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Staring at the boarding pass Haze held in his hand, I couldn't speak. Not even a word, a sound. Nada.

I couldn't seem to find the words to say. A wave of joy washed over me. He had a smile plastered on his annoyingly perfect face.

"W-What? Are you serious?" Tears came rolling down my face before I could stop them. It felt like time had stopped.

As different flight departures were being called in the intercom, I found myself replaying his sentence in my head: I'm going home.

"You're actually coming with me?" I almost choked on my tears like a total idiot, overwhelmed by this sudden burst of happiness.

His infatuating white and straight smile made it impossible for me to know weither or not he was serious. In the middle of the frantic crowd, I stood still, my mind racing.

"If this is a joke, I swear to god you're not having children," I said, terrified that he was messing with me.

He stepped closer, smiling.

"Home is where you are, Winter Kingston." His piercing blue eyes met mine.

How cute.

"Even if home is freaking cold and covered in snow 365 days a year." He smirked.

Of course, he just had to say that and ruin the cute sentence.

I cringed at the awful stereotype that came out of his mouth.

"Yeah and we also eat maple syrup everyday and ride polar bears."

The sarcasm in my voice instantly seemed to amuse him.

"Really? That's great. I can't wait until we move into our first igloo."

He opened his muscular arms in my intention, smiling.

"Jerk." I shook my head and walked straight into his open arms. He immediately pulled me closer, holding me tight. We could hear the people in line sighing but I honestly didn't care one bit. Burrying his face into my neck, he gently placed a kiss on my skin, making me shiver.

"Prude," Haze's words came out in a whisper.

My heart fluttered. This would never change. The desk lady brought us back to reality, telling us we were taking too long and slowing down the line. Haze proceeded to pay for his very expensive ticket. Like it was nothing.

So many questions were spinning around in my head. He couldn't really leave just like that, could he? All of his belongings were back at his apartment. He wasn't seriously going to leave it all behind.

Like he was reading my worried mind, he reached for my hand and captured it in his to reassure me. I looked deeply into his eyes. I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

But somehow, I knew everything was going to be okay.

Because Haze was coming with me.

* * *

"How much longer?" My cry baby of a boyfriend desperately whined. We had been flying for about 2 hours, which resulted in Haze shifting in his seat like a hyper two year old.

"What's wrong, Adams? Not used to flying in economy class?" I teased.

"I swear I've been sitting here for 43 years. I'm bored out of my mind," He completely ignored my sentence, pouting. I smiled at how childish he was.

"Yeah, well, maybe you should've thought of that before you randomly decided to come with me," I mocked him. Since Haze had absolutely no luggage with him, he had no way of entertaining himself except for his phone, that was 2% away from being dead, and the movies they played on the plane. Which, unfortunately for him, were mostly chick lit movies.

"Oh please, don't pretend like this isn't the best day of your life, Kingston," He answered in an arrogant manner, amused.

"We only have about an hour left. Just try to sleep," I suggested, wanting to go back to the movie I was watching on the tiny television built in the back of the seat in front of me.

If I stay.

God, I was such a hopeless romantic.

"I already tried. How am I supposed to sleep with the apocalypse next to my ear?"

I laughed at his comment. Next to us was a 60 years old woman snoring her head off. Initially, since we didn't purchase our tickets at the same time, Haze was sitting in a completely different row on the plane. And I was supposed to be sitting next to a 50 year old man who kept on looking at me like a pervert or so Haze said. He literally paid the guy to switch seats with him. Yep, he just happened to have a 100 dollar bill in his pocket.

Just another typical day for Haze Adams.

"So, what should I expect?" He asked, curious. "Are we going to freeze to death the second we get off the plane?"

"We're at the end of May. The snow just finished melting." I shook my head, laughing at his ignorance.

"What? You mean there's no snow in Toronto right now?" His surprised face was hilarious.

"Nope. Not until november." I shrugged. He seemed to have a revelation.

Haze needed a lesson on Canada and he needed it fast.

I honestly couldn't wait until I was home. I couldn't wait to see my step-siblings, Jason and Maika and I even almost missed my mother.

Almost.

