Page 72 of XOXO

“So, you're going to tell us how the military went?” I interrupted Ru in hopes that we stopped talking about Matteo and me.

Ru narrowed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “No, but I don’t think I have a choice right?”

“Nope,” Matteo said, opening another beer.

I shook my head, feeling like an asshole, but I needed the attention away from me. It was selfish, but focusing on Ru was better than thinking about myself.

“It was hard, I was too optimistic when I went in and—” he sighed, running his hand through his hair. “They said bullying had stopped, but they made fun of me for being famous. It was really fucking hard at first when they fucked with me nonstop.”

“What the hell?” I growled.

“They messed with you because you were famous?” Matteo scowled. “What kind of backwards shit is that? Tell me you have a small dick without tell me you have a fucking small dick.”

“I can’t believe those assholes,” I said as Ru shrugged. “What did they do?”

I was afraid to ask, but I needed to know.

“The usual shit.” He took a sip of his beer. “They made me do more laps, bathroom duty all the time. They took my things, put my shit in the toilet and once the other guys found out, it was like a free-for-all.”

I clenched my jaw knowing he was telling us the bare minimum.

“You went through this for the full nineteen months?” Matteo asked, his nostrils flaring.

“No,” Ru said quickly. “I was transferred out after six months, it got better, but some people still felt like I was entitled, even though I did everything that was asked of me.”

“Your superiors allowed them to fuck with you?” Matteo snarled.

Ru shrugged. “I don’t want to say allowed, they just turned a blind eye and I attempted to report it. Then I was dismissed as being too pampered for the military.”

He ran his hand through his hair trying to appear ok.

“Can we do something⁠—”

“No,” Ru interrupted me. “It’s done. I’m out and all I want to do is forget about all the hateful people I had to deal with. I already have to deal with my mind not being the same, so please can we just move on? I told you what happened and I just need to forget about it, at least for the next few weeks.”

Matteo and I shared a look. He nodded while I said yes. We might not agree on Vi or things between us, but we could agree on Ru and we would do anything to make sure he was ok. He deserved to be happy. We would make sure he was happy and maybe Matteo and I would be ok too.

“This is a cool castle,” Ru said, looking around as he took photos.

“Good find, Ru,” I said, looking out onto the ocean, admiring the vast blue water.

We came to visit a small island that had the fortress we wanted to tour off the coast. It wasn’t something I would have chosen to visit, but I couldn’t deny it was pretty cool.

“I’m still amazed that some of these structures still look this good,” Matteo said. “I think it’s amazing we can still see pieces of history.”

“Come on, a photo for the parentals,” I said, holding out my phone.

Matteo wrapped his arm around me and I regretted the photo immediately. I schooled my face as much as I could, thankful it was a rather warm day.

“Awesome,” I said, taking a few before pulling away.

“Good picture,” Ru said, patting my shoulder as I sent it to our group chat. “My mom will probably thank you for all the pictures, like she needed proof of life.”

“Is she that worried?” I asked, putting my phone away as we walked around.

“Yeah, I think she’s worried I’ll end up like my dad,” Ruwon sighed. “I think she thinks that it will affect me like it did him and I can see why she thinks that, but times are different. I’m a different man than my father was.”

“You have us,” I said, throwing my arm around his shoulder.