We head straight to the nearest hotel. Needless to say, the taxi driver kept on throwing odd glances back at me and Spencer, but neither of us cared.

No looks, no words, and simply nothing can penetrate our happy bubble.

When we're dropped off in front of a five-star hotel, I'm once more reminded that Spencer was never broke. Sure, he's not as rich as his father, but somehow I had managed to completely forget he makes a decent living for himself.

If I go bankrupt, at least I'll have his place to crash in until I rebuild myself... I doubt he'd mind that. Actually, he has to make peace with me living with him. I literally threw away my company for him and for us. He can survive living in the same house with me for a few months. He has to.

For the first time, with no worries or cautions, we hold hands all the way up into our room.

The damn grin never falls away from either of our faces.

Getting out of the stupid dress turns out to be ridiculously hard since I broke the zipper on my first try, and it takes Spencer and me almost thirty minutes to get rid of it. By the time the dress is discarded in the middle of the room, and our laughter has died out, he orders dinner while I call Mom and fill her in before switching off my phone.

Not a second goes by where Spencer and I aren't touching, feeling, or grazing each other, as though we're trying to make up for the past five years, and the past few shitty months. But neither of us is in a hurry. We've got a lifetime for that.

I savor every smile and every caress, every kiss and every loving word exchanging between us. My mind still can't wrap around the fact we're finally together.

Neither of us holds back. For the first time, it's us against the problems and no barriers remain between us.

When he makes love to me, making me whole, making us one, whispering the same three enchanting words, "I love you." It's no longer a farewell, a plea for a chance. It's a promise. A promise we're both making to each other that no matter what, we'll stick together, we'll be one and tackle our problems.

Every breath we take reminds me of how right my decision is.

Three blissful days fly past us. We rarely get out of bed. Yet we can't get enough of each other. We talk about the past, the present, and avoid the uncertain grey areas of the coming future, but other than that, we even talk about our future, something we had never done before.

On the morning of the fourth day, I sit in the middle of the bed as I gaze out of the window at the clear blue sky wishing we could stay here forever and not face our problems.

The whooshing sound of the shower water stops, and a smile tugs at my mouth. A minute later, Spencer walks out, with a white bathrobe and climbs the bed, sitting behind me. He pulls me to himself, pressing my back against his chest, laying a soft kiss on my neck as he wraps his arms around me.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach, my skin tingling.

"Missed me?" he whispers next to my ear with a smile.

I giggle and intertwine my fingers with his as I shift to face him. "In your dreams."

He chuckles and kisses me. Breaking the kiss, he asks, "Another breakfast in bed, or were you planning-"

"In bed," I interrupt him, leaning into his chest as I gaze out of the window. "I wish we could stay here forever... never leave... or at least never go back." I sigh.

"Sounds tempting... I like the idea of running away with you," he says with a laugh before nuzzling my neck. "But I don't want us to run away and hide."

I roll my eyes and expel a sharp blow of air.

"I think we've been off-grid long enough," he adds quietly.

I bite my bottom lip and tighten my hold on his hand. "If I lose my house, I'm moving in with you," I announce.

He laughs. "Rae, my place is yours."

"Good. Because I hate black interior. If I moved in, I'm changing the color palette too."

His laughter rumbles his chest, vibrating my back, widening my grin. "You've already made your plans too. Fine, but I'm not letting you turn my house pink."

I turn slightly to face him again. "Your house? You just said it's mine too."

He lifts a shoulder before furrowing his brows. "I'm not living in a pink house."

I giggle. "We'll work out the details, baby." I bat my eyelashes.

He rolls his eyes but smiles anyway as he shakes his head.

I shift back to my initial position, with my back pressed against his chest. "Just so we're on the same page, I want us to date first. Like for a really long time. If you pull out a ring and propose to me anywhere before two years, I'm dumping you."

He laughs again. "No, you won't."

"Try me."

"Okay, what else?"

I nibble my bottom lip and squint at the ceiling. "Hmm... I'm not repeating these things, and I might forget to tell you with the shitstorm waiting for us, so you better remember them all. I want us to go on a vacation... every month."

