When Kiara called me telling me the apartment was ready, I was shocked at how fast she'd finished preparing it. Then she told me how she met Aunt Em and that she wanted to meet Uncle Killian and Evan.

I was a little on edge about it. I didn't know how to feel about her meeting people in my absence, I just didn't want anything bad to happen when I wasn't around.

I came home to find something incredibly shocking. Number one, my grandmothers, mother and aunts were all there as well as Arabella. Number two, the apartment looked beyond amazing, it literally looked bigger somehow.

I stepped in and saw them all sitting on the couches in the corner and saw Kiara vibrating with excitement as she waited for my reaction. I felt the heat creep up to my neck. I was genuinely stunned and a little at a loss for words. I was realizing that Kiara didn't really need me as much as I thought. She'd gotten everyone together and gotten help in making drastic changes to the apartment.

I dropped her off with Arabella alone. I didn't know I'd be coming home to this. I didn't know Aunt Em would be there. I was just afraid that she was going to crash completely tonight because of this.

"Do you like it?!" She asked me, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"I-I... wow... it's beautiful, baby!" I said, looking around and deciding to address this unexpected gathering later.

"Wow! You turned his ugly dump into this?!" Evan said to Kiara from behind me, making me smack him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" He asked me with a frown on his face.

"My apartment was not ugly and it wasn't a dump. It just needed some love." I argued.

"Oh yeah.... sure." He nodded, smiling at me.

"Hi, Evan." Kiara said, waving at my cousin.

"Hey, Kiara." He smiled, looking down at her in amusement.

"I-it's nice to meet you." She said shyly, her cheeks turning red.

"It's nice to meet you too." He smiled, his own cheeks turning red.

"A-and Uncle Killian." Kiara smiled.

"You're not still mad at me?" Uncle Killian asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head.

"I think you've done an amazing job here." Uncle Killian said, looking around the beautiful apartment.

"Thank you!" She smiled from ear to ear.

She was proud of herself, which made me extra proud of her. In all honesty. I wanted Kiara as the head of interior design for my company now. But maybe that would be too hard for her. I'd have to talk to her about it and see if she even wanted to do it.

"Kiara." I said softly, reaching out my hand for her.

She rushed into my arms, hugging me tightly and I hugged her back of course. But I really needed to just check in on her.

"Let me show you the bedroom!" She said.

"Ok." I nodded, letting her pull me into the bedroom and hug me while I looked around at everything.

"Wow." I said, examining the room. "It's beautiful. Thank you, baby."

"You really like it?" She asked me as I planted a kiss on her forehead.

"I love it." I smiled down at her.

"Why do you seem a little upset?" She asked me.

"It's not about the apartment. It's about this gathering we have going on here. But I just love what you've done with the apartment." I said to her.

"You're upset because I invited them over?" She asked.

"I'm not upset." I told her.

"Then what?" She asked me.

"I'm worried about you, Sweetheart. I just don't feel good about it." I said.

"Why not? They're just your family. I didn't mean to upset you. I thought you'd be fine with it." She said to me.

"N-no. Don't apologize." I said, not really knowing how I was meant to make her understand the feeling I was feeling inside of me.

"Well.... they're here now. Can we just hang out with them together until they leave and then continue this conversation later?" She asked me.

"Sure. But look at me first." I said to her.

She looked up at me.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm not upset." I said. "I just feel weird right now."

"Like you feel sick?" She asked me, putting her hand over my forehead to feel if I have a fever.

"No, no. Not sick. I just... I'm not sure. Maybe we need to talk after they go. But I swear to you, I'm not mad." I told her.

She nodded, kissing me on the cheek and pulling me out to the living area to sit with everyone.

"Bro! Can I have this chicken?" Evan said, standing by the fridge.

"No! That's mine!" I said.

My plan had been to feast on that delicious chicken when I got home, not give it to my cousin.

"Yes, you can have it, Evan." Kiara said.

"What? But I wanted that chicken." I pouted, feeling slightly betrayed.

