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“Daria?” He swallowed. “Did you hear everything I said? Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Daria didn’t allow herself to answer. If she let him in just a little, it would be all over. He would make her weak and dirty again. He would—-
“I love you.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Please. I don’t want to cry, so please. C-can’t this be enough?” She pressed her hands to her eyes to keep the tears back. “Every day, I remember, and I’m paying—-”
Nik watched Daria struggle just to breathe, and never had he hated himself more. This, he thought sickly, this was what his cruelty had reduced her to.
“I just have one thing to show you,” he heard himself say roughly. One last chance, God. Let me have it before You give her another prince, someone who would take care of her from the start.
“Just let me show you something and if you want me to stay away...” He fought for control even as the mere thought of not having Daria in his life tore him apart. “Open your eyes, sweetheart, please, just this last time.”
She opened her eyes, and he wasn’t surprised that she did. She had always been the one with more courage between the two of them. The one always ready to be hurt.
He took out his phone and clicked the browser so he could show Daria his company’s website. “My identity’s not hidden anymore.”
She took his phone shakily from his hands, and as she scrolled down, she saw that a huge photo of him...and Daria...was on the site’s homepage.
“I’ve got my photos on every tabloid, every damn gossip website, and it’s how I want it. I wanted...” He inhaled deeply. “I wanted you to know what kind of risk I’m taking. The whole world’s watching right now—-” Nik jerked his head towards the crowd, and that was the only time she realized that unlike before, people weren’t just watching them fight. People were already recording the entire incident because now, they all knew who Nik was.
She looked at him, pale and confused. “I don’t understand.” And she was afraid to. She watched him pull out something from his back pocket and was shocked to see a frog mask.
“I want you to put it on me,” he said gutturally. “Please.” His voice was ragged when she didn’t make a move to take it.
Her heart was stuttering now. Stupid heart. How could it be so excited to get broken all over again? It would happen, sooner or later. It always did.
Even as everything inside Nik told him he was leaving himself open for more heartbreak, he forced himself to keep his hand outstretched. Frog mask in his hand, heart on his fucking sleeve.
“Please.” The whole world was hearing him beg now. But he didn’t give a damn. He just needed Daria to take it.
Unable to bear the desperate look in Nik’s eyes, Daria reached for the mask, and her heart lurched at the way tension visibly left Nik’s powerful frame.
Her hands shook as she put the mask on, conscious of the way Nik’s gaze didn’t stray from her the entire time.
Around them, everyone Nik had paid to have pandas with them showed up, and heart in his goddamn throat, he waited for Daria to realize what was happening.
Stepping back when the mask was secure on his face, Daria saw the crowd shifting around them, and her lips parted in silent shock as she saw pandas. Everywhere.
Panda kites. Panda balloons. Panda cup holders. Panda shirts. And oh God, was that a bare-chested guy with a panda tattoo on his beer belly?
When Daria looked back at him, her eyes were bright with tears that she wasn’t allowing herself to shed. “Nik...”
He didn’t think he had heard a sound more beautiful than his name on her lips, and he had to swallow before he, too, started fighting back tears like a goddamn kid.
He thought about all the twenty-eight frogs that she had met and loved, and it no longer angered him. If anything, the thought humbled him, knowing that the woman who had her heart broken so many damn times could still find the strength to love the worst frog of all.
Nik sank to one knee. It was a fucking embarrassing position, but he knew now that it was the only thing to do to make Daria understand just how much he loved her.
Everything had been dramatic and exaggerated with Daria.
Throwing a bottle at his head twice when they first met...
Pretending she was leaving him, empty suitcase in hand when they last fought...
It was his turn now.
“I want to believe the same way you believe in love...” Nik swallowed. “I want to believe that we have the kind of love that made you not care about what people say or do, even if they tell you you’re being foolish and crazy...”
