BORN TO DIE | aiden clark

F O R T Y - F O U R

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙔-𝙁𝙊𝙐𝙍
●●● 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰! 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣
╰┈➤ ❝ [ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵘⁿᵈᵉˢᵉʳᵛᵉᵈ] ❞

KAIA WATCHED AS the others filed out of the room one after another. Only when the door shut behind them did she let herself truly relax into his arms. She turned back to him, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She allowed him to cling to her for a few moments longer, savoring the feeling of his body pressed against hers. Resting her head on his, she felt a wave of emotion wash over her like nothing she had ever experienced before.

Kaia was acutely aware that her feelings for him ran far deeper than she could ever admit, even to herself. She couldn't bring herself to say the words aloud. It wasn't just the fear that he might not feel the same—okay yeah no, that fear was most certainly there too—but it was also because Kaia had never told anyone she loved them, except for her mom. She hadn't even told Ashlyn, someone she had known her entire life, that she loved her. The words seemed too monumental, too significant to utter without absolute certainty that they would be reciprocated.

But she knew that she expressed her love in ways that perhaps no one else, not even Aiden, fully understood. The way she let him cling to her when he needed comfort, that was her saying, "I love you." The way she called him her best friend, it was her declaration of love. The way she had clung to him and cried into his arms after believing he had died—that was her proclaiming her love for him for everyone to see. The way she made mental notes of everything he liked, that was her saying, "I love you."