Not in Love

Rue leaves early the next morning and before Eli wakes up. She wants to go home and shower before working at the lab. Nyota calls her while she is driving home and tells her to pull over because she has something important to say.

Eli has meetings all day but eagerly anticipates meeting with Rue again that night now that she has told him that she wants to be with him. Hark and Minami have been trying to reach him for a while, and they finally catch him after one of his meetings. Hark explains that their lawyers have gone through all the documents that Rue provided, and it is clear that Kline is so far in debt that paying off these debts is impossible before the end of the quarter. This is good news for Harkness because it means they will gain ownership of Kline. However, Florence is aware of the situation and is trying to sell company assets as quickly as possible.

Minami is worried that Florence will try to sell Rue’s microbial coating invention, which she can legally do because the contract for Rue’s ownership of the discovery was never ratified by the board and is therefore invalid. Eli wants to save Rue’s invention from being sold, but Hark does not believe that he can do that and also keep Kline; he reiterates that taking over Kline was the whole point of founding Harkness. Hark is angry that Eli is willing to jeopardize the group’s goal for Rue’s sake. He tells Eli that he needs to choose either Harkness or Rue.

Rue is sitting quietly in her office while Nyota and Tisha bicker on the phone. Earlier, Nyota called Rue when she realized that Rue’s patent is not valid because it has not been ratified by the board. Rue now realizes that Florence deliberately led her to believe that her patent was safe, but Florence never had the authority to make such a promise. Rue feels stupid and ashamed, and she realizes that this is how Minami, Eli, and Hark must have felt when Florence did the same thing to them a decade ago. Rue leaves the conversation and walks straight to Florence’s office.

When Rue knocks on Florence’s closed office door, Florence says that she is busy, but Rue comes in anyway. She finds that Eli is already there and is confused to see him, but Eli pulls her into an empty conference room and explains that she needs to give him time to negotiate with Florence so that her patent will be safe. At first, Rue is not sure whether to trust him because she was wrong about trusting Florence.

Eli explains how he feels about Rue by telling her a story. He tells her that Hark and Minami dated and broke up over 10 years ago, but Hark never moved past the relationship. Eli could never understand why, but now that he has fallen in love with Rue, he does understand. He states that he will always be in love with her, even if she doesn’t feel the same way. He tells her that their story is tragic, then leaves before she can find the words to respond.

Later, Eli sits on his back porch swing, drinking a beer. Minami finds him, but she declines, and this is her indirect way of telling him that she is pregnant. Eli makes her a root beer float instead, and Minami says that Hark is angry that they have negotiated a deal with Florence. Eli tells her not to worry; it was his choice to support Rue instead of staying true to the Harkness Group’s goals, so Hark should focus his anger on him. However, Minami reminds him that hers was the deciding vote on whether to offer Florence a deal. Eli explains the details of the negotiation; Harkness will get 60% of Kline’s equity, and Rue will retain her patent. Harkness will forgive Florence’s debt, allowing her to remain CEO and to keep 5% of the equity. The remaining 35% will go to Kline’s other investors, and Harkness will get representation on the board as well.

Eli tells Minami that for years, he has wanted to make Florence pay for her betrayal, but now, he just wants her to understand how much she has hurt other people. He feels a little sorry for her because now she has twice created situations in which her selfishness has cost her the loyalty and friendship of her colleagues. Minami changes the subject to Rue. She knows that Eli loves her more than he has ever loved anyone, and she can tell that he is brokenhearted over the fact that Rue does not know how to reciprocate. Eli asks her if she can help him do one more thing for Rue.

After Rue finds out that Eli negotiated with Florence, she receives a board-ratified contract that ensures that she owns her patent. The next day, she goes to see Florence and resigns from Kline. Florence tries to explain that she had no other choice but to do what she has done to both Minami and Rue. Rue asserts that Florence cared more about herself than her friends. She has set up interviews for several jobs. Later, HR sends Rue an email stating that because she is being terminated, she is eligible for a month of severance pay.

When Rue leaves the office, Minami runs up to her in the parking lot and reveals that Hark’s lawyers have contacted Vincent and worked out an agreement so that Rue can buy the cabin in Indiana. Rue knows that Eli asked Minami to help with this, and she also knows that Minami was involved in the negotiation with Florence for her patent. She thanks Minami for helping her and asks about Eli. Minami admits that he’s not doing particularly well because he still believes that Rue doesn’t love him and doesn’t want to have a relationship with him. Minami tells Rue not to let her own insecurities hold her back.

Eli goes to the skating rink because Dave told him that it would be empty. When he gets there, he is annoyed to find the lights on; someone else is there after all. Rue comes up to him and asks if he will skate with her. She admits that she asked Dave to get him to the rink. Eli is wary that Rue just wants to thank him for helping with her patent and her house, but as they skate together, she apologizes for not trusting him.

Eli grows impatient with Rue and he tells her that he is going to leave. Rue asks him to stay for five more minutes so that she can try to articulate how she feels. She explains that she always thought she was incapable of receiving and giving love, but he has taught her differently. She tells him that she wants to try to be in a relationship with him because she loves him, but she warns him that she might be difficult to be around. He scoops her up into his arms, saying he doesn’t mind.

A year later, Rue and Eli are having sex in Rue’s cabin in Indiana. She is no longer afraid to tell Eli that she loves him, and she is happy to be building new relationships within his social circle. They take Tiny on a walk through the woods. After they pass a pond where they hope to skate in the winter, Eli surprises Rue by proposing to her and shows her the ring that he bought for her nearly a year ago. She accepts and is grateful that he has shown her how wrong she was about never getting a happy ending in life.