"Who's staying for dinner?" Kiara asked everyone.

A chorus of people saying they'd stay erupted in the apartment and I was left feeling upset about my lost chicken and the fact that everyone was going to eat whatever Kiara made for dinner and I'd be left with only a little bit of food.

"Don't worry, Vivi. I promise I'll save you the best bit of food." She whispered to me, kissing me on the cheek yet again and rushing off to the kitchen.

"Need help, Kiara?" Aunt Sophie asked.

"No thanks, Fifi. But if Aunt Em, Uncle Killian and Evan wanna come hang out with me in here, that would be nice." Kiara said.

I plopped down on the couch beside my mother and I let her hold me tight.

"What's wrong?" Momma asked me.

"I don't know." I said.

"Are you upset about the rearrangement?" Momma asked me in confusion.

"No. Why would I be upset. It looks amazing." I smiled.

"Then, what is it? Did you want time alone with Kiara?" She asked me.

"I would love that, but we're going to be alone anyway tonight." I told her.

"So what is it?" She asked me.

"I genuinely don't know, Momma, but walking in to find a whole gathering that I didn't know about, especially seeing Aunt Em here and being asked to bring Uncle Killian and Evan over.... it made me feel a little uneasy, I guess." I explained.

"I see. I get it. You're just a little afraid that all that excitement and love she's been throwing at you will die down once there are more people she enjoys hanging out with?" Momma asked me.

"W-what?" I asked.

"I understand the feeling. You're hurt. And you're hurt because she doesn't need you anymore, not like she used to anyway. She can meet people on her own, without being around you or in your lap. And you feel guilty for feeling this because she's getting better. So you should be happy for her." Momma told me.

"That's not true." I said, knowing deep down that she was right.

"You have to tell her how you feel. I'm sure she'll give you a million reasons why you shouldn't feel that way. The truth is, Vidal, she's always going to need you. She's always going to cling to you a little bit. But she'll be able to have her own happy life at the same time." Momma told me.

"Do you like the apartment?" I asked my mother.

"Yeah. I love it, actually." She said to me.

"I was thinking.... I haven't told anyone except Kiara about it. And she loves the idea.... but I was thinking that she does need her separate life and I need to go to work, but I can't stay away from her. I need her around maybe more than she needs me around." I explained.

"So what were you thinking?" Momma asked me.

"I was thinking of starting a branch of the Angel's Island company." I said

"A branch? What branch?!" Momma asked, her eyes lighting up when she saw my smile.

"Architecture, Landscaping and Interior Design." I said with a smile.

"That's amazing!" Momma said.

"I didn't know she was this good at interior design until after I came up with the idea though." I smiled.

"What was your original plan? With Kiara I mean." Momma asked.

"My plan was that she'd come to work with me, she could do whatever she wanted, I don't care, as long as she stays near me." I explained.

"And now you think maybe she wants to help out?" Momma asked.

"She already told me she doesn't want to just sit around the office doing nothing." I explained.

"I see. Well, does she want to do interior design?" Momma asked.

"I don't know yet. I haven't talked to her about this." I said.

"Are you afraid to let her work on interior design in your company?" Momma asked.

"I'm a little afraid it might be too much for her. But if she said she wanted to, I would definitely give her a role in it." I explained to my mother.

"Good. Just don't take away her freedom. No matter how hard it is to see her move on and be happy without you constantly by her side. No matter how comfortable she gets with everything, don't let it get to you. She does still need you. She really does. She'll continue to depend on you for a certain kind of comfort that she'll never find anywhere but with you. Even if things are a little different... she'll always love you." Momma told me.

That made me feel a lot better, but I realized that I was truly afraid of slowly losing Kiara. Something about how quickly she was progressing and moving out of her scared little shell was scaring me.

It made me feel like she might slip away. Find happiness without me, even though I personally needed her to be happy. I definitely needed to talk to her. I needed some assurance that I wouldn't lose her, otherwise I'd slowly go insane. They don't lie when they say communication is key in a relationship.