"We're married."

I watched as my words settled into her brain, before shock settled onto her face. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, before settling for frowning. I couldn't decipher what she was thinking, so I patiently waited for her words to finally make sense to her.

"For a second I thought you said you married my brother."

"That's exactly what I said."

"Why?"

What?

"What do you mean why?"

"Of all the people, you chose to marry Mimi? Did he force you into this? I thought you were getting married to Cain."

"I don't like how you just said that. Aramis is an amazing man and I love him just the way he is. Cain and I broke up seven weeks ago," I informed, slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that, but the last thing I expected you to tell me after disappearing for almost two months is that you're married to my brute of a brother. I knew you liked him, but I had no idea you liked him enough to marry him," she said.

"Love; I love him," I corrected.

"When did that happen Evie?" she asked.

"It happened a long while back. I was just too hurt at the time by things I didn't understand to let myself truly feel it. It's the reason why Cain and I would've never worked out. Your brother is my soul mate and I'm only telling you first because you're my best friend and I figured you were probably the maddest at me, but now I'm starting to regret that," I accidentally admitted.

She frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I don't like how you view him. He's your brother for heaven sakes!" I snapped.

"Excuse me? You have no idea what it's like living with Aramis! The man is impossible and he's never been the easiest of people to understand!" she shot back.

"Like you tried to understand me," my husband commented as he walked into the room.

"That's not fair," she said to him.

He shrugged before turning to me. "Everyone's here. Judging from how angry you look, I take it things didn't go that well with her?"

I shot Gigi a look before turning to him. "It's not going to go well with any of them. I can just feel it. If she views you like this, then they all do, and I don't know how I feel about that."

"You need to keep me out of this kardiá mou. You have to remember that you're the only one who truly knows who I am, so to them, their views of me are justified," he argued as he caressed my cheek.

"Because you never opened up to any of us," Gigi commented.

"You made me a competition amongst you, or did you think I'd never find out about that?" he asked her.

"They did what?"

"How did you find out about that?"

He turned back to me, anger blazing in his eyes. "When I returned from Greece, I isolated myself, but Gigi, Artemis, Max, Zena, Ivy and my mother all thought it would be a good idea to have a competition amongst themselves to see who could crack me. If I'm not mistaken, the winner would get their own house anywhere in the world, courtesy of my mother. I've always wondered why they were trying so hard when even I knew that their concern wasn't remotely sincere. I guess a part of me was curious to see how long they all thought they could bullshit me for, but when I found out that it was in the name of a competition, things changed for me."

They wouldn't be that cruel.

I looked to Gigi, and the truth was clear in her eyes, if the tears weren't enough of an indication. I've always known that this was a strange family that has issues they haven't dealt with, but this was on a whole other level.

"How did you find out?" I asked him.

"Cain," was all he said.

It must've been when they spoke before we left for Sweden.

"Mimi I-" Gigi started, only for him to raise his hand, stopping her.

"I have no care in the world how you or anyone in this forsaken family feels about my marrying the love of my life. I would go the rest of my life without either of you knowing and not feel a shred of guilt. I'm only here because I'm supporting my wife, who actually wants you to know," he said coldly before leaving the room.

"Evie..." she trailed off.

I couldn't even say anything to her. Instead I stormed out of the room to find Grier, Garrett, Max, Artemis, Ivy, Bernard, Gregory, Trent, Onyx, Zena, Gio and surprisingly Aaron and Cain there. Cain shot me a smile and a wink, but I was too furious to respond.

I was about to burst.

"I can't believe you could be so cruel. You don't even understand the levels to your brother, your son, and yes, he's not the easiest person to deal with, but you should've been there for him. Making him a competition is the sickest thing I've heard in a long time. God, to think I felt guilty that we were keeping our marriage from you when really, you didn't even deserve to know. But you know what? I want to thank you. You've just shown me just how much my husband truly loves me. He was willing to come back here, to stand in your presence and let me share our news with you, even though deep inside, he would rather you never knew. You are horrible people and it's going to take me the longest time to even accept that I opened my life to people who are so cruel; who have hurt my husband on such a deep level."

I burst for sure.

