*2 months later*

I hummed to the melodic song playing through my earphones as I quietly sipped my coffee, staring at the beautiful sky meshed with pink, orange and purple. I could vaguely hear birds chirping over the song playing from my iPod as I mindlessly roamed my eyes over the scenery and sighed. I don't think anyone was up except for me, for obvious reasons, it was 4 in the morning. I couldn't sleep, again. Things had gotten significantly better in the past two months, Troy returned home 6 weeks back. When he settled down, he and I had a long conversation about the past events and we sorted out our differences and cleared the air between us. We were back to how we used to be before, bickering and humorous with each other but, closer than ever.

He also made it a point to apologize to all my friends so he gathered them all up and separately sorted things out. It almost feels as if he was a part of the group since the start. After one get together, Nat and Aiden too became friends with them and so, the gathering sort of became a weekly thing. Sometimes, it'd just be us watching a movie or going bowling together but it was fun nonetheless. It was amazing but not perfect. He was missing. The group didn't feel complete without him, just like my heart. Alex's bromance, Lucas always being warned and Valentina's constant efforts to sail her ship, it was all absent because he wasn't there.

The group including my siblings and Aiden always seemed to try and distract me from his absence, almost as though preventing me to even think about him not being here, I appreciated their efforts but the only thing that could make me feel better was him.

I delicately traced the rim of my baby blue cup with the hot coffee inside of it with its aroma tickling my nostrils. I kept humming to myself, not noticing the presence of another person. I snapped my head to the left upon hearing a clink only to see Troy leaning over the balcony railing with his own mug of hot cocoa. He offered me a warm smile and I smiled back, turning my head back to the beautiful sunrise happening before my eyes.

"You're doing a great job, you know," Troy murmured beside me, looking straight ahead into the horizon. I furrowed my brown in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

I had now taken of my earplugs and was looking at him patiently, expecting a response to my question. "The way you hide your pain, it really amazes me how no one notices how you're hurting and thinks you've moved on."

I shrugged, pursed my lips and stared at the side of his face, "Well, I clearly am not doing a good job hiding it if you can figure it out." He chuckled at that and turned to face me, "I've known you ever since you were born, I have seen you train and practice to master this trick of unaffectedness. I know it's not the real you, Kiara. And that's okay."

I sighed and looked back towards the sky, the wind grazing my face, "I can't help it, I love him and I miss him. He's been gone for far too long, without even letting us know if he's okay. It hurts and I just can't get it to stop. Not that I want to forget him."

Troy sipped from his mug as he heard me pour my heart out, a familiar burn in my eyes and pain in my chest. "He'll come back to you."

I just chuckled humourlessly and shook my head, "He hasn't even contacted us for almost a year, what makes you so sure he will now? I am not going to lie, I am slowly but surely losing hope. What if he found someone better wherever he'd run off to? He's never going to come back, not to me."

I felt Troy grabbing my shoulders and turning me towards him, "Hey! Look at me, don't say that okay? He won't do that. He's crazy for you and if he isn't, he is an asshole. But, I have seen the love and admiration in his eyes and trust me when I say this, eyes don't lie."

I nod at his words and engulf him into a hug before he leaves. As he is halfway through the door he mumbled something making me chuckle, "That's how I found out about you hurting."

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I was looking for ingredients in the kitchen to bake chocolate chip cookies when I heard the doorbell ringing. I sighed, knowing no one else was going to open the door except for me and so I made my way towards the door when I heard the ringing again. I rolled my eyes at the impatience as the bell rung for the third time. As I reached out to the handle to open the door, the doorbell rung again, making me furious as the person on the other side of the door. I pulled the door open harshly, ready to yell and give the impatient bastard a piece of my mind when I spotted my elder siblings' grinning faces.

I relaxed my tense shoulders and raised an eyebrow at them in question, when they didn't explain the reason for their unusual giddiness I asked, "What has you so smiley?" They just shrugged, looked at each other, wiggled their eyebrows and looked back at me, grinning. At this point, I was extremely confused as to what was going on. I could vaguely make out a couple more figures behind Troy and Natalie but couldn't see anything due to their frames covering the view outside the front door. That's when a sound had me utterly confused.