"What! No! That's too much, Gracie."

I pout and face him. "But I want to see the world with you."

"Every three months?" he offers.

I huff. "Fine." I turn around again and start tracing imaginary lines on the back of his hand. "If you propose to me, then postpone our wedding as long as you did with Julia, I'm seriously whooping your ass."

"I'll keep that in mind," he says with a chuckle and kisses my temple. "Any other demands?"

"We're not having a baby until... five years after our marriage."

He rests his chin on my shoulder. "No, that's too long."

"Aren't men supposed to run from the thought of having a kid?" I ask with a grin, glancing at him from the corner of my eye.

He shrugs. "I've done my waiting... and wasting time. I know you're the one, so what's the point in waiting that long? Aren't you sure?"

"I am, but I want to have you all to myself at first." I turn to him and plant my arms around his neck as I straddle him. "How about three years then?" I suggest with a smile. "And two kids, I don't want to get too fat."

His arms tighten around me, his face beaming with amusement as he pulls me closer. "Sounds good, and till then when a lot of time to-"

I gasp, making him halt and frown with confusion. "I forgot the most important one!"

"What?" He tilts his head slightly, his damp hair falling over on his forehead.

I wave my index finger while keeping my other hand firmly on his shoulder. "You, Spencer Wright, from today onwards are no longer allowed to take a break from me. You have a problem; you tell me and we talk it out. No breaks, not even for one day." I hold up my palm and meet his glinting dark blue eyes. "Deal?"

A grin spreads across his face and his hand cups my cheek, pulling me to him. "Deal." His lips capture mine in a searing hot kiss, slow and loving.

Spencer pulls away first. "If you're done planning our lives for the next ten years, I think it's time for you to get updates from... everyone."

I sigh, my smile faltering. His thumb gently grazes my bottom lip.

"We'll handle it together," he softly says.

I nod. "You're right. Better get on and be done with it."

Not moving away from him, I grab my phone from the nightstand's drawer and turn it on while readjusting myself and sitting on his lap.

His arms protectively stay around my waist. One glance at his face, and I know whatever shit is thrown at us we'll be able to face it together.

My heart swells. Having him on my side, wholly, feels so damn good.

As the screen of my phone lights up and the onslaught of notifications lists down, fear settles in the pit of my stomach. Now that I know how it feels to be truly with him, I'm scared, more than ever, of losing him.

"I've got your back, I won't let anything happen, I promise," he murmurs next to my ear.

I nod. "No matter what, promise me you won't leave." I meet his gaze.

"Gracie-"

"I just need you to say it one more time," I admit, looking away as my cheeks grow warm.

"I'm not going anywhere, until and unless you tell me to." His eyes bore into me, urging me to glance up at him.

His thumb brushes my cheek. "I love you," he quietly says and at last, I meet his gaze.

A slow smile tugs the corners of my mouth. "I love you too."

With that, I unlock my phone and find Mom's number on the contact list and call her.

She picks up on the third ring. "Gracie! Sweetie! I'm so glad you finally called."

A little smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. "Hi, Mom. I'm sorry-"

"You don't need to apologize, in fact, I'm glad you turned off your phone, it was for the best. For both of you."

I glance at Spencer, my brows furrowing slightly. "Is everything alright?" I ask anxiously.

"The rumors about you and Spencer have gotten wilder... William is not happy about it... anyway, they don't matter. Tell me how things have been on your side?"

I laugh shaking my head. "Mom, these are literally the most important things right now."

"Gracie, problems will always be around, what matters is who you have by your side to face them," she says in her usual soft, calming voice.

"Everything's been great on our side." I look at Spencer, grinning.

He flashes me a smile, pulling me closer to himself.

"Are you two still in Italy?"

"We are."

"Is Spencer there?" she curiously asks.

I intertwine my fingers with his. "He's right here with me."

"Good, say my hi to him and tell him not to confront his father... at least not when Kristian's around."

He rolls his eyes, probably hearing Mom's voice. "Yeah, I don't think he's going to do that, but thanks for the heads up."

