A few years later…

Being with Wyatt has been wonderful these couple of years, he completes me in ways I never could have imagined when we first met. He radiates a warmth and light that melts my heart and shines like the spring sun. Such a bright soul. I think I would have been a very different person had I not met him. Of course, life and our relationship hasn’t always been easy, it’s the first serious relationship both of us have been in and there has been a lot to figure out. We’ve fought and disagreed, cried and sulked, but we’ve gotten through it together. We’ve dealt with family troubles and financial struggles, with rumors and privacy issues, with growing up and