Every Broken Part (Series)

Chapter Nineteen.

D E V I N

One week.

It has been exactly one week since I have spoken to Graizen or Jax.

They had given me space, respected that I needed time to take all this in. I had mainly been spending time getting to know Rayner, Ryker, and Aphelia. Aster had checked up on me a couple times. I haven't even seen Micah.

I had grown close to Rayner and Ryker. It was nice, knowing what it's like to bond with siblings again. I had focused on my training as much as I could. It had only been a week, but I had already noticed improvements. I've become a lot more comfortable training with Locke. He's surprisingly been a reliable friend to me lately.

"Devin!"

I was pulled out of my thoughts as Ryker knocked on the door to my room. I've officially started calling it my room. I motioned for him to come in as I sat down on my bed. He seemed anxious.

"What's up?" I asked, concern filling my voice. This was not the easy-going playful Ryker I was used to.

"I need your help." He blurted out. He seemed extremely nervous.

"Of course," I said with ease. "What can I do?"

"I'm going to propose to Aphelia."

My eyes lit up as I stood up from my bed. My heart grew with excitement as I ran to give him a hug. He instantly hugged me back. I could tell he was still nervous.

"I'm so happy for you guys! What's the problem?"

"She's just so perfect, Devin. I don't want the proposal to be less than perfect. I have everything planned out. I'm going to take her to Graizen's forest. Graizen helped me set up red roses everywhere, I'm just nervous how to word it."

I was stunned that Graizen helped him set up his forest for Ryker. He always wears his emotionless face around everyone. It's easy to forget he even has a heart.

"That sounds perfect. Why are you so nervous? She's your soul mate, literally."

"But what if she doesn't? I mean yeah, we're already linked. But what if she realizes that she can do so much better than me? What if she realizes that I'm just a big goofball and dumps me? What if-"

I put my hand over his mouth to silence him. Ryker rolled his eyes, but I could still sense his nervousness.

"Shut up! Stop being so dramatic. She loves you more than anything or anyone in the world. You two were made for eachother. I have no doubt in my mind, Ryker."

Ryker smiled before pulling me into his arms again. "Thank you, Devin." His voice was extremely genuine. I could tell this meant the entire world to him.

"Oh my god, who died?" Rayner was standing at the door, his hand on his heart as he noticed the two of us hugging.

"Was it Milo?" Rayner gasped as fear appeared in his eyes.

"Dear God, please don't tell me Milo died." His voice cracked as he grew alarmed.

"Who's Milo?"

"How do you not know who Milo is?" Rayner spat out. "I'm hurt."

I rolled my eyes.

"Milo is our cat, Devin." Ryker stated. "Milo is fine, relax."

I held in my laughter as I stared at the two of them. A feeling of sadness fell over me as I imagined what Mason is doing right now. He better be staying out of trouble. I can't imagine how worried he must be since I've left. I'm being selfish, but I'm not quite ready to face him yet. I gave him too many excuses for acting the way that we did.

"I just told Devin that I'm going to ask Aphelia to marry me."

Ryker looked nervous as he stared at his twin brother.

Rayner sighed. "Oh, I thought something big was happening. "

Ryker looked offended as he said this. "This is huge."

"Um, not really." Rayner went on. "You two are linked, it was bound to happen eventually."

"What was bound to happen eventually?"

We all froze as Aphelia stuck her head in the room. She immediately walked over to Ryker, wrapping her arms around him. I looked away, as Rayner simply rolled his eyes.

"The United States joining World War II." Rayner blurted out.

I held my hand over my mouth, trying to hold in my laughter.

"Once Pearl Harbor, we were bound to join the war."

Aphelia gave Rayner a look of confusion.

"Anyway," Aphelia countered. "Devin, I was wondering if you wanted to go dress shopping today. "

"D-Dress shopping?" I almost choked as Ryker's eyes went wide.

"Yeah," Aphelia sighed. "Wedding dress shopping, of course."

"Who is getting married?" Ryker nervously asked as he scratched the back of his head. He blurted out his question a little too loud. Aphelia had the biggest smile on her face as she stared up at him.

"You and me, dummy. I found the ring in your sock drawer."

Aphelia played with his hair as she said this.

"What? No! I had everything planned! I was going to take you to the forest, I was going to make this whole speech about how much I love you and how you save my life every day and-"

She cut him off by pressing her lips to his.

"I don't need any of that, Ryker. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

They pulled eachother into another hug as they closed their eyes. My heart swelled as I watched them, I was overwhelmingly happy for them.

"Aw," Rayner sighed. "You guys are making my dead heart cry."

I slapped Rayner on the shoulder as he winced. "Let's go, give them their moment."

Rayner rolled his eyes as we both left the room.