Chapter 318: Marriage?
He broke eye contact first, looking away from the woman as if he would burn if he looked at her for another moment, ’’That’s not the right way to go about it, sweetheart,’’ he said, nevertheless, his voice playful.
"Why not?"
Ryle turned to look at her, ’’Usually and conventionally, women want men to be a reliable and strong.’’
’’Are you a conventional person?" Daisy shot him a look.
Ryle chuckled.
’’I do not need my man to be reliable and strong for me. I can rely on myself. My man just
needs to be himself. If he wants to cry, he can cry and if he is feeling vulnerable, he can be
vulnerable,’’ Daisy took a step towards him as she looked at him dead in the eyes, "Because,
at the end of the day, I would love him for who he is, not for who he can be.’’
She already had his undivided attention when she started speaking but towards the end, Ryle was stunned, ’’Sweetheart, are you now confessing your love to me?" he suppressed the wild beating of his heart and asked her teasingly instead.
Who could have expected Daisy to stand on her tiptoes as she grabbed his collar and yanked him close and he bent, part due to his own will and part due to the force she pulled him with.
She cupped his face and dropped a feathery kiss on his lips.
As their lips parted, she whispered against his chin, ’’So what if I am? So what if I am not?"
This woman.
Ryle closed his eyes and placed a palm on his beating organ that was desperate to pop out of his body and prostrate itself at her feet.
He was convinced that either Daisy Chen did not know what she did to him or she knew. She knew it so well that she did it on purpose to get a reaction out of him.
Having been teased and abandoned, Ryle followed her like a wolf pup as she walked around the room.
’’After they locked mother away in that dingy and pathetic room, I spent quite some time trying to convince them to bring her back.’’
The words ’I cried, I begged, I knelt’ were left unsaid but Daisy was not the one who would be unable to understand what must have transpired under such circumstances.
’’But over time, I accepted the fact that they would never bring her back to her room. One night, I caught that man grabbing one of the maids and making out with her in this place, doors wide open as if he was not the least bit bothered about who saw him like that.’’
Daisy’s heart twisted. She wondered if Nathan ever considered the possibility of his young son walking in on him making out with a random woman while he had her mother locked like she was a prisoner. Or if despite knowing of these possibilities, he did not simply care for them.
For the kind of person he was, it was probably the latter.
’’How did it become your room then?" she asked him instead.
Whether Ryle noticed her attempt to promptly switch the topic or not, his eyes warmed. He hugged Daisy from the back, unwilling to set her free.
At times, he forgot that this petite woman used to be his bodyguard once. If she exerted her strength, she would probably crush his bones right away. But knowing that his girlfriend would not mistreat him in that manner, he completely enveloped her small body in his arms.
And buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent, ’’You tell me.’’
"Why would I ask you if I knew everything about you? It’s unfortunate that we did not meet sooner. I could have protected you...’’
Her words were cut off when Ryle nibbled on her skin, peppering tender kisses along her neck, ’’Say things like this and see if I carry you to the Civil Affairs Office!" his voice contained a threat.
Daisy paused for a moment before she nodded, ’’Oh, I don’t mind.’’
’’You don’t mind if we register for our marriage?" Ryle’s throat bobbed. He straightened and turned her around to look at her face while she uttered such audacious words.
’’What do you think?" she arched an eyebrow.
Seeing his ’I am warning you. Think twice before you speak’ face, Daisy hit his chest lightly as she smiled, ’’Fine, let me guess,’’ she spoke after a while, ’’You probably went to your grandfather and requested him to let you move to this room.’’
Ryle had long lost trail of this conversation after the woman offhandedly said she would marry him right away if he wanted. Nevertheless, he was surprised when she guessed it so accurately.
’’He must have ordered your father.’’
Ryle nodded, ’’The old man was rotten to the core but he had fond feelings for his supposed heir. He did not care about his daughter-in-law or granddaughter but he could still indulge me, his grandson, with such small things so I managed to get this room.’’
Daisy fell silent, but as she was looking around, her gaze trailed to a picture on the bedside table.
In the picture, a woman stood in the middle, holding the hand of a little boy on her left while in her right arm, she carried a little girl. Daisy looked at the picture closely, ’’She is beautiful,’’ her eyes then trailed off to young Ryle who was looking at his little sister, little Raelynn in awe.
Ryle took after his mother a lot but Raelynn’s features were more delicate, ’’About what Nathan said, does it bother you?"
Ryle took the photo from his hand and placed it back on the table, ’’Whether she is my half-sister or not is not a matter of concern anymore. Things between us cannot revert to how they used to. She might not even acknowledge me as her brother.
She has suffered in the outside world and I am also not her naive young brother anymore. Perhaps that was the reason I still went for a DNA test. I could not recognize my own sister and was suspicious after keeping her around for so long. But it doesn’t matter anymore. From now on, I just want to protect her and give her the life she deserves.’’
