Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 241

Chapter 241

Zaid and I are standing side by side at the terminal, watching the people flow in and out of the gate like waves.

I'm trying not to fidget, but I bounce on the balls of my feet, anyway. I focus just a tad bit too much on my breathing, making sure I don't look like I'm about to cry. I look at Zaid. He's doing nothing out of the ordinary.

He's calm, like always. Quiet. Looking through the people. He looks so relaxed too, and it occurs to me that he's really happy to see his brother.

He wasn't just sugar coating it for me. That helps the nerves settle in my stomach.

I thought it would be worse. I was up all night last night thinking I would feel like my stomach weight thirty pounds. That I would feel dread. That my skin would feel too tight and I'd have a thousand thoughts running through my head.

I mean, I'm going to break up with him. I'm supposed to create space between us, let him go gently. It was a clear decision. Clean. A plan I could hold on to.

So why does my chest feel light when I see him?

He's so tall that he stands out from the crown immediately. He smiles at us from

over

people's heads and I wave at him like I haven't seen him in ages.

He has a backpack slung over his shoulder, an easy casualness to him.

And then I'm moving.

Feet first, like they don't belong to me. Then arms. Then everything.

He opens his arms and pulls me into him like he's done a thousand times. He lifts me off the ground and spins me around. I smile to myself, that familiar feeling of elation rushing through me.

I forget about guilt for a second. I forget about confusion. When he sets me down on my feet, his lips are on mine before I can stop him.

My body reacts before my mind does, melting into him. My arms loop around his neck. It

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all comes rushing back.

Arizona. When I felt alone, when everything hurt, he was the first person who didn't make it worse. When I pull back, breathless, it's only because I remember Zaid is

is approaching us. He has a soft smile on his

jealousy. It makes me breathe just a bit

arm slides casually around my waist as his other arm reaches for

to see

pats his back. "Good to see

so wide as I watch them

down at me again and kisses my

"Missed you," he murmurs.

missed you too." I don't know what I mean when I say it. Maybe I'm lying.

over his shoulder at

"Fuck, yeah. I'm starving."

an easy routine, just

stretching his legs in the back, teasing Zaid for

the time we slide into a booth at the diner, round and red and curved like it belongs in the '90s, I've stopped trying to

to enjoy the moment while we

booth, his fingers barely brushing my shoulder. Aiden's hand rests on my leg under the

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Like no decision ever needed to be made. Like this

my tongue. Zaid makes a face and swaps his mug with mine without

this drama up. If I just imagined the distance. The discomfort. If I'm so scared of something ending that I keep trying to break it before it

talk to Cami, or Elena, or both. Because what is wrong with me? Why do my emotions have no anchor? Why does every new hour feel like it resets the entire board? Do

Aiden's voice that brings me out of my thoughts. "So,

and I both look at

to UCLA," he says,

I blink. "Wait, really?"

he nods. "It's

smile, even as something

he says, and I can tell he

Aiden," Zaid says, pressing his thigh harder against

“།

to

Aiden grimaces.

a joke, Aiden. I think we can