"Zach? What are you doing here?" I asked.

I'm actually kinda glad to see him. I mean I thought for sure that he hated me and he didn't love me anymore. But I was surprised that it was him.

"Can we talk? Please?" He asked nervously.

"Um, sure" I stepped aside for him to enter. He walked into the living room and turned around to face me.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked folding my arms.

He took a deep breath before responding.

"Look Riley, I'm am so, so sorry about everything that happened" he took a few steps towards to me.

I looked at him confusion.

"What do you mean? You broke up with me because you didn't love me anymore, right?"

"No, I do love you. I still do" he gave me a pleading look.

"Well you did say that whatever we had wasn't real. And when you said that, that really hurt my feelings. Because I love you, Zach, I really do. And for you to say that our relationship was fake...I didn't know how to feel"

"I'm so sorry about everything that happened. When I broke up with you, Cara, these past 2 months, everything."

"Does Cara know your here right now?" I asked.

"Actually I just broke up with her" he said making me widen my eyes.

"What? Why?"

"Because she's the one who caused all of this. She's actually the reason why I broke up with you in the first place"

"How?"

"Do you remember the day when I asked you to go home without me?"

"Yeah..."

"Well after you left, she came back and basically brought back things that I didn't want to remember. Like for instance....when I used to be a player"

"Oh, she talk to me before. She said that 2 years ago she did something really terrible and that she wanted you back. Zach," I walked closer to him,"What did she do?"

I saw him tense at my question. Whatever she did, probably really hurt him.

"Cara was the first woman that I fell in love with. When I met her, she changed me and convinced me to stop playing around with women, so I did. When we were dating, she was great until a few months later, she started trying someone and sneaking out late. Turns out, she only wanted me for the way I look and my money and also cheated on me" as he was talking, I could her the anger and hurt in his voice. That I couldn't help but give him a hug. He was surprised a little bit by my gesture but soon wrapped his arms around my waist.

I pulled back and gave him a small smile.

"Somehow when she came back, she was able to convince me to break up with you. I broke up with you because I'm not right for you, Riley. I hurt people's feelings, I don't won't you to fall for the wrong guy" he continued.

"But you're not the wrong guy for me. I love you Zach and I know you've changed your ways with women. And I'm glad you did because you're an even better person today. That's the guy I fell in love with. It's you"

"I'm sorry, Riley"

"It's okay, it's not your fault" I put a hand on his shoulder.

"So, I understand if you don't want me back, just know I still do love you."

To be honest, I still need some time to process this.

"I-I just need some time to think about it." I said to him.

"Okay...I guess I'll see you later..."His voice drifting off. He started walked towards the door before looking back at me and walked out the door.

But before I heard him say "I'm sorry..."

~ ~ ~

I was currently waiting for Zach to meet at the park so we could talk. Yesterday, was the first we've spoken in four months. I sent him a text asking if we could talk today.

I've missed him. Even after everything that he did. And I have an answer for him.

"Riley?" I heard his voice behind me. I turned around to see him with a small smile on his face.

"Hi, Zach," I say, moving towards him. "How are you?" I ask.

"I'm good." He said, but by the way he said it, I knew he hasn't been doing so well.

So I'm just gonna say what's on my mind and what he needs to hear.

Taking a deep breath, I told him.

"So, for the past 4 months that we haven't spoken to each other, I've been doing some thinking. I taught about everything that you said and this whole situation with Cara," I started to say, "What you said really hurt me, Zach and I understand that you said that so I could leave you," I looked at him. "But,

It's not your decision to decided wether or not you're the one I want to be with. But that's all in the past, Cara's in the past, and what matters right now is us. That is, if you still want there to be and 'us'."

"Of course I do." He took a step towards. His answer made me smile a little. I looked up at him and said "Let's a vow. No matter who or what, no one from our past is gonna get between us again."

"Of course." He smiled at me before I took a step towards him, engulfing him in a hug, while he wrapped his arms around me.

Even after shutting that happened, he still managed to send butterflies to my stomach. I pulled away rom the hug and gently pecked his soft lips.

"Also, one more thing," I said. He nodded at me to continue. "I wanna take this slow. I felt a little as if we were moving to fast, so let's start over."

"Okay, I can agree to that."

Before lacing his hand with mine.

We back through the park, hand in hand, catching up on what we did over the past few months

This is all I wanted. I love him. I'm glad we're starting over. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us...

~ ~ ~

😘