I could see the disbelief on everyone's faces, including my husband's, but I couldn't help it. The anger had been sitting there since the day when we were swinging at the park and I first found out about his bipolar disorder.

The way his parents had treated him didn't sit well with me, and on our time away, I thought back to all the things his siblings would say about him, and I realized that not even they hold him in the greatest light.

To hear that they made him a fool on such a level was the last straw.

"What? You're married?" Grier said lowly.

I wiped away my angry tears. "Yes, we are, and I officially don't care if you accept our marriage or not."

I left the room and headed towards one of the balconies. It was now cool outside and I needed to breathe. My chest felt like it was closing up and my tears were clouding my vision. I barely made it outside when arms wrapped around me.

"Breathe beautiful."

I listened to him and tried my best to breathe. I had to calm down, but the tears weren't stopping. I was pulled into a hug and I hugged him right back. I'd missed him, even if I wasn't in love with him. He was still my best friend.

"Are you better now?" he asked.

I nodded, pulling away. "Thanks."

"You're most welcome beautiful. I guess I should start by saying congratulations. I knew it wouldn't take you that long to see the truth in my words," he teased, nudging me.

I laughed a little. "The truth was always there. I was just fighting it, but thanks for pushing me in the right direction."

"Again, you're welcome. Seeing my best friends happy is all I want, except you just exploded in there and he's frozen from disbelief," he pointed out.

"How long did you know about the competition thing?" I asked.

"I found out just before the Emily thing. I was going to tell him, but once the Emily thing had gone down, I didn't feel the need to since I hated him then. When we made peace that night, I thought he deserved to know," he told me.

"I'm truly struggling to wrap my mind around the whole thing. Surely they don't hate him that much, do they?" I asked.

"I've never understood his relationship with them. To this day, he doesn't know that I know about his bipolar disorder. Before you ask, I saw his pills and did some research on them. I never treated him differently though. It just made me understand him better. I just don't know why he's never told them," he replied.

"Because the fact that they had a competition amongst themselves to see who could crack him, means they're not the kind of people who would've reacted like you and I did to the bipolar disorder thing. You didn't treat him any differently, and I love him all the more for it. If they found out, they'd make a big deal out of it and treat him like someone with a mental illness. He doesn't want that," I realized.

"And this is why you're the love of my life," my husband commented from the door.

"Here I thought it was because of how beautiful I am," I mock sniffed.

He laughed. "That and so much more. What you just did in there is the last thing I would've ever expected from you. I don't think I've ever seen you that angry before."

"Now that you mention, I think that was the first time I was seeing her angry too," Cain commented.

"What made you snap?" my husband asked me.

"Let me head back inside and try to calm the situation there. I really am happy for the two of you," Cain said, patting Aramis on the shoulder.

"Thanks man," Aramis replied. Cain nodded before heading back inside.

"The whole competition thing made me snap," I told my husband.

He wrapped his arms around my waist. "Ok, let me ask a different question. How long have you been angry, and what have you been so angry about?"

"That's two questions," I joked.

He pinched me, making me giggle. "Mrs Van de Woodsen, cooperate."

"Ok, ok. So remember the day when you told me about your bipolar disorder?" I questioned.

He nodded. "The day of the mental illness fundraiser."

"On the day, I guess it didn't bother me as much, but it started to a little when you told me about your names and how you basically stood out from your siblings. That bothered me a little," I said.

"But you said I was special," he pouted.

I laughed. "That you are my love, but that doesn't make the situation right. In Sweden, I started thinking back more and more on everything I'd been told about and heard about you, especially from your family members. I guess my anger started to truly grow then when I realized that they didn't have the nicest things to say about you. I don't care if you're the most difficult person on the planet to deal with, the things they were saying weren't justified at all, especially since they don't even know you. For the most part, you avoided them, so I couldn't understand why they said the things that they did. It's partly why I didn't want to come back to New York. I knew that a big part of me was going to end up having to pretend that I like them, when really, I didn't because of how they treated you."

I was surprised when he pulled me into a slow and sweet kiss. I could feel all his emotions in it, as well as my own love for him as the butterflies swarmed my stomach. I love this man with all my heart, flaws and all.

