this happens, and it's not that hard to guess we had a falling out.

"Sure," I sighed, rubbing my face with my palms as I dragged my eyes off the tall figure standing in the doorway. I sat up, my hair flopping messily in my face, and threw my hands in my lap. I patted a spot beside me, motioning for Coco to sit down. She did so gently, the sympathetic look still glued on her face. We both just sat there for a few minutes, just lost in our own thoughts.

"Sunday, I don't know how else to say this, so I'm going to say it straight up," she sighed, looking deeply into my eyes. "He likes you. He really really likes you."

My eyes widened. This is definitely not what I was expecting. I guess it would make sense in the matter of the kisses. But if he liked me, why did he push me away so many times? My face twisted in confusion, urging her to go on.

"But he's scared. Terrified, to put it plainly," Coco continued, pain crossing her delicate features. I knew that. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was scared. "He's scared of letting himself love someone the way he loved Valory again."

Love.

He loved me?

"I know you would never ever hurt him the way she did, and I think he does too, but Valory just conditioned his brain to push people away the way he does."

I knew what she meant. He was in a state of mind where he thought it was better not to love at all, rather than risk getting heartbroken. But it did hurt. It hurt to be pushed away.

I looked up at Coco, who seemed to be staring right back into my soul.

"You know, he used to be...different. Not like this," she thought out loud, her face creasing. "So different you probably wouldn't recognise him. He used to be a really friendly, outgoing person. He did always like reading, and his quiet time though. Then he started to date Valory. Even before she cheated on him, he changed. Valory was always known to be shallow and manipulative, and her state of mind seemed to be bleeding into Ruel" she continued, swallowing.

I wanted to gag. I knew there was going to be something that changed sweet, cheery Ruel into this Ruel.

"She sent him so many red flags. She would treat him like shit, leave him on read most days, flirt with other guys. But when Ruel asked her about it, she would just manipulate it into a fake situation, to the point where he was just oblivious to the fact she was obviously cheating. And then he cut everyone off, and we guessed that he had finally figured it out."

I wanted to cry. What kind of awful person cheats on someone, then lies about it and does it again? And how did someone as perfect as Ruel date someone as fucking shitty as that?

"The worst part is, I think she threatens him. I've seen her talk to him at school before, and he never wants to talk about it," she sighed sadly.

She...threatens him?

And it clicked.

The bruise.

It was from Valory.

I felt my eyes go wider than saucepans, and my mouth open slightly. I moved my quivering hand over my mouth as Coco watched me in utter confusion.

"We have to go, now," I said quickly, getting up off the bed, and pulling Coco with me. This was going to be a long night.

A/N

hello loves,

i apologise that this chapter took a while, i have been a bit busy lately with exams (ew).

i love you all so much and im so proud of you for making it this far:)

- Bri <3🍇

16/11/21

Quote of the day:

If you are happy doing what you're doing, then nobody can tell you you're not successful.

- H (i think we all know who h is)

Word Count: 1307