tolerate it

iii

DAISY'S SKIN HAS turned a feverish pallor that makes Ryan look at her with concern. "Are you sure you don't want to see Dr. Williams?" She sighs in annoyance as she stares up at the ceiling and snaps, "For the hundredth time Ryan, If I wanted to, I would tell you myself. Now leave me alone." He bristles but stays silent. He could tell from her croaking voice, stuffy nose and the heated skin that she was not well and she herself would be going to see the doctor soon enough. He nods once and sighs. "Whatever you wish. I've kept a glass of water and necessary medicines on the bedside table, just in case you change your mind." She doesn't answer, just nods in reply as she closes her eyes in exhaustion.

Before heading off to work, Ryan goes to the kitchen and pours himself a bowl of cold water before heading inside their bedroom. He places it on the bedside table and grabs his handkerchief before soaking it with the water inside the bowl. Then, he placed the wet cloth on Daisy's forehead, making her moan in content. His lips curl up in amusement and as he watches her relish sleepily.

"I'll be back before you know it." He tells her and before he could overthink his actions, he presses a kiss to her soft cheek and leaves.

~

"Good work to today, Moss." His boss, Mr. Winfrey says as he takes a seat across from him. Ryan smiles in gratitude and says, "Thank you."

"The negotiation was a success and hopefully we'd be able to have smooth business with them." He says with eagerness dripping from his tone. Ryan smiles politely as his thoughts wander over to his wife. He doesn't want to acknowledge the feelings that arose when he thought about Daisy; her being sick made her want him. She wants him to be the one to look after her and that's something he can't just push aside.

Of course, he wants her to get better but at the same time he wasn't really in a rush. Perhaps that makes him an asshole but he could live with that.

Today he gets home from work early. He freezes when he spots a car he doesn't recognise and dread fills him up.

Is he about to walk in on his wife having sex with someone on their bed? He might just vomit.

Ryan takes in a deep breath and slowly unlocks the door before heading inside. He goes upstairs to find the door of their bedroom slightly ajar. Ryan could feel himself tremble, thinking of the worst possible scenarios on loop.

His marriage might end today. He realises he isn't ready to accept that yet.

He slowly pushes in and freezes when he sees Dr. Williams checking her pulse. Relief hits Ryan like a truck. He lets out a deep breath and greets him.

"New car, doc?"

"Yeah, thought I'd treat myself after the decade worth of hard work." Dr. William says with a laugh.

"How is Daisy?" Ryan asks as he sits on the edge of the bed on the other side of Daisy who looks like she is asleep. "I have prescribed her medicines and these are the institutions of the doses; adhere to them please. Don't worry too much, she's going to be alright in a few days. It's just a minor food poisoning."

Ryan nodded his head in understanding. His gaze flickered to Daisy's sleeping form before turning back to Dr. William.

"Thanks for everything, doc." He said and Dr. William waved off his gratitude with a smile before bidding him goodbye.

Ryan took back his seat beside Daisy and grasped her hand.

He knew she wanted him here, by her side but he also knew she must hate the fact that she was this vulnerable around him. It sent a rush of thrill pumping in his blood. Maybe things could go back to normal, after all?

~

When Ryan returned to work the next day, he was exhausted. He hadn't slept even for a minute; just stayed beside Daisy, in case she needed him.

"Morning." Emily greeted him as he entered. "Hey." Maybe the exhaustion was dripping from his voice because Emily looked up from her paperwork and looked at him in concern. "You look horrible. What's wrong?"

Ryan cringed. "Daisy's sick so I haven't had a chance to get any sleep." She instantly got up and grabbed his hand before pulling him to the sofa inside his office.

"Sleep for a couple of hours. I'll reschedule all your meetings and make sure no one disturbs or enters this floor." She said to him firmly. Ryan knew better than to argue with her but he felt this immense gratitude for her. No one had cared for him in such a long while.

"Thank you." He squeezed her hand and gave her a small smile.

She blushed as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and slowly let go of his hand as she pushed him to sit on the sofa.

"Rest, Ryan. I'll wake you up." She told him before leaving.

Ryan could smell the lingering scent of her vanilla and oud perfume and sighed heavily. He wondered for a split second if her skin tasted the same too.

He clearly needed sleep. So instead of dwelling on his thoughts, he closed his eyes and let sleep take him away.

~

Daisy when she woke, she instantly felt another presence in the room. Him.

"What're you doing here?" She asked, sleep still lingering in her voice.

"You were sick." John said with a shrug as if that sentence made plenty sense. She rubbed her face to clear away the sleep and try to make sense of his presence in her house.

"We agreed we'd never meet up at either of our houses." She snapped. He rolled his eyes and said, "I don't care. You were sick so I came. Your husband is at work anyway." Daisy said the word 'husband' with so much disgust that it made her glare at him in annoyance.

"You're so incorrigible." She told him as she sat up slowly. He helped her up while he set up pillows against her back.

"I missed you." He told her before he pressed a kiss to her temple. "How are you feeling? Did you take your afternoon meds yet?"

She smiled faintly as she shook her head. He glared at her in annoyance before handing her a glass of water and her meds kept at the bedside table. "You need to take care of yourself better." Daisy chuckled and nodded her head.

"Thank you for being here. I missed you too." She said after setting aside the glass and leaning against him to get closer to him.

"When will he return?" John asked quietly. She shrugged. "Around 8pm." All he did was nod and rest his head on top of her head.

"We've got plenty of time, then." He said after a beat of silence.