(19)

"WHAT?" ARIA BREATHES in deeply, her fingers trembling at the words, she couldn't just believe what she heard.

"I love you, Aria. I loved you since forever," he declares, looking into her eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.

She was speechless, her lips were parted as she stared right into his eyes.

He smiles at her, "You don't need to answer right now."

"You're so stupid," she mumbles, flicking his forehead.

"What?" Kade frowns, arching an eyebrow at her.

"Isn't it obvious, Kade? Haven't I made it obvious?" She smiles to herself, looking into his sapphire eyes.

"Aria," he whispers, staring back into her eyes.

"I love you, Kade. I've loved you all these years, even though I always fought with you, I could never stop thinking about you." She gently smiles, placing her hand on his cheek as he leans into her touch.

He looks into her eyes one last time before locking his lips with hers, his arms wrapped around her body, bringing her closer to him. She tilts her head a little the kiss deepens, his tongue enters her mouth, devouring her mouth slowly while her hands moved to his hair. He bites her lip before breaking the kiss, both of their cheeks flushed, heavy breaths filling the silence.

"You don't even know how happy I am," he whispers as he pulls her into a hug, his hands circled tightly around her waist.

"Mhm, are you gonna cry tears of joy, now?" Aria muses, smiling up at him.

"I might as well. I got the person I wanted the most in this world," he chuckles, brushing his fingers down her silky, raven hair.

"You're gonna sweet talk me now, huh?" She arches an eyebrow, biting her lip as she holds back the grin.

"Why not? You're mine," he whispers in her ear, moving his lips down her neck.

"I think you already marked me way before. Boys didn't even talk to me in elementary, too scared that you might beat them up." Aria shakes her head at her boyfriend, the term so new to her yet it made her smile.

"Good," he smiles, "They shouldn't gawk at someone who belongs to me, even though I can't blame them." Kade mumbles, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and placing a kiss on her forehead.

"What about when girls run behind you?" She tilts her head, narrowing her eyes at Kade.

Kade chuckles, a pleased smile playing on his lips, "Is my Aria being jealous of them?"

"Maybe," she mutters.

He lets out a warm laugh and shakes his head, "You shouldn't. I don't even need to look at others when I have the most beautiful girl as my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? You didn't formally ask me to be your girlfriend." She feigns a frown, tapping her finger on her cheek.

He tightens his hold around her, lifting her chin with his thumb.

"Aria Arora, be my girlfriend." He looks into her eyes, a small cheeky smile growing on his lips.

"Damn. Did you even leave me a choice?" She hums, trailing her hand down his chest.

He chuckles, placing his hand on top of hers. Aria cups his cheek with her other hand and he leans into her touch.

"That's cause your only option is to be with me. I want you, Aria." He whispers, flashing her a small smile.

"Mhm, I guess I have no choice but to be your girlfriend," she teases, smiling up at him. She hasn't seen him smiling so brightly in months — years even.

"God, I can call myself the happiest man on Earth," he smiles, lifting her hand and placing a kiss on it, melting her heart even more.

"Idiot," she lets out a chuckle, lightly hitting his chest.

"Your idiot," he corrects, rubbing his thumb over her lips.

"Unfortunately," she teases, pinching his cheek.

The couple breaks out from their moment once they hear a scream coming from behind. Kade brings his hand to her back, pulling Aria even closer to him.

"I told you they heard it!" They heard a very familiar voice scold someone.

Seconds later, they see their friends drop in front of them out of the bushes, almost comically. Ellis, Isabelle, Adrianna, Blake and Luca were all on the ground, each one on top of each other as they awkwardly smile at the newly born couple.

"How long have you idiots been there?" Kade groans, narrowing his eyes at the group. They all look at each other, giving Kade no reply until Ellis slaps Adrianna's back.

"You're the idiot here, Kadey. Or should I say Aria's idiot?" Adrianna teases, only helping Kade know that his cousin and his friends have been here since the very beginning.

"I told you to wait a little longer for the fireworks to go off." Ellis groans, hitting Luca's back.

"But you were being an impatient bitch." Luca scowls, glaring at Ellis.

"But at least they saw it!" Isabella chirps in, breaking the fight as she pats both of the shoulders.

"I blame all of you for getting caught." Blake scoffs, narrowing his eyes at them.

"Like you weren't the one who said "at least they won't fight now" after they kissed." Adrianna scoffs at Blake while the others let out a laugh, resulting in Blake glaring at them all.

"Luca, where's our one grand? I won." Adrianna smirks, opening her palm for the money.

"She did. They did kiss before midnight." Ellis points out, opening her palm as well.

"They betted on us," Aria sighs, shaking her head at her friends while Kade stares at them in boredom, he was used to this.

"Fuck both of you." Luca grunts before slapping his card on Ellis' palm, making the two girls grin.

"Party?" Isabelle grins, "Let's waste Luca's money!"

"How did I lose?" Luca mutters under his breath as he stares at the two devilish girls.

"Cause you're a loser," Blake smiles, patting Luca's shoulder with a smile.

"You just insulted me with a smile..." Luca blinks at Blake, processing his words.

"Okay, shut it, you two!" Ellis groans, slapping both of their backs.

"Stop it with your slaps." Luca glares at Ellis, twisting his lips into a scowl.

"Stop it with your stupidity. Wait, you can't." She chuckles, sending him a smirk, angering Luca even more.

Luca opens his mouth to retort something back but Adri slaps her hand on his mouth, blocking him from speaking anything more.

"Say a word and I'll bury you in this forest." She warns, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Listen to her, she sent a gang to the hospital, all with broken bones." Kade muses, a hint of mischief in his tone.

"That sounds familiar..." Aria mumbles and gasps once she remembers.

"Were you the same girl who brought a whole gang down and then took them to the hospital cause you felt bad? The same hospital which belongs to my family in London." Aria squints her eyes at her, her lips twitching in amusement.

"It was meant to be a secret..." Adri mumbles, looking away while they all stare at her in shock yet impressed. Luca took a few steps back away from her in fear, his eyes on her.

"Girl, you impress me every second." Ellis laughs, patting Adri's back. She was already loving the new girl's deeds. Ellis found Kade boring but his cousin was on a totally different level.

"Race back to the villa?" Isabelle suggests with a grin.

Blake scoffs, "That's childish, we're not kids. No one's gonna run anyway-." He stops speaking mid-way when he sees all his friends running away from him, leaving him behind with eyes wide open.

"The last one needs to clean up everything," Luca shouts, running away into the forest.

"Fuck this," Blake hisses before taking a deep breath and running behind them, already catching up with Luca.

Now only two people were left behind - Kade and Aria.

"Guess we have no choice but to run," Kade sighs, staring into the distance, his friends were nearly out of his sight.

"Race me?" Aria muses, elbowing Kade as he smirks at her.

"Winner gets to boss around the loser," Kade states, biting back his grin.

"See you later, loser." Aria pecks him on the lips, knowing that will make him stand still for a few seconds, before running away.

"But I won you, anyway." Kade smiles to himself, shaking his head before running behind all of them.

He didn't care if he lost because all that mattered was that he had won the girl of his dreams.

i'm proud of myself for not taking a month to update. it feels good.

they're finally back together!! <33

i hope you enjoyed this chapter :) our ship sailed!!

but are they gonna last for long? *cue evil laugh*

- elle