"I love you Evie Van de Woodsen," he whispered.

I reached out to wipe away his fallen tear. "I love you too Aramis Van de Woodsen."

"Ahem," we were interrupted by Mr Van de Woodsen.

"Yes?" I said to him.

"I'd like to talk to Aramis," he requested.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of my wife," Aramis told him.

Garrett nodded before speaking. "Son, I know I haven't been the greatest father to you, and I probably failed you most by allowing your mother to bulldoze me into a whole lot of the decisions that she did regarding you, but it's still no excuse. I didn't know about the competition. I would've put an immediate stop to it if I had. I ca-"

"Would you have told me about it?" Aramis interrupted. Garrett didn't say anything.

"See? This is why I can never take you seriously when you apologize to me. I've made my mistakes in the past, but the difference between you and I is that I can own up to my mistakes. When I look myself in the mirror, I accept myself fully for who I am, and now I have someone who sees me the same way I see myself. My problem with you Garrett is that you continue to lie to yourself. A part of you believes everything that everyone says about me, and until you admit that to yourself, you will never be sincere about any of your apologies. I don't need you to stand there and tell me that you would've put a stop to the competition. It wouldn't have made a difference if you did. The core root of the problem here is that the competition was brought about to begin with, and until you understand that you and Ma are greatly to blame for things having gone that far, then you will never truly see me as your son," my husband told him.

"Don't you get it damnit! That's what I'm trying to explain to you. I'm a failure of a man for failing you Aramis. I know for a fact that what they believe is wrong, and yes, I believed a lot of what they had to say about you, but son, you have to understand that you are truly the most complex person to deal with," Garrett defended.

"All I did was ask," I commented.

He turned to me, confused. "What?"

"All I did was ask him why is the way that he is and he told me," I pointed out.

"He's in love with you. There's a difference," he argued.

I scoffed. "That's bullshit. You're his family. From the moment I met him, Aramis was difficult for me to understand. However, I still fell for him, confusion and all. The difference between me and your family is that I didn't treat him differently just because I didn't understand him, and when I finally asked him why he was the way he was, he told me, simply because I hadn't judged or treated him differently just because he didn't act in a way that I wanted him to. If you want to bring love into things, then you should've loved him enough for who he is and tried to understand him, rather than shun him because he wasn't your definition of the perfect son. The day you understand that much, is the day you will truly understand where you went wrong."

Both my husband and I didn't say anything as we watched the older man. I could see that for the first time, he was truly evaluating the situation, and things were finally becoming clearer to him. We were even more surprised when he looked up, tears in his eyes.

"You've done well for yourself Aramis, and I'm glad that I had nothing to do with it. Evie, you know that you've always been like a daughter to me, so to have you officially be my daughter in law only makes me happy. I have seen the error of my ways, and I need some time to come to terms with that, so I won't be in your way. Congratulations to you both and may your marriage be blessed."

He turned to leave, but Aramis stopped him. "Dad?"

"Yes son?" Garrett replied.

Aramis left me to hug him. "I forgive you."

"Thank you son. I'll be in Spain for a while. Don't tell your mother, or anyone really. I need some time to think," Garrett pleaded.

"Your secret is safe with us," I told him. He smiled before squeezing his son's shoulder and walking out.

"How do you feel?" I asked my husband.

"A little relieved, but I know that the true storm awaits us in there," he pointed out.

"Are you ready for it?" I asked.

He smirked before kissing me. "With you by my side, always."

"How chivalrous," I teased.

He winked. "It never dies agápi mou."

I rolled my eyes at him as we made our way back to where everyone else was, and we walked into the tension filled room with no care in the world. "Your father just left. What did you say to him?"

"I only told him the truth," Aramis said plainly.

"Do share what truth this is," Artemis said.

"It's none of your business," I said just as plainly as my husband did.

"Evie, are you ok dear? This isn't like you," Grier said, clearly mocking concern.

