He Didn’t Kidnap Me. Not Exactly novel Chapter 84

Chapter 84

[Daisy’s POV)

There are moments where your brain just… stops cooperating.

This was one of them.

Because I was standing there, fully aware of two very serious problems, and neither of them seemed interested in/waiting their turn.

Problem one: DeLuca had just seen that video, and I don’t know why he looks like he wants to react, but he does.

Problem two: DeLuca was standing next to me in public. At school. Where people had eyes, and opinions, and free time.

And to make things even better, somewhere out there was a mystery person who had taken time out of their day to text me:

Stay away from him.

Which I would love to do, by the way. If he didn’t keep appearing next to me and hovering in my life like a well-dressed problem.

I swallowed now, staring ahead and thinking of my next move while he stared; stared at Nathan.

I was struggling with my thoughts and then his voice came, “So they do bully you.”

I didn’t know how to respond to him so I did what any reasonable, self-preserving human being would do.

“I’m not bullied,” I said.

It was too fast, and that made it sound a certain way. So I cleared my throat and forced a more structured version of the lie.

“It isn’t like that,” I added. “That video… it wasn’t- It was more like a social experiment thing. A planned situation.” Even as I said it, I could hear how it sounded.

Like something I had assembled halfway through speaking and then committed to because turning back would be worse.

“It wasn’t serious,” I continued, pushing through it. “We were all laughing. It was more like… a social thing.”

Yes.

Now it sounded fair.

DeLuca didn’t react immediately. He just stood there, absorbing everything in that quiet, unsettling way he did.

Then he asked, “So it wasn’t a prank?”

I nodded. “No.”

And because I didn’t like where this was going-how it was beginning to feel like I was being assessed, I added, “Why does it even

matter to you?”

That did it. Something shifted.

His expression barely changed, but his tone did.

It became slightly lighter as he responded. “It doesn’t.”

Oh.

Okay.

Good.

Great.

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