"What about your family? Are they okay with us staying with them until we move into our own igloo?" He said, laughing at his own joke.

I knew he was refering to the apartment we were going to get together.

"Idiot," I hit his arm playfully, "They said they don't mind." I forced a smile, tasting my own lie.

Truth is, they had no idea Haze was coming.

Simply because they had no idea that I was still dating him in the first place.

Last time my mother and I had talked about him, she refered to him as the brainless imbecile casanova who made me run away for a month.

So.. This was off to a great start.

My plan was to just show up at my house with him and be like -Surprise! My boyfriend's moving in- and hope they'd let us stay. My mother wouldn't dare kick him out because if he went, I went too. And it had been so incredibly long since I last saw her. I honestly had no idea what her reaction would be. We hadn't talked at all during the entire time I was away. Except that one time I went to Colton Gate with Haze. As you can guess, my mother and I were not very close.

We would be staying at my childhood home just until Haze and I found an apartment close to my college since I was taking summer classes.

"What's your back story? I need to be prepared for when I meet your family," He asked, resting his chin in the palm of his hand and looking into my eyes like a kid waiting for bed time story. He was so dang cute.

"Well, I grew up without a father. Never met him. Then my mother, Lauren, met Harry, my step-dad, and ended up marrying him. He already had a kid of his own. Jason. Who is now 14. I have known him ever since he was a baby and so we always considered each other true siblings even though we aren't blood related. As for Maika, my baby sister, she is now 4 years old and we share the same mother."

Haze didn't reply, waiting for me to carry on with the story.

"When my mother received a job offer in Asia, I went to Florida to live with Mariah until I graduated, as you know, and Harry followed her while Jason and Maika stayed at Harry's mother's house."

"Why didn't you go with them?" Haze raised his eyebrows, confused.

"Because she didn't want me." I simply answered.

"Why not?" He seemed shocked.

"According to her, I'm not her grand daughter since I don't have her son's blood in my veins. Harry's mother never approved of her son marrying my mother. She's great with her son's kids but she was never great with her own." I explained.

"Harsh. That must've been hard." He reached out for my hand to bring me some comfort.

"Yeah, well, it used to hurt me that I would never get to have a grandmother since the only family I have on my mother's side is my aunt Mariah, Kendrick and Kass. But I'm okay with it now. I have true love, I'm good," I smiled. Smile that he returned before leaning in to kiss my cheek.

"What happened to your mother's parents?" He asked.

"They died when I was one. Car crash. I don't remember them at all. But my mother says it's a good thing I don't because they wanted nothing to do with me. Apparently, they hated my biological father so much they disowned my mom and kicked her out when she had me. Something about my mother being a disgrace to the family."

"Wow, your family sucks." Haze let out, making me laugh. Now that I said it out loud, my family did seem terrible. Haze and I were on the same boat.

"Where did your tact go?" I shook my head from left to right, amused.

"Oh Winter, I can't lose something I never had," He smirked.

"Can I ask why they hated your father so much?" Haze kept on asking questions I used to hate answering. For some reason, when it was him asking, I suddenly didn't mind anymore.

"Something about him coming from the wrong side of the track. Troubled kid and all, careless, rebellious. Sounds familiar?" I mocked him, well aware that I was basically describing him. Or at least, the guy he used to be.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He grinned, pretending to be innocent.

I looked down, feeling a sharp pain in my chest. I guess being reminded of the heartbreaking past I had been trying to forget hurt a lot more than I expected.

"Hey, look at me," Haze noticed I was feeling down. He lifted my chin up using his hand so that our eyes would meet.

"I'm sorry," He seemed to feel bad for me. God knew he was an expert on family drama.

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault," I smiled faintly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to kick their obnoxious asses." He grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers. Even after I told him one of the saddest story of my life, this guy still managed to make me laugh.

"So what can I expect from your siblings?" He changed the topic. We both had enough of the sad story.

"Maika's currently obsessed with Dora the explorer and barbies. And Jason, well, last I heard he's been very moody lately. They say he's struggling with the usual teenager crisis and all. My parents say he's hanging out with the bad kids of his school."