"Mrs Van de Woodsen, I say this with the utmost respect, but you don't know me, so please stop acting like you do. You've known the real me for all of two minutes, and because my father told you so much about me and you got to name me, I guess some part of you feels entitled to my life, but really, you're only allowed to know what I tell you about myself. Right now, you know a version of me that my father told you about, but that's not who I am. That little girl was so afraid of the world. She was so afraid that she'd die alone once her father died. When you and your family adopted me right after he died, I was grateful, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I have a feeling that my father knew exactly what kind of family this is, which I guess is the reason why he kept me away from it. It's probably the very same reason why he chose to put my husband through college. He saw right through your perfect image and he knew that what you were doing to my husband was wrong. So you know what? Yes, I am ok and this is very much me. I am happy and I am in love. If you have a problem with any of what I just said, I really don't care, and I dare any one of you to blame Aramis for this," I replied when I could see the words just itching to tumble out of Max, Ivy and Artemis' mouths.

"I pulled out of the competition the very next day," Zena blurted.

"You never told me about it. All those times you and I spent time playing board games and bonding, you never once told me. Of all the people here, I was sure that you were the one who was the most honest with me, and yet you never told me this one big thing," my husband argued.

"I didn't know how to tell you," she said shamefacedly.

"How did you even find out?" Max asked him.

"The fact that out of all that has gone down, all that you're so concerned about is how he found out about it is disturbing to say the least," Aaron commented.

Thank you Aaron!

"I'm with Aaron on this one, but I'll spare everyone the mystery. I'm the one who told him about it, and before you ask, I overheard Max and Gigi discussing it a couple of years back. They were discussing which location they would pick for their house once they'd won," Cain explained.

"Wow, just wow," my husband said, clearly no longer as bothered as I thought he'd be.

"Mimi, we didn-"

"Mean to come up with the competition? You didn't mean to keep it a secret for so long? You didn't mean for it to come out the way that it did? You didn't mean for it to go on as long as it did? What did you not mean because I'm so interested in knowing?" my husband asked sarcastically.

"Stop it this instance Aramis! Watch how you talk to us! We are your fa-"

"mily? Yeah, no you're not. My only family is my wife and she's the only family I need," he interrupted.

"You cannot possibly mean that," Zena said quietly.

He didn't say anything and instead looked down at me. "I need to get out of here. It's been six hours and I can feel it coming."

It had been six hours since he last took his pills and he could feel his bipolar side taking over.

"Go. There's a container in my bag. I'll see you back at the house," I told him. He nodded before kissing me.

"Se agapó astéri tis zoís mou," he said onto my lips. (I love you star of my life)

"Se agapó ton agapitó mou sýzygo," I replied. He kissed my forehead then grabbed my handbag with him and left. (I love you my loving husband)

"What did he mean he can feel it coming?" Artemis asked me.

"Do you people feel like you're entitled to knowing everything just because of your last name?" I asked curiously.

"A last name you now carry," Ivy shot at me.

I laughed humourlessly. "Thanks for the reminder. I take after the part of it my husband has because this here mess, I want no part of."

"He changed you," Max commented.

"And there it is," Bernard laughed, shooting me a knowing look.

"You're laughing about this?" Gigi asked him disbelievingly.

"I'm sorry but I don't get you people. I've tried for the longest time, and after tonight, it's clear to me why I never could. You don't even know yourselves, let alone each other, so I don't know why I expected you to be ok with this. The very thing that sets Aramis and Evie apart from you people is that they're not dependent on the Van de Woodsen name, while you people milk it for all it's worth. Your heads are stuck so far up your asses that anyone who doesn't think or do things the way you want them to, is immediately a threat. There are times when I believed that perhaps Zena and Gigi weren't that way, but after today, I'm at a loss for words really," Bernard commented.

"I know exactly what you mean. Artemis and Ivy sat before Evie and I just a little over six months ago, telling us how they knew that the Van de Woodsens were entitled and toxic, but that they were working towards being different, and yet, I see no difference. You're all the same," Cain added.

"You're one to talk! You've hated my brother all these years, and now you want to pretend otherwise? He stole your girlfriend in college, and now he's married to someone who we were pretty sure two months ago, would be marrying you!" Gigi snapped.

