Catch me when I fall (Rúben Dias)

Chapter 40

"You ok?", asks Rúben before turning to look at the person who pushed me. "Excuse me, aren't you going to apologize?"

"To her? No", says Abel, laughing.

I close my eyes, not believing he'd really put his job at risk just to humiliate me in front of Rúben.

"What do you mean you won't apologize to her?", asks him Rúben, furious with the man he doesn't know is my ex.

"Leave it, Rúben. It's not worth it", I tell him, trying to separate them.

"I'm not leaving it. He doesn't even know you and talks about you like that?"

"I don't know her. Funny. I probably know her better than you do, buddy".

"Abel?", says my mum when she joins us at the table. A table that is a mess. "What happened here? Grace, are you ok?"

She runs to my side to make sure I'm fine but I'm too busy holding Rúben even tighter so he doesn't do something stupid.

"You?", he tells Abel, getting closer to him. They are both tall men, but Rúben's size is a lot more impressive and intimidating. "You are the pig that hurt her? And now you think you have the right to do this? You should be grovelling asking her for forgiveness".

But Abel isn't looking at Rúben. He doesn't care about him. He wants to hurt me.

"Wow Gracie, you must have gotten a lot better in bed to have him so wrapped around your finger. The only good thing you were good for was giving head. But maybe he's into that. Or maybe he's got someone on the side as I did".

Abel's smile is almost wiped out of his face by Rúben, but I manage to grab his arm before he does something that can get him in a lot of trouble. I couldn't care less about him hurting Abel. No amount of physical pain can equal the pain he inflicted on me for years. But damaging my boyfriend's reputation will hurt me too, and he knows it.

"We're leaving", I say, pushing Rúben away from Abel when I see his eyes go wide and turn to find my mum has slapped Abel. "Mum?"

"I should have done that years ago. Don't ever get close to my daughter again. Don't even mention her name. Do you hear me?"

"What happened here?", says my dad, joining the scene. "Abel? What are you doing here? If you touch my daughter, I'll kill you".

"It seems like your parents got the situation under control", says Rúben. And I can't help but laugh at how surreal it all is. "You can let go of my shirt".

When I look down, I see my knuckles are white from grabbing his shirt and trying to stop him from moving. Even though it's obvious I'm not strong enough to overpower him. But he understood my desperation to stop what was happening and controlled himself.

"Can we go?", I ask them when Abel is removed by the restaurant's security.

"You two go, honey. We need to talk to the owner about what happened. They are gifting the dinner to us as a further apology".

"I'll take her home", says Rúben. And then my dad gives his arm a friendly pat as a thank you. I guess this time my parents do like my boyfriend.

**

"Are you really ok?"

"As okay as I can be. I guess. That was so embarrassing", I say with a sigh.

"It wasn't the best ending to the day, but it was a good day, right?"

"Yes. My parents like you a lot. I was worried they wouldn't. They never liked Abel".

"I can guess why", he frows.

"I...I can't believe he would risk his career just to do this to me. I can call him many things, but he always worked hard. He loves his job. I guess hating me beats all that".

"He hates that you stood up to him. That you were brave enough to leave him".

"And that I found someone better?", I tease.

"Well, it sounds bad if I say it but ...", he shrugs, smiling at me. Yeah, I found someone a lot better.

"I saw him on my way to the bathroom and I stood up to him again. I think that's why he had such a crazy reaction".

"Do you want to talk about it?", he offers, knowing it still is hard for me to talk about Abel.

"He just...he asked me if I was there to show off I was dating you and that I was only with you because of your money".

"Very original", says Rúben with an eye roll.

"Yeah".

"Grace, it can't be easy to go through something like this tonight but you were so level-headed. It impressed me. I wanted to punch him so badly but you really controlled the situation. You should be proud of that".

"I knew he was annoyed he didn't get a reaction from me so he moved on to you. He probably wanted to sell the story to the press. The footballer who hit the ex. The tabloids would eat that up".

"I think your mum would gladly pose for photos for the mum hits ex article".

"That was so...unexpected? But I might love her even more than I already did".

"I'll be careful. I don't want to be on the receiving end of a slap like that one", he laughs.

"Something to keep in mind, Dias", I tell him knowing that is never going to happen.

We are so lost in each other that we don't even hear the door. So when my parents get to the kitchen, they just see us looking into each other's eyes with our arms wrapped around each other's waists.

"Do we really have to sleep in separate rooms?", asks Rúben, his forehead against mine.

"No, you don't", answers my dad, startling us.

"I didn't hear you come in", I say.

"So in love, they forget the rest of the world exists", gushes my mum before joining us for a group hug.

"It's ok, dad. I want to respect that this is your house and you have rules".

"I don't want you to be alone after tonight, honey. I'm sorry I chose that restaurant".

"You didn't know he worked there. Don't be silly", I say, hugging my dad.

"I feel so guilty for not forcing him out of your life sooner", he whispers, so only I can hear it. His eyes tearing up. I can only imagine how long he's felt this way. Same for my mum.

"I wouldn't have let you. That's what those types of relationships do to you. I would have hated you for it. And being away from you and mum would have made me weaker and easier to manipulate. It was never your fault. It was Abel's. Only his".

"When did you get so wise?", he tries to joke and I just hugged him tighter.

"I'm as surprised as you are", I say, laughing.

**

Rúben keeps looking at every little detail in my room. My childhood room. It looks the same as the day I left for uni.

I use that time to get changed for bed. And it's then that I see the bruises. I was so lost in the fight at the restaurant and the aftermath of it that I barely felt the pain. But here are the marks that prove this wasn't a bad dream.

"You've gone quiet. What is it?", asks Rúben, getting closer to me once he sees me staring at the mirror. "If I ever see him again...".

"He didn't lie all those times he said he hated me".

Rúben can sense I'm going back to a very dark place mentally and tries to pull me out of it.

"It doesn't matter anymore. You have so many people who love you, Grace. It doesn't matter what he thinks. Please don't forget that".

"Just make me forget tonight happened. Please".

And he does. Showing me how loved I am. How loved I should have always been.