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.

hurt, he was the first person who didn't make it worse. When

turn, and Zaid is approaching us. He has a soft smile on his face, hands tucked into

no anger. No tension. No jealousy. It makes me breathe

around my waist

to

back. "Good

I

down at me

"Missed you," he murmurs.

I say

over his shoulder

"Fuck, yeah. I'm starving."

falls into an easy routine, just

I'm in the passenger seat, Aiden stretching his legs in the back, teasing Zaid for

at the diner, round and red and curved like it belongs in the '90s, I've

to enjoy the moment while

is pressed against mine, his arm stretched across the back of the booth, his fingers barely brushing

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sit between them, and somehow everything feels normal. Like no decision ever needed to be made.

eggs and coffee. I sip mine too fast and burn my tongue. Zaid makes a face

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 breaks

emotions have no anchor? Why does every new hour feel like it resets the entire board? Do I not

me out of

and I both look at

a full ride to UCLA," he says, beaming.

I blink. "Wait, really?"

nods.

smile, even as something inside me

says, and I can tell he means

Aiden," Zaid says, pressing his thigh harder against

“།

me going to juvie was

Aiden grimaces.

we can do that