Ever After Awaits

    bChapter /bb86/bb: /bbLa /bbPOV /b

    It’s Monday morning, and Saxonsea’s admin building’s fluorescent lighting and general humdrum of office staff buzzes faintly behind me as I step out into the sunlight of a new day that symbolizes the start of the next phase of my life.

    I tuck the final paperwork into my folder with all my university documents and exhale in contentment. By next week, I’ll be back in ss, worrying about uing exams and assignments, not how to repay my stepdad as soon as possible.

    I adjust my messenger bag’s strap on my shoulder and start heading down the quad towards the coffee kiosk near the library. My reward n for taking back this portion of my life involves a triple- shot icedtte and maybe even the cookie I’ve been pretending not to crave for a week.

    That nsts exactly twelve seconds, because AJ is already waiting for me. He’s leaning against the low stone wall near the bookstore, his hoodie sleeves shoved to his elbows, and his hands tucked into the front pocket.

    His eyes track me from the second Ie into his view in a way that reminds me of a predator stalking its prey just before it devours it. And I can’t say that I don’t like it. Having AJ’s full attention is definitely an intoxicating feeling.

    i“/iYou’re getting good at sneaking up on me,” I say, adjusting my pace as I near him, but not stoppingpletely.

    He pushes off the wall with zero urgency and azy smirk as he says, “I wasn’t sneaking.”

    “Right, You just happened to lurk outside at the exact moment I exited the admin building?” I ask while cocking my eyebrow at him skeptically.

    He walks beside me, not too close, but not too far either, as he says earnestly, “Being back on

    campus suits you.”

    I nce at him before asking, “What, the long hours of studying, living off ramen, or pumping coffee into my veins via an IV drip just to be able to meet my deadlines?”

    He snorts but replies gently, “The part where you look like you believe you belong here,”

    I don’t have aeback to retory with because he isn’t wrong. Until now, I thought I was here because Michael pitied me, but now that I’ve epted his offer on my terms, I can rx and feel like I’ve earned my spot amongst the thousands of other students who are milling around me.

    We walk a little farther infortable silence as we pass the fountain with the peeling bronze que and head towards the hedged edge of the quad.

    Chapter 86: La POV

    “I’m getting coffee,” I say, to fill the silence more than anything else, pointing to the coffee cart off

    to the side.

    “No, you’re not, Cupcake,” he replies easily.

    I slow down and my brows draw up as I ask, “Excuse me?”

    “You’reing with me,” he replies as if it’s a done deal.

    I blink before asking suspiciously, “To where?”

    He doesn’t answer me and turns down the path behind the library toward the old buildings, which are covered in ivy and cloaked in history, but that no one really uses anymore.

    “What’s this about, AJ?” I ask, falling into step beside him despite myself.

    “Just a little impromptu catch–up,” he says sinctly.

    “It can’t really be impromptu if you were waiting for me and know exactly where we’re going,” I say as my curiosity gets piqued.

    . Without giving much away, he only asks cryptically, “Who says?”

    I huff at him before saying in an exasperated tone, “You’re exhausting.”

    “And you’re intrigued by where I’m taking you,” he retorts with a slight smirk as he strolls ahead without watching to see if I’m following him.

    The spot he leads me to is tucked behind the east hall, half–covered by shadows and ivy vines thick enough to look like they’re holding the aged stone walls upright. A cracked stone bench sits beside a koi pond with exactly three surviving fish, and the air smells like moss.

    Al hands me a bottled iced tea from his backpack, as if this is a regr outing, and like he hasn’t just hijacked my afternoon and made it weirdly peaceful in this serene setting I didn’t even know

    was here.

    I take the bottle without arguing, crack the lid, but don’t take a sip before muttering, “You don’t believe in asking, do you?”

    “Nope,” he says unperturbed and popping the p.

    I stare at him before asking.“What is this, then? Some koi pond therapy session? Or are you looking to seduce me in public?”

    Chapter 86: La POV

    He looks out over the pond without reacting to my flirtystment, “It’s a moment for us to just be together for a second. That’s all. Nothing more, and nothing less. With no ulterior motives or

    machinationsb./b”

    The quiet that stretches between us isfortable and calming, with no expectations.

    With a sip of the iced tea, I softly confess while watching the colorful koizily swim around each

    other, “I didn’t think I’d be back here so soon.”

    “And now that you are?” he asks gently.

    “Now, I don’t care what the circumstances surrounding why I’m here are; I just want to get my

    degree, so I can start living my life.”

    Looking at me with a quiet stillness that’s true to AJ, he says, “Before, you were running ifrom /isomething because you wanted to get away from the shitty circumstances at home. Now you’re running itowards /isomething by wanting to build yourself a better future because you don’t want to find yourself in a situation like that again.”

    I stare at the bottle in my hands, ying with the corners of thebel, as I confess, “I don’t know

    what that future looks like.”

    “You don’t need to, at least not yet, because none of us do,” he says, “What’s important, though, is

    that you keep going.b” /b

    He says it like it isn’t advice, as if it’s a fact I have forgotten how to believe in. And he’s right. Along the way, with all my recent drama, I forgot that putting one foot in front of the other is more

    important than worrying about what might happen a week, a month, or even a year from now.

    I look up from the bottle in my hands, and he’s moved closer to me. Not enough to crowd me, but just enough to feel the air shift around us as I look into his soulful eyes.

    “I don’t know what this is,” I say, my voice rougher than I meant it to be, “You and me. Right now, in

    this moment.”

    “This is me reminding you that I love you,” he says matter–of–factly as he looks at me like I’m his whole world, then continues, “And no matter what you’re going through, how topsy–turvy your life might feel right now, or how high you want to build your walls after yesterday, just know those three words will never disappear from my lips.”

    My heart’s a mess as I peer up at him. I hate that he always knows where my head is at. And I ilove /ithat he always knows where my head is at.

    He steps even closer as my heart seesaws between stopping or speeding up, so quietly and slowly that I think I might be imagining it at first. Then his hand brushes the back of mine. Not to grab onto it, but to wordlessly remind me he’s still here, not just with me but for me.

    Chapter 86: La POV

    I don’t pull away, because with AJ, I can’t, even if I wanted to.

    Then, without asking or breaking eye contact, he leans into me. But his mouth doesn’t find mine as I anticipate, it finds my neck beneath my ear. The kiss is soft and warm, devastating me to my core.

    It’s a kiss that doesn’t demand anything; in fact, it leaves something behind–a mark, ihis /imark, and a new memory that will always only belong to us.

    His breath ghosts across my sensitive skin as he whispers, “Take your time, and when you’re ready to talk, I’ll be not too far away to help you carry whatever burdens you.”

    And then he steps back like he hasn’t just rewired something in my chest. He doesn’t ask for a reaction, and he doesn’t wait for one either.

    He walks away slowly and casually, his hands in his hoodie pocket again, as I watch him go, but not leaving me in any sense of the word.

    I stand there long after he disappears around the corner, the bottle of iced tea forgotten in my hand. As I stare at the ripples on the koi pond, I wonder if building my walls back up so soon after yesterday has been a bit premature.

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