"Aramis and I had our spat, and seven weeks ago, we talked things out. I finally learnt the truth about Emily, and about just how much of a great person Aramis is. You people don't know him, and you're his blood. Trent, Bernard, Gregory, Evie and I are the only people who know him. We know him on different levels, that much is obvious, but we still know him a hell lot better than all of you combined. My hatred towards him was justified at the time, which is why I can stand before you and tell you that I'm happy for him and Evie. The two of them mean the world to me, and they share a love that I know and believe is true. My decision to support them really isn't any of your business, but as I'm learning, you think you're entitled to knowing things that have nothing to do with you, so I guess that's that," Cain defended, making me laugh a little.

"I'm glad you find this so funny," Grier snapped.

"Oh, you don't even know. I'm just really grateful to you all because not only have you made me love my husband even more, but you've just made me see life through brand new eyes and I'm absolutely loving it," I said.

"What does that even mean?" Zena asked me.

I smirked. "It means Evie Woods is ready."

I could see the confusion still on their faces, and I could only laugh. I probably looked mad, but my brother, Gregory, Bernard, Cain, Aaron and surprisingly Onyx and Gio, were all smiling at me. I hugged them goodbye, promising to have lunch with them the following day.

I had a husband I needed to get to.

Bernard walked me out so that he could pay for my cab since my husband had taken my handbag with him. I thanked him and after one last hug, I was on my way. I was giddy for whatever reason as I thought about seeing my husband again.

It really was like I was seeing him through brand new eyes as well.

Like I'd told Garrett, Aramis has always been a complex person for even me to understand, but after the night of the fundraiser, he's opened himself up to me more and more. I'd like to believe that it's because I provided him with the kind of platform where he felt comfortable enough to do so.

I didn't judge him, and neither did I try to change him.

We were stuck in some regular New York traffic, but we eventually made it to the house. The taxi dropped me off outside and the security at the gate opened for me before I made my way up the driveway.

When I opened the front door, I could hear soft music playing in the background and there were candles and rose petals everywhere. I followed the path of the rose petals and it led me to the lounge, where my husband seemed to be putting the finishing touches on the dinner table.

"We've barely been apart for an hour. How did you arrange all of this that quickly?" I asked, making him jump a little.

"Don't do that to a person," he scolded.

I giggled. "Sorry."

"And for your information, I arranged this while we were waiting for everyone to get to the meeting," he informed.

"It's beautiful," I commented.

He got up and came to wrap his arms around me. "It's got nothing on my wife, but I guess it will do."

I rolled my eyes at that for sure, even if I couldn't stop the blush.

"Dance with me," he said, pulling me towards the empty space in the lounge.

"Are you ok?" I asked him once we were swaying.

"I was going to ask you that," he replied.

"I'm perfectly fine. They were still being entitled about the whole thing when I left, and I figured that I had a better place to be," I told him.

"Today, I fell in love with you all over again. From the moment I met you, I knew that you were going to change my life. When I saved you from Zayn, I promised myself that I would always protect you. It wasn't even about your father's wish anymore. I wanted to protect you simply because you'd stolen my heart from the moment I lay my eyes on you. When we first spoke, you were insecure about your weight, but I didn't want to tell you then that there was nothing wrong with you. I knew that it was something that you had to deal with on your own. When I saw you for the first time after you'd lost the weight in Greece, I wasn't surprised that you did. I was instead surprised by you managed to look even more radiant after I hadn't seen you as long as I hadn't. Being away from you for the months that followed was hell, something Trent teased me for. He didn't know that it was you who I was talking about though, which I guess became obvious on the day of the fundraiser. That day was one of the happiest days of my life and I got to spend it with you, with a carefree you. What you don't know is that it was my birthday on that day, which is why I was so adamant on spending the day with you. It was the first birthday in my life that I truly enjoyed. When you told me you wanted to join me in Sweden, I didn't believe it simply because I couldn't fathom why fate was being generous to me. It had already robbed me of so much that I truly believed you to be a dream. I still do actually, but today you made me truly believe in us. You made me believe that you are real and you are truly mine. No one has ever stood up for me in the way that you did, and I don't know how to possibly thank you for that except by promising to love, protect and cherish you for the rest of our lives. I love you Evie Melanie Van de Woodsen. Happy one month anniversary," he said before kissing me.

"I'm pregnant."