What Are You Doing? | M. Danielle x Reader

ADVICE

But I wasn't satisfied.

"Shouldn't you not hurt the person you love?" I furrowed my brows at him.

"Yes. But nobody is perfect. Sometimes you don't even know you've hurt the person you love, that's why communication is very important," He explained.

"Knowing your partner and knowing your boundaries are essential things in 'real love'," He continued.

"Relationships aren't perfect. They take a lot of work. A lot of trial and error. You just have to know what you're willing to tolerate and what you're not willing to tolerate. You need to be able to communicate in a relationship and problem solve together. It's not just about one person. It's about two people working together. If you feel like you're doing most of the work then maybe that not somewhere you should be," Daddy seemed to really know what he was talking about.

I knew Mom and Dad's relationship wasn't always good but they always got through it. I had always wondered how they could just fix things after having really bad arguments.

I guess they just really loved each other that much and put in the work to fix things.

"Now, being tolerant in relationships doesn't mean that you have to let someone disrespect you. Violence or just being with a horrible person because you love them isn't right. Those things should never be tolerated, but little things that you can learn to work around or learn to love... those are what really loving someone means..," Daddy kept explaining.

"Like what?" I needed some examples.

I wanted to think that I understood what he was saying, but I needed to make sure.

"Haha, Okay," Daddy laughed. 

"There was this one time when your mom and I started to get serious. I was having a really hard time and was beating myself up about it. I was drinking a bit more than usual and started to get really depressed. Your mom wasn't very good at handling emotions at the time so she would always tell me to get over it," I had actually heard this story before... but not like this...

This was the story of how my mom learned to be more gentle with people's feelings.

Mom would always say that was moments she really fell in love with Dad... because he taught her something she hadn't learned before...

He taught her that emotions were okay.

"I honestly wanted to break with her because of it. She made me feel worse. She wasn't intentionally trying to hurt me. She thought she giving me encouraging words. Until one day, I told her that I didn't like the way she was treating me," Daddy was smiling at what sounded like a really sad story.

"Your mom very shocked. She was actually sorry for once. For a bit after that, we kept a bit of a distance. We didn't break up but we still hadn't worked out how to fix things. But one day, your mom started making me homemade food. She would even make the effort to drop it off at work for me. That small gesture really started to make feel better. It showed me that she really cared about me. She just didn't know how to say it. So, we came to the realization that if I stayed strong for her then she'd always have my back and take care of me....,"

I smiled when I realized how cute my parents were.

"So, that's why when anyone is feeling down in this family, your feels the need to feed them!" Daddy laughed.

"Yeah, make sense why she was trying to fix all of Y/n's problems with food!" I joked.

"But umm, Dad...," I tried to control my laughter a bit.

"Cooking isn't a small gesture," I corrected him.

Cooking took time and effort.

In cooking, it wasn't just about making food and putting it on a plate. It was about putting thought into what the person wanted or what they needed. You had to buy the ingredients, prep, take the time to cook and make it tasty, then you had make sure you timed it just right in hopes that it would warm when you served it.

Cooking wasn't a small gesture if you did it properly.

"I know," Daddy kiss my forehead.

- Y/N POV -

Danielle's lack of answer made me a bit nervous.

I was afraid I didn't get my message across. I was afraid that maybe we had just gotten back together because we didn't know anything else.

I didn't want to think that.

I truly loved Danielle...

And aside from myself, there's no one I could ever see myself making such an effort for...

But her.

"Maybe this isn't the right move," I looked over at the gift I yet to give her and put it away in my closet.

If Danielle didn't know what real love meant to her then it meant that she wasn't ready to learn what it was...

Together.

For now, I just had to be patient.

I had to wait until she went back to school and we said goodbye again.

*RING, RING*

My doorbell suddenly rang.

I furrowed my brows and walked over to open the door. I figured maybe Oli had forgotten her key again or something...

But was surprised to find Danielle at my doorstep.

"I know what real love is now," She smiled widely.

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Author's Note: Might finally finish this story this weekend >.^