♡♡♡

●WARREN POV●

Visiting Trip was a good getaway. He really was a different person than who he was before our reunion with Aria. If you told me a couple months ago that I would voluntarily visit him, I'd tell you that you were crazy . But now, it's not farfetched. In fact he calls me sometimes to ask me about relationship advice. He has never been in a committed relationship so he wanted to know some does and don'ts.

When I got back into the office , I saw the legendary Jasmine at work. After what Aria told me, we kept extra eyes on her . And to be on the safe side, we had security patrol around her office and apartment building. To be honest, I was tired of us going home separately . Sure we had weekends but I missed her during the week when either I left her place or she left mine .

I asked Alex to come to my office because I wanted to discuss something with him. "Hey, you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, close the door," I say to him .

"What's going on?" He asks with a worried tone .

"Nothing bad, I wanted to run something by you," I tell him .

"Okay."

"I'm going to ask Aria," I say.

"To move in? I mean , you guys are together all the time as it is," he says.

"No, I have a ring."

He was at a loss of words for a moment and then , "you're going to propose?" He says in disbelief, "but you guys haven't been dating long."

"And your point? I love her, I've always loved her and I knew the moment I saw her again, that she was it. But that's not why I asked you to come here," I say .

"If it's to help you propose , I would like to say I'd be happy to , but I'm still getting used to not being the guy she chose," he blurts out.

"I wouldn't ask you, I know you still love her . And I'm thankful you're still around us even through all of this," I pause, "but I was wondering if you'd like to keep my apartment? I know it's nothing close to what your old place was like , but I think you fit in well with it."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I have my eyes on this house that Aria showed me as her dream home. So , when we get married, I'd like to offer you the apartment before I think about selling it," I explain.

"I would love it, I'm still shocked you know?" He says , looking a bit dazed .

"I wanted to propose to her at the wedding but it wasn't appropriate, " I confess to him .

"Wow, I didn't realize how serious this was," he admits.

I smile at Alex, although it was weird at first , he's come around to me and Aria as a couple. I suppose this is a rather large bomb to give him but I had to talk to him and to tell someone.

There was a knock at my door , "Mr. Wells?"

We both respond, "yes?" I look over at Alex to let him know that she meant me.

"Aria Lawson is here."

♡♡♡

●ALEX POV●

Warren just told me something that I didn't think would happen for at least another year or so . Although we all hang out and get along, I'm far from over my love for her. And now, he's going to propose?

I look out the door to see that she has walked over to Jasmine's desk . She introduces herself and the two hug each other as if they're long lost friends . Every guy on this floor is also staring . How could they not? Two extraordinarily beautiful women , being friendly with each other?

When Aria turned back to our direction , I felt my heart crack again . I needed more time to heal . I walked out of Warren's office and began to walk towards mine, towards Aria.

"Alex!" She says happily as she comes to hug me . I squeezed her tighter than usual .

"Hey Ar. You look beautiful today," I wanted to add that she looked beautiful everyday. Very effortless.

She blushes at the compliment , "you look extra handsome in your suit," she returns.

"Hey, how about me?" I hear Warren ask as he walks closer to us . Aria giggled as she jumped into his arms and they shared a long and passionate kiss . This display of affection hurts more, knowing what's going to follow soon .

"Shall we?" Aria asks Warren.

"Yup, hey Alex, do you want to join us for lunch?" Warren asks me.

"No, it's fine, you two go ahead," I wave them off as Warren tucks Aria in his arms and they walk towards the elevator.

As I head back in the office to sit, I'm in complete silence. He's going to propose and she will say yes . When they get married? I don't know but I'm going to guess that they won't want to wait. They waited 20 years to be reunited , I'm sure they don't want to waste any more time. The soft knock on my door takes me out of my trance.

"Alex?" Jasmine asks.

"Oh, hey, it's lunchtime if you want to get out of the office," I say .

"Are you okay?" She asks with concern.

