As time passed, both Lewis and I changed.
I stopped hiding how I felt. I no longer swallowed emotions just to keep things calm.
And Lewis who had always been controlled and guarded started opening up to me in ways he never had before.
Love isn't about one person giving everything while the other only receives.
It's about care flowing both ways. About learning each other. About growing side by side.
He loves me deeply. I feel it in the way he watches me, in the way his presence stays close without suffocating me.
Still, my past with Julian sits like a thorn in his chest.
I understand why.
I slipped my arm around Lewis's neck and leaned closer.
"Since we keep running into everyone," I said softly, "maybe we should move out. Go back to our own place."
The moment I said our home, his mood shifted.
His eyes brightened, and something warm rolled off him, steady and sure.
"Yes," he said in a low, rough voice. "Let's go home."