"Gracie, sweetie, I know you two have just gotten back together after everything... but it'd be good if you come back. you own a large portion of the company and I think William is planning on setting the contract in motion and getting his part of the money."

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"We'll book the first flight back," Spencer answers loud enough for Mom to hear on the other end.

"Yeah, Mom, we'll see you soon."

"Take care, and inform me when you get back."

"Okay, love you."

"Love you too."

We hang up and I sigh, resting my head on Spencer's shoulder. His palm rubs my back in soothing motions.

"First flight?" I echo his words.

"I thought we were on the same page with getting this over with." A corner of his mouth twitches up. "Since when did you start avoiding drama, Gracie Stewart?" he arches an eyebrow, his dark blue eyes glinting from the sunlight flooding inside the room.

I close my eyes, a grin spilling over my face. Straightening myself, I shift on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. "You're right," I agree with a wide smile. "Let's show them who we are and who they dared to mess with."

Spencer mirrors my grin, before capturing my lips in a soft kiss.

I savor the sense of his lips on mine. It's fascinating how he can make everything seem better.

It once again reminds me how I fell in love with him. He's my rock in my bad days, and my boat in the wild, adventurous days.

God, I love Spencer. Looking into his beautiful eyes, I'm ensured I'll do anything to keep him, and us in my life, and I know he'll stay by my side, no matter the difficulties we have to face for the coming days.

❦ ♥︎ ❦

Hello, my dear readers, this is a semi-important author's note from your lazy procrastinator writer lol. 

Okay, jokes aside, I'm so so so sorry for not updating. So I got covid 3 weeks ago, and I live in a sanctioned third world country, so despite getting all 3 doses of vaccine, the covid hit me pretty hard, because the vaccines over here are pretty shitty, they're literally the worst, most useless kind. So the symptoms were pretty bad, & since day one I've been struggling with brain fog, and you won't believe it, I still have it!

 I'm genuinely a very quick person (brain-working-wise), but thanks to this brain fog, my efficiency has hit rock bottom. The little time I had every day after getting my college assignments done, were spent writing Color Me Cerise chapters, and by the time I was done with that, I was near passing out.

This is the real reason why I didn't update (and why you might catch stupid errors :') ).

However, when everyone was happy about the Xmas NY holidays, I was busy with exams and classes, because, in this country, that's not celebrated. 

The good news is, our NY is exactly next Monday, and since we're lazy Middle Easterns, the last Tuesday of the year, is the last day of serious work, meaning tomorrow! Hopefully, my profs won't be an ass, and tomorrow will be truly the last day of classes and submitting our assignments. The break is until 2nd April! And I have decided to dedicate the 100% of my time to writing from 15-30th March. 

I'm planning on wrapping up TR before Friday =) And I'm going to try my best to wrap up 4 other stories too before leaving WP on 31st March. So I'm going to finish them in the order of the list below, please give them a try/check out their blurbs, 3 of them will have 40 chaps at most/70-80k words. Who knows you might like it, and it'll be really nice if each of them ends up having 1 reader so I won't feel bad about dedicating so much time :') [and yes, they're going to be double updated every day, because I have no life what so ever]

La list: Color Me Cerise, Tell It To the Heart, Picture Perfect Boyfriend's Formula, and at last, Fearful Hearts.

Check out their blurbs and if it piqued your interest, please add it to your library to be notified whenever I update =) 2 of them might be updated in a couple of hours from now :D so yeah, I'm serious about finishing them.

Thanks for sticking around, really. I've been the worst with the updates of this book :") but we're going to have loads of updates from now on, 2-3 every day until the story is wrapped up.

Thank you so much for reading this chapter. We're not going to have the typical epilogue of Gracie and Spencer with their kid(s), after marrying living HEA, so I hope this chap made up for that scene you guys are never going to get from me :") [don't ask what the epilogue is, because I don't know either, I still haven't decided XD]

Drop a vote if you liked it and comment your thoughts. Expect a new chap in a couple of hours ^.^

Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading ♡♡♡