Sighing , "yeah, I'm just tired."

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" She says with a warm smile.

"Is it obvious?"

Her smile never leaving her face , "you're different when she calls. And the way you look at her. I know that gaze , it's the same one Warren gives to her and what she gives to him."

"Very observant," I quip.

"It'll get better," she tries to soothe.

"He's going to propose to her," I tell Jasmine.

A look of surprise crossed her face , "wow. I never thought I'd ever hear of the day that Warren Wells would ever get married."

I chuckle at the reaction, "I know right? I guess his reputation proceeds him."

"He's the man with a heart made of ice," she says.

"That was before Aria."

"I can see why you both love her so much . She's so sweet and stunning," Jasmine continues , "she helped me at my lowest point."

That perked my ears, "really?"

She nods , "the rumors that were going around about me and Jacob, she knew was true. She emailed me to see how I was doing . Sent me daily affirmations and then when I told her I needed to leave, she arranged a hotel and flight for me."

"Even though she was already going through so much?" I said outloud.

"Huh?"

"Oh nothing," I quickly tried to cover .

"I don't know how long it would've taken me to leave had she not offered," she tells me.

"That's Aria."

"I know about her and Jacob. It broke my heart," she says . Aria didn't go into too much detail about it when she told me . I tried finding something online about it but whoever managed the scandal made it disappear.

"I only knew bits and pieces," I admit to her.

She looks around to make sure no one else was nearby and motioned for permission to close the door , "Jacob forced himself on her . She was screaming for help and by the time anyone got to her office she was unconscious on the floor while he tried to...." she couldn't finish as she was choked up with emotion.

I felt my heartrate spike . No woman should ever have to go through that . Aria didn't go into detail about the assault , only that he attempted . I slammed my fist on the table, "how did you find out?" That cretin tried to force himself on her while she was out? And all I can begin to see is red with anger . Jasmine must've recognized my temper flaring so she tried to calm it by telling me that he was detained immediately.

"Jacob was arrested, he didn't get a chance to do what he wanted because her assistant and everybody else on her floor got into her office quickly. I didn't go on that trip because I was assigned to do other things for his father, since I wasn't Jacob's PA. But if I was there I might have killed him myself."

My face screwed into confusion when she mentioned that she wasn't Jacob's PA, "I was his father's PA , Jacob only bragged about me being his because I was his girlfriend. He never touched me the way he did to Aria, but his assistant told me everything . They lost so much money from the damages . After that incident , he quit being Jacob's assistant and left. I sent Aria get well gifts and kept in contact as much as I could."

"I still can't understand why her," I said angrily.

"Because Aria is beautiful and when she rejected him, he went into full rage mode."

"He hasn't tried to contact you, has he?" I wanted to make sure .

She shakes her head , "he'd be stupid to ."

I sigh heavily, "I need to get out of the office, did you want to grab lunch?" If I stay here any longer dwelling on this new piece of information I might do something that won't go over well with Warren.

"Sure, I'm pretty hungry and it looks like you need something to eat. The thing that happened to Aria, messed with her for a little while but she's resilient and she's strong . She was the reason why I found my strength to leave . She could've walked away from that moment with hate in her heart but instead she came out more worried about me. She's a good person and I can see why you all love her, heck , I love her too but you know in a more friendly way," she says to remind me not to look at Aria as a victim but a pillar of strength. I suppose this is why she and Warren fit well together , both own that same quality.

I look over at Jasmine, "okay. Let's get out of here, maybe we can catch the two of them before they leave," I had changed my mind about joining Warren and Aria.

"Where'd they go?" She asks me.

"To the diner around the corner. Those two like eating breakfast food to lunch sometimes," I say.

"Perfect, so do I," good to know I noted and we left .

■■■

I kind of don't want to end this story . But we are getting close to the end. The next book will begin as stated in my announcement that I did earlier.

What are your thoughts so far?

We will have another short time jump in the next chapter. See you then!!