After "Anything Else?"

"Come," Senne says, taking Zoë by the hand.

He's about to buy tickets so they can take a ride on the Ferris Wheel.

"Seriously?" she scoffs, mostly to cover up that she's loving the idea.

He shrugs, opening his arms. So unashamedly happy. His mind unable to stop replaying those few seconds where Zoë had pulled him closer without any warning, her lips finally touching his.

Sexiest thing ever. Greatest feeling ever.

"Something wrong with Ferris Wheels too?" he asks with a smirk.

She bites her lip, shaking her head no.

Zoë's never felt so many things at once. Free. Courageous. Excited. Surprised. Happy, too.

Before going after Senne, the day she decided to tell her parents she didn't want to go back to Oslo with them came to mind.

A life-changing moment. A scary one as well.

There were many cons on the list she had made but the pros were so important to her. Zoë knew that she had to stay.

She was afraid her parents would end up convincing her to go by using the "you're being selfish" card or that they'd imply that that was her way of adding drama to the situation—as if they would ever consider changing their plans for her.

They'd never stay in Antwerp if she asked them to.

And no matter what they'd say, it wasn't because they'd miss her.

She was like a piece of furniture they had to bring along because it had belonged to one of their great grandparents. It had been in the family for too long, it had history, they couldn't just give it away, couldn't get rid of.

It was easier than she had imagined, to stand up for herself and keep her decision once she talked to them, because she felt free.

On her Senne dilemma, she knew the cons by heart and thought they could never change. He had been a jerk. And he was a fuckboy. Plus, there was Amber. Amber and her fixation on him. The logical move would be to ditch him and never look back. And yet...

That feeling wouldn't go away, it had been going on for months.

It was as if this bubble materialized around her and Senne every time they were near each other—nothing, no one else existed around her when she was speaking to him—since the very first time, if she stopped to think about it.

He had said he'd be gone if she told him she didn't want anything to do with him. It was the perfect opportunity to do what she had always meant to. The right, sensible thing. It was the best solution, rejecting him should be easy... Right?

Except that when she did it, the remorse was instantaneous. Knowing that her words had caused the pain she saw in his eyes... Zoë desperately wanted to take them back. They weren't what she really felt, not in the least.

There was something between them.

She felt it in her guts.

The butterflies.

And also this anchor sinking in her fucking chest when he left thinking she didn't want him.

It was time to make a choice.

Living without choosing wasn't living. She wanted to be the protagonist of her own life. Not her parents, not her ghosts and fears, not her freaking mind trying to control her every emotion.

So she did it.

And here it was, the result of her choice.

Here she was, taking a ride on the Ferris Wheel with Senne De Smet, the guy she had just kissed passionately from everyone passing by to see.