I heard a car door open, a pair of feet step on the ground and the car door being shut again. During my observant moments, my siblings had shared a few more excited glances and smug smiles before they looked at each other, nodded and stepped out of my line of vision. My eyes travelled on the gravel path leading to the feet of a tall figure.

Steadily, my eyes moved up the figure to meet a pair of chocolate brown eyes. A shocked gasp escaped my mouth as both my hands flew up to my mouth to cover it. I heard the sound of something being dropped and noticed the bag which was previously on the person's shoulder, was lying on the floor. My feet were stuck to the ground as my eyes burned and lungs ran out of air. I couldn't move from my spot and just stood with my widely opened mouth covered by my palms and the person's intense gaze at me.

A familiar touch on my shoulder snapped me back to reality and I saw Natalie's concerned eyes meet mine, all happiness disappearing from her eyes as she notices the tears in my eyes. I saw her lips move and knew she was talking to me but I couldn't hear anything. I had turned my gaze back to him and stared at him. One gentle push from Troy had me stumbling forward. I turned around to see him smile encouragingly at me. I turned my back to him and dashed towards the brunette boy. I landed right into his embrace, with my arms tightly wrapped around his neck as I buried my face in the crook of his neck. He staggered a few steps behind but chuckled in surprise before wrapping his muscular arms around my waist. I took a deep breath, his scent calming my nerves and causing me to melt in his hold. I felt his embrace tighten around me as I sobbed uncontrollably, wetting the shoulder of his crisp shirt. He nuzzled his face in my neck and placed a warm kiss there, instantly causing my stomach to erupt into butterflies. He sighed in content as he inhaled the scent of my hair and placed a kiss on the crown of my head.

My eyes opened and I pulled back from the hug. I observed his face, scanning his face with my eyes several times to make sure he was okay and wasn't hurt or injured. I noticed a cute smile forming on his lips as he realized what I was doing. He bent his neck and shook his head causing a strand of his fluffy chestnut hair to fall onto his forehead. I slowly raised my hand from my side and carefully put it back in place causing him to look back up and into my eyes. I raised my hand again and before I knew it, I had slapped Ethan across the face, hard.

I heard shocked gasps but didn't pay any mind to it. Ethan's face was turned towards his right, with his left hand covering the reddening skin of his right cheek. His eyes were closed but I knew he was hurt not because I slapped him but also because I hit him really hard. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth, muttering, " That was for leaving me when I needed you the most. Also, for not letting me know even once that you were okay!"

"I am sorr-" he started apologizing but I cut him off, "You being sorry doesn't make it any better! I thought I had lost you for good! You could have at least told me you were alive so I wouldn't have to worry!" I yelled at him with a newfound anger towards him.

He looked down at the ground in shame as I angrily wiped off the tears which escaped my eyes. After a few minutes of me sniffing and him guiltily staring at the gravel, he looked up to say something when I surprised him again. I slammed my lips against his with such force which had him stumble and nearly lose his balance. At first, he froze in his place, unresponsive. And then, I felt big warm hands hold my hips tightly and his soft lips moving against mine passionately. I held on to him tight as we shared a kiss, pouring our love and awe into it. As our lips moved against each other, I felt truly content and complete. I could vaguely hear soft chuckles and cheers of our friends standing a few feet away from us. As I ran out of breath, we both slowly pulled away, our bodies still so close that there wasn't any room for even a paper between us. I opened my eyes to see Ethan already staring deep into my eyes as we both heavily breathed, trying to get back the air in our lungs.

"This was for returning back to me," I whispered which caused a huge smile to break out on his face. I shyly smiled back at him and hugged him tightly whispering into his ear, "I love you."

He tightened his embrace around me, kissed the side of my hair and murmured into my ear, "I love you more."

I heard loud cheers and whoops around me only to see all the girls giggling and fawning over our reunion while the guys whistled, which caused a bright blush to arise on my cheeks, causing me to bury my flushed face into the crook of Ethan's neck with him chuckling and planting kisses along my exposed neck.

THE END