Jail Days ||completed||

Chapter 4

Rikilda and Richard were already in fourth grade and they were in the same group. Richard, who at first didn't want to know about her, was now becoming her friend, her closest friend to be exact.

-"Don't you brush your hair?"- he asked as he pointed at her messy hair falling upon her shoulders.

-"Of course I do silly! It just gets messed up when I come here to school"- said Rikilda as she cupped Richard's face between her hands.

-"No one would believe that you know"-

-"Ou shut up Richie"-

That was the first time someone had called him like that. His cheeks felt like they were burning and his eyes simply couldn't stop staring at her no matter what he did. He sat still looking at her and with his heart racing inside his chest. He placed a hand on his chest and felt the fast beats of his heart.

-"Hey, Sliwinski..."- said Richard. "Am I getting sick?"

Rikilda looked at him puzzled as she tilted her head and placed the back of her left hand on his forehead.

-"Mmm...you don't seem to have a fever, Richie"-she said as Richard's heart beated even harder inside his chest.

-"Rikilda...! My heart feels like it's exploding"- he said as he took her hand and placed it on his chest.

While holdind her hand against his chest, he realized that he had done the most embarrassing thing ever. Rikilda smiled as she looked at their hands on his chest and then looked up at Richard.

-"Your heart is so lively, Richie"- she said as his heart beated even faster. "Ah...is that why you asked if you were sick?"

He looked away embarrassed as she noticed that whenever she said Richie his heart would go crazy with joy. He didn't want to answer her, it was something a little embarrassing for him.

-"It's okay to feel happy."- said Rikilda.

-"Then...can I call you...Riki?"- said Richard as he looked intently at her.

She smiled at him innocently and nodded. He smiled broadly and looked for some Yugi-Oh! cards to play with her.

. . .

While they were starting to have a happy moment, Hilda Sliwinski was combing her hair when Ricardo Archer entered her room.

-"I didn't know you were coming home...why didn't you tell me?"- she said as she looked at him in the mirror.

Hilda was Rikilda's mother and Ricardo's mistress, even if she wasn't that aware of it. She turned around with smiling eyes and quickly hugged him. He caressed her hair and kissed her lips tenderly as if she were something delicate and extremely precious.

-"Hilda...let's get married."- said Ricardo as he pulled out a ring from his pocket and placed it on her ring finger.

Hilda looked at him astonished and nodded earnestly without saying a single word from all the emotions she was feeling. She simply held him close and kissed his cheek over and over again and then headed for his lips and did the same.

When Riki arrived home that afternoon, she got quite a surprise. She found Ricardo and Hilda waiting for her at the entrance smiling at her. Not knowing what else to do, she simply smiled and ran towards them. The three sat at the table and ate dinner together.

-"Is your business trip over now?"- asked Riki curiously to Ricardo.

-"I have to go tomorrow to another town and solve a few things and end those trips already. But of course I want to stay home."- answered Ricardo as he gave her the most dashing smile.

-"Okay"-

-"Now now, we are finally getting married!"- said Hilda.

Riki looked at her mother confused and tilted her head.

-"Married? What's that?"- asked Riki.
-"To explain it in a simpler way...we are all going to live together from now on, sweety"- answered Hilda.

Riki stopped eating and a big smile shone on her face as her big eyes grew even more in excitement. That's something she had always dreamed of, to have her family together.

The next day, Ricardo Archer was packing his things and was getting ready to leave while Mikaela followed him with bloodshot eyes and a wet face from all her tears. She couldn't understand how she had agreed to give him the divorce...well, he had been insisting so much that she couldn't bear with it anymore but give up. Still, she needed the reason...she had a son who always looked at his father as his model to follow and she loved him deeply. His family loved him lots and he always had what he needed so, what was missing that he needed to go so far? After insisting so much about knowing the reason for the divorce, Richard sighed and decided to answer her. With the most firm and cold voice of tone he told her that he loved Hilda and that he had only stayed for so long because of his responsibility with their son. That stabbed Mikaela badly in her heart and she wished she could had known that sooner and stopped all from happening. Richard left the house and when he got in his car he hit the steering wheel and then drove of as he felt as if some sort of weight was lifted from his shoulders. A week after that, he married Hilda Sliwinsky civily but decided to give his daughter his name after she graduated because he knew that someway or the other, it would cause a commotion if he changed it now.

. . .

At school, Richard became less livier and Riki, his card diciple, had won over ten times in a row now due to his lack of concentration.

-"Richie...is something wrong? Its been two weeks now since you been acting so weird"- said Riki as she were placed her cards aside and looked at him worriedly.

-"Its okay...my dad was always arguing with mom...so this was going to happen anyways"- said Richie.

-"What was?"-

-"Well my parents got divorced two weeks ago...Dad was barely at home and shared with us and now he is abandoning us"-

-"I'm sorry...I shouldn't had told you earlier about my dad coming back home. It was careless of me..."-

Richie looked at her with surprise. She should stay happy about her family, but instead she's worrying over his. The girl he had always found odd, was always full of surprises and someway or another was enchanting him each day a little more. Maybe those fast heartbeats were no longer plain happiness...He simply didn't understand well the feeling. The only thing he had clear was that she made him feel okay, that so far, he liked having her by his side like this.

Riki patted his head gently and then caressed it. He blushed a little and felt healed as he saw her smiling at him.

-"There, there, Richie. I know stuff happens and its not just because. At least mom always says that. Maybe things will get better."- said Riki

-"You really think so?"- he asked looking for hope from her.

-"I'm not really sure, but I do hope so. Everyone deserves a little happiness, don't you think?"-

Of course that's what both had ever wanted: true happiness. But they didn't know that this broken family and the reunited one really shared bonds.

And what they less expected was that the true happiness they were aiming for...would never come.