Haze scoffed, "Look at you. Worried about your brother hanging out with the bad kids when you're literally dating a retired criminal."

"Can you say that any louder?" I reprimanded and held back a laugh. I glanced around nervously to see if anyone had heard. The lady next to us kept on giving us suspicious looks.

"Sure." He smiled like the devil himself. He cleared his throat and proceeded to repeat his sentence louder. "You're worried about your brother hanging out with the bad kids but you're dating a cr..-"

I cut him off by covering his mouth with my hand, amused. "Shut the hell up. Are you trying to get us arrested because they think we're trying to hijack the plane?"

"Oh shit. I forgot the bomb." He raised his voice even louder, completely ignoring me and causing the lady next to us to widen her eyes and stare at us in panic.

"Don't worry. He's kidding. Totally kidding. He's got a weird sense of humor," I laughed nervously, punching Haze in the shoulder pretty hard.

"Ouch," He laughed his head off, pretending to be hurt.

"Excuse him," I giggled nervously.

The old lady nodded and smiled awkwardly, looking away.

"I'm going to make you regret that tonight," I said, annoyed and amused at the same time. I'd make him sleep on the couch if he didn't stop. I took a sip of water from the bottle I had just bought.

"Really? That's a bummer. I had other plans for tonight.. Like make you scream my name."

I choked on my water.

Some of the passengers's eyes landed on us and I immediately felt my cheeks turn red from the sudden burst of embarassment. Of course, he was dying of laughter, not even bothering to be subtle. This guy had no shame. Absolutely none.

Note to self: Never bring Haze Adams on a plane.

Some Time Later

As we were being pushed around in the crowd, I was waiting for my luggage. We made it! Finally.

It's a good thing we did because I was seriously looking for ways to throw Haze out the window at the end. God, he made it his life mission to annoy me when he was bored. He also kept on talking about having plane sex to make me uncomfortable with his sexiness but hey, that's just Haze being Haze.

The airport was exactly the same as I remembered. And as always, a crowd of nervous people trying to catch their flight in time awaited us. Haze hang up the phone. He had arranged for all of his personnal items to be shipped to Canada. Just like that. Quick and easy.

How cool it must be to be a millionaire.

I grabbed my suitcase but Haze insisted on holding it for me. How'd I get so lucky? I'd never know.

"Anyone waiting to welcome you home?" He asked. We would try and get a cab. There were always plenty waiting outside of the building.

"Not that I know of. My mother had to work," I tried to ignore the unpleasant feeling in my chest. She didn't even bother to come pick me up and said I could easily grab a uber. As for Harry, he was out of town for the weekend for his job.

"She has to work? Damn right, she does. She needs to work on her priorities." He commented, making me smile.

Haze circled my waist with his muscular arm, pulling me to him as we walked. Everything was perfect.

That's when I saw him.

My heart dropped.

I couldn't believe what I saw under my very eyes.

Him?

Here?

There he stood. A couple of meters away from us. With his hands burried in the pockets of his jeans, he looked around, clearly waiting for someone.

And something told me that someone was me.

He hadn't changed one bit. Looking exactly as he did the last time I saw him. His black messy hair and his dark eyes looked the same as they did the day we said goodbye. Almost like no time had passed for him. I looked at Haze, well aware that it wouldn't be long until he noticed him too. I had thought about contacting him a couple of times while I was in Florida but always decided against it. We hadn't ended on good terms.

I thought back to the last words I had said to him. I was so surprised to see he actually kept his promise to come pick me up when I came back. He had made this promise before we fought. It was before everything.

It was before I met Haze.

At the same time, he noticed us as well. At first, a smile appeared across his face. But it was quickly replaced by a slight frown when he noticed Haze standing next to me. It made sense. He had no idea who he was.

I took a couple more steps, filling the space still standing between us.

"Winter.. What's going on?" Haze frowned, looking at the guy standing in front of me.

"Who is this?"

I tried to speak but failed miserably, closing my mouth like a fish.

He stayed silent for what seemed to be the longest wait of my life.

Before he finally spoke.

And said exactly what I was afraid to hear.

"I'm Caden. Winter's boyfriend."

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