We're woken up by someone shaking us. I look up to see Dave waking up Denver now. The look of panic on his face enough to lose any sleep I had left.

"What's wrong?" I ask and Denver's eyes shoot open at this.

"Roya-"

"What did you do?" Denver cuts him off, both of us getting off of the bed and wearing our t-shirts.

"I didn't but Ian heard us last night and he knows," Dave's forehead creases and I don't understand what he's talking about.

"Last night? What did he hear?" I ask, getting my shoes and passing a fresh pair of sock to Den so he can wear his.

Denver looks at me and gulps from the other side of the bed. His expression telling me every fucking thing.

"You couldn't fucking talk about this in private?" I grit.

"It was private, we were outside by the pool!" Denver raises his voice a little.

"Yeah," I scoff, "by the pool where the balconies of our side of the rooms give a perfect view of," I explain heading out.

"Roya!" I yell for her. Is she alright? Is she crying? What the hell did Ian say to her?!

"She's not here," Dave explains and I still.

"Where is she then?" I don't even turn to look at him as I rush down the stairs, going straight to the kitchen, hoping she'd be there.

"She left," he sighs.

"She left?" I turn around at his words, now facing an exhausted Dave and an angry Denver.

"Yeah," Dave nods, leaning over the counter.

"Did she go for a walk? A run? To my house? What did she say?" I ask, I just need to know where she is.

"No, she-"

"Why the hell were you yelling for Roya?" Ian steps down and I rush to him, holding him by the neck of his t-shirt.

"You! What did you say to Roya?!" I ask him, my tone harder than his. Dave is quick to step up and creates distance between us, Denver standing next to my, his face stern.

"I didn't say anything, I just confronted her about your situation," Ian's jaw clenches.

"Confronted?" I chuckle at his way with words, "you know Roya and you know how hurt she would be thinking about how you're against this!" I can't keep my voice low anymore.

"Which reminds me, what the fuck is this?!" Ian steps forward, trying to be intimidating but it won't work. Not right now. Not when Roya could be overthinking every single word this idiot said to her.

"We love her and she loves us and if you have a problem with that, it doesn't mean you can hurt her," My jaw is clenched so hard and my words come out harsher.

"Can we first find out where Roya is?" Denver asks, irritation clear on his face.

"Right, Dave, where did she go?" I turn to Dave again, we can catch up with her. She won't have walked far.

"She took your car, didn't tell me where she was going but she has her phone on her," Dave informs and I still.

My eyes meets Ian's. He has a frown on his face and my expression couldn't be angrier.

"Ian," I say in warning, "she's driving," I emphasize on the problem, "I swear to god if something happens to her because you couldn't keep your opinions in check and she had to drive herself in this state of mind, you're going to regret it so fucking bad," my tone is venomous.

Roya doesn't drive. Sure she knows how to. But she doesn't like to drive.

"She won't have gone far and plus she knows how to drive," He retorts but the slight concern in his voice didn't go unnoticed.

"Why is everyone shouting?" Anna joins us.

"Ian can explain that to you, Den and I are going to go and find Roya," I say and move to the door.

"She took your car," Dave reminds me and I curse under my breath.

"Where's Roya? And why is she driving when she clearly had options?" Anna asks, confused.

"First go and get the keys to your dad's car I push her out the door with me, everyone following.

"Why me?" Anna's face scrunches.

"They won't doubt you," I state a fact and she rushes to my house.

"I suggest, if you want to cover up the damage you've done, take your fucking car and go look for her," I tell Ian, the air between us thick. I know Denver isn't saying anything because Ian is close to Roya but he's angry too.

"I will, I'm just waiting for Anna," he grits and I notice the car keys in his hand. Nodding, I turn to Dave.

"You going to work?" I ask him and he shakes his head in no.

Anna comes out of the house and throws the keys at me, Den and I rush to the car and Ian and Anna rush to theirs.

"I'll stay here in case she comes back," Dave tells us and goes back inside.

"Text her!" I yell at Anna before we all get in.

I start closer, the parks near the house, her favourite cafe, her favourite alley, ice cream shop, junk food place but nothing. I keep texting Anna to see what places they are visiting and if they found her or not. Denver and I were silent, our worry for Roya taking over our senses. Maybe we were making a big deal out of it and Roya just needed space but I couldn't help and feel that she needs reassurance. I could feel that Denver blamed himself for this situation.

"It's not your fault," I say, focusing on the road.

"It is," his reply is instant.

"You told Dave and he didn't cause this which means you didn't cause this," I tell him.

"I could've prevented this," I sighs.

"Ian had to find out one day, better now than later," I tell him and before he could say anything my phone beeped with a text notification.

She replied. Said she's at the 'park'. I don't know what that means. Do you??

I read her text over and over again.

Park.

I checked all the parks. Near the house, the one we played at in our younger years, the one near our school. Where is she? And then it clicks.

