AMORE

Memories

It was safe to say that the morning after an eventful night was the most peaceful one of the lovebirds life. They woke up in each other's embrace and carried of their day as the lovey dovey couple they had been five years back. All Scar, Diego and Marco were shocked at seeing their cruel capo back to his usual form. The past years had been more than torture for the whole gang, and they couldn't wait to tell them about their capos woman being back.

The beautiful house in Iran was filled with both joy and laughter. Not only was it Khalids birthday, but everyone was happier than usual. Diego had scored a date with Esta, making him the happiest man in the whole Tabriz. In effort to impress the beautiful woman, he had taken a walk to the nearby shop to buy traditional clothes. Marco and Lina were still stuck in their love bubble which they were the most comfortable in, while Scar felt happy just by looking at the others being safe. His purpose of life, Celina, was back in England, safe and sound. Bella and Lorenzo were smitten to each other and he even made the effort of taking her out on a proper date. While happiness was shining out of the house of Tabriz, both Jasmine and Ali were dimmer for different reasons.

Jasmine was holding on to the present she had wrapped for Khalid and sighed loudly. She had been a nervous wreck ever since she had discovered that she was pregnant. She knew that Khalid didn't want to have kids, so telling him could either be a disaster or a success. It was nothing in between. Ali however, tried to conceal the lump in his throat that formed at the sight of everyone being around their significant others. He was sitting in the balcony watching people laugh and prepare for Khalids birthday, as he thought about James. James Smith, the love of his life. Ali had missed him dearly in the past few years and just to think about him made his heart ache. He wondered if James was in a relationship or engaged. Ali could recall several incidents where James talked about how he wanted to be engaged at a young age. According to him, it was a trend. He even used celebrities to prove his point to Ali.

Ali snickered at the thought as his eyes catched the sight of Bella and Lorenzo walking out of a taxi. They were smiling at each other, oblivious to everyone else. Lorenzo held her close to his chest and stole kisses from her when he could. Khalid, that was quite overprotective over his sister, brushed away those thoughts and gave Lorenzo a brotherly hug. Ali smiled from distance and rubbed his watery eyes. he truly was happy for everyone else. There was no evil seed in that man.

Oblivious to Bellas stare at him, Ali walked back into the house and started helping out with décor. A frown replaced Bellas smile as she realized that she had just seen her best friend crying. She pulled back from Lorenzo and kissed him farewell as she skipped to the house and started searching for the man who had a lot of explaining to do.

"What happened to her?" Khalid asked Lorenzo, who shrugged and looked at Bella running into the room.

"I don't know, but I have something to tell you" Lorenzo spoke up and diverted his gaze to Khalid who was also looking at the entrance of the door. Khalid nodded, urging for him to talk and patted his back; "Shoot"

"I think we should make the announcement about the war now. Everyone will be here, and we should get started now. I have already talked to Marco" Lorenzo told Khalid who agreed.

While the men were talking about the war that was about to take place, Bella panted after running up the stairs. She opened the door and coughed hysterically. There she saw Ali holding lights for Scar who was setting them up. She smiled at the men, who snickered at her tired expression.

"You look beautiful when you smile, flower" Scar told Bella who smiled sincerely at the words.

"You are more beautiful, though" she joked back and hugged him from behind, hearing him laugh.

Ali tried to smile at them, but his poor attempt was noticed by both Bella and Scar.

"Your friend doesn't seem that happy, flower. He hasn't cursed since he came in" Scar said, pushing Ali lightly. Bella nodded and took the lights from his hands, setting them on the floor.

"We need to talk" she finalized, grabbing onto his hands.

"If hanging around Lorenzo makes you bossier, I don't know what I feel about your relationship" he tried to change the topic, but the girl wasn't having any of it.

"Don't try me" she warned him and dragged him to her room and locked the door. it wasn't even a minute after that she heard a knock; "AMORE?! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Lorenzo shouted from behind the door, making both her chuckle. Ali made a whipping noise, earning a laugh from Bella.

She opened the door as she came in sight in front of an almost panicked Lorenzo. He breathed out in relief when she opened the door but furrowed his brows at Ali. "I am okay, Renzo. Me and Ali have some talking to do" she spoke before he could question Ali himself. He nodded slowly and exited the door.

Bella turned around and sat down beside Ali who had his head hanging down. Bella rubbed his back as a sign of comfort and started off slowly; "Do you have something to tell me, Ali?" she asked and waited a few minutes for him to answer.

Ali sat silent and looked at the wall in front of him. At last, he shook his head. Bella went from sitting beside him on the bed to sitting cross legged in front of him on the floor. "I will sit here until you tell me the truth. Is someone being rude to you? I will fucking kill them!" she told her friend seriously.

Ali snickered at her and shook his head; "You can't even kill a fly" he muttered, looking away to not look at Bella. He knew that he would cry the moment they would look at each other.

"Hey, shut up!" Bella laughed and pushed him back slightly.

Both of them sat together in another moment of silence until Bella took matters in her own hands. "Look Ali, I love you and I worry about you. You have been there for me in the low and highs of life and I want to be there for you. So please tell me so I can-" she started off until Ali interrupted.

"Shit, Bels. Lorenzo was right, wasn't he? You really do have a way with words" he said and held her hands. "I am okay. Seeing everyone together and happy makes me miss James" he whispered the name that hadn't been uttered in a long time.

"We could try to find him though" Bella suggestion, to which Ali disagreed quickly; "No, no and no. you will do no such thing. I am in this life now and I don't want him to get mixed up in this too" he reasoned calmly. This topic wasn't something new and Ali had thought about it several times before settling on that decision.

Bella nodded her head and stood up. "Well, can I tell you a secret?" Bella asked and smiled mysteriously. "When you and James broke up, he cried a whole river. So, to mend his broken heart, we partied like idiots. Do you know what that means?" she asked, to which Ali nodded back.

"LETS FUCKING PARTYYYYY"