I Blame Wattpad for My High Expectations of Men

Chapter 64 - Don't worry, it's all in King Beth's hands.

~Flashback Continued~

~Three Years Later - Summer of 2024~

"Still don't take it off, huh?" Luca asks me, nodding to the band around my ring finger. It's funny how I've kept this one but threw the other one straight in his face without a second thought.

        I look up at my brother, giving him a single nod.

"Now if only I knew why," I tell him with a faint smile, sighing right after. "Just how pathetic does that make me?"

"You want the truth?"

"And nothing but the truth," I respond, continuing to cut the ingredients for our salad tonight. I only manage to slice the next tomato in half before Luca's hand is over mine.

        I look up to meet the eyes of my role model, the one man in my life I've always known I'd be able to count on, even when all the other ones fail me.

"The truth is," he says, squeezing my hand for moral comfort -it wouldn't be the first time he's done it, and ever since I heard the latest news, it most likely won't be the last, "that you're the only person I know who's badass enough to still be wearing a ring their ex bought them nearly seven years ago." Luca tilts my head back up when I look down at the cutting board. "I mean it, sis. Regardless of what happened between the two of you, whether you ever want to share it or not, we both know why you wear that thing. It's your reminder that you weren't afraid to trust another man after the one who should've always been there for you let you down before you were even born. That's not called 'being pathetic,' that's called being fucking brave to the bone."

        I can't help but let out a soft chuckle, squeezing Luca's hand back in appreciation.

        He was there for me when I left the apartment, he was there for me when Ace came down to Chicago and he's been there for me ever since...just like Kelsey, just like Hayden and just like the rest of the gang and our parents, no matter how many times I tried to isolate myself, no matter how silent I chose to be. Whether or not they'd ever find out the truth, they never fucking cared just as long as the Lola Dino I've always been finally returned.

        But fuck it hadn't been easy, not one bit.

        After he had stopped trying to reach me every fucking day for six months, I took a month off in the Bahamas for myself, doing something completely out of the blue. Never once did I think I'd spend my time getting over the breakup by reading Wattpad romance books, but in some odd way, they helped.

        At first, it had only been a temporary fix, until I started writing my own story...but one that was nothing like my own. Next thing I knew, I was racking up on millions and millions of reads. Votes were coming in hot, followed by readers flooding up the comments section wanting to know when the next chapters would be up. However, the reality of it all hadn't really hit me until I was offered to get the final piece published. One thing led to another and before I could wrap my head around any of it, I was touring the nation, doing countless and countless of interviews about 'the creation and inspiration behind my heartfelt story.' The people's words, by the way, not mine.

         I had sat there during every interview, giving them the most half-bullshitted answers that I could've possibly thought of just to protect the reputation of the same man who had rebuilt the shattered pieces of my heart, only to destroy it completely the second time around. If anyone knew the 'truth' that I thought I knew back then, he would've been gone for and I would've been labelled weak for even thinking about sparing him the humility.