Park.

It's Roya we're talking about. She doesn't like people and she needed space. She's at the park we found out about when the people at the beach were getting too much for her. Fucking hell, she drove that much.

I know where she is. I'm going there.

"Do you know what she's talking about?" Denver looks at me when I place the phone in the cup holder.

"Yeah," I nod and take the next right, we're halfway near the park and with a little over speeding, we'll be there in less than ten minutes.

"Anna texted, she's asking what park," Denver reads from his own phone since I'm not answering mine.

After contemplating if I should tell them or not, I decide that I should, "tell her it's the one near the buffs, she'll understand," I say.

"Okay," Denver texts her back and we reach the empty parking lot with just one car occupying a slot.

She's here.

Parking the car, we both rush out. Denver following me as I make my way to the end, near the water. When the path of trees finishes, I spot her and stop. There she is, facing away, her music playing at a low volume. I realize it's Radical Face's Welcome Home that's playing. This isn't her usual playlist, it's the sad one.

"I'm fine Anna, I'll come back in some time," Roya says and Den and I look each other. She must be thinking only Anna knows.

"No you're not," I say as I step forward, closer to her.

Her head whips in our direction and she realizes it's me and Denver. The sight makes my heart ache. She has fresh tears trailing down her face and her eyes are puffy. She looks so tired and exhausted with everything. She gets up, wiping her tears and just stands there, a few steps away.

"C'mere," Denver opens his arms for her and she closes the distance, burying her face in his chest. I step closer and kiss the back of her head as my hand rubs her back. She cries, hard.

After a minute or two when she's calmer, she looks up at Den and says, "he hates me."

"No, he doesn't," Denver wipes her face.

"He's just new to this type of situation Roya," I say and even though I don't want to cover for Ian, I have to so that Roya feels better.

"Just give him time," Denver kisses her forehead and locks his eyes on me, I nod. Ian has to come around. We're not leaving Roya and Roya would never live with Ian hating her.

We hear leaves being crunched under shoes and turn to see Ian and Anna looking at us. Anna has a small smile on her face while Ian looks conflicted.

"Can we talk?" Ian asks Roya.

"No, you already did," I tell him but Roya places one hand on my chest and I look down at her. She nods at me and I sigh, moving back. Ian and Roya step away from us, out of our hearing reach and Anna steps up in between Denver and I.

"Even though it's pretty clear that you guys will never hurt her, I'm still going to warn you. If you ever make her sad or cry or anything remotely close, I'll cut your balls off," Anna sweetly says, still looking at Ian and Anna.

Den and I, turn our heads to her at the statement and then lock eyes. A small smile playing on our lips.

"Yes ma'am," Denver salutes her and I follow with a low whistle. What caches our attention next, shocks us. Ian and Roya coming back while Roya laughs and Ian shakes his head.

What?!

They barely talked for five fucking minutes.

"Let's go," Ian smiles and I'm pretty sure every one of us is shocked. Well it's Roya we're talking about.

"I'm not driving back," Roya says and Anna recovers.

"I'll take my dad's car, Jordan can drive his own," she says and I nod. We head back to the parking and head back.

Five minutes into the silent drive and Denver is the first one to burst, "Okay, I don't get it, what did he say?" he asks Roya in the back seat.

"Nothing, it's going to stay between us," Roya chuckles and Den groans. Whatever it was that they talked about, I'm glad it's over.

"We're just gonna get ready and head over to the parents', okay?" I look in the rearview and Roya nods, smiling.

When we reached home, Dave engulfed Roya in a hug and smacked Ian. The tense atmosphere wasn't there anymore and I was glad.

We were about to head up and get ready when Roya cleared her throat and looked at Ian who sighed.

"So, I was an ass," Ian says and Anna snorts.

"And I apologize. I overreacted, as usual. I'm sorry," Ian rubs his neck sheepishly and looks at Denver and me with a raised brow and nervousness.

I try to stay mad but fuck he's Roya's brother and I get it.

"You're good," I say and Denver follows, "Yeah," Denver nods.

"Come on, hug it out," Anna pushes Ian and Roya pushes me and Den. We do our bro handshake, pat his back and scatter, leaving the others laughing.

We got ready in our slightly fancy outfits. The guys decided on khaki shorts and shirts and Anna and Roya came downstairs in sundresses. Roya's hair were slightly wet and her natural curls visible, her plain, flowy lavender sundress looking gorgeous on her.

"You look beautiful," I tell Roya as I peck her.

"Thank you," she blushes looking down. A throat clears and I see Ian glaring at me. Roya chuckles and we head out.

Things were going to be okay.

---

A/N :

So I was going to make this the last chapter and then an epilogue but I still had some things to close. So there'll be one more chapter and then an epilogue.

I hope you guys like the story :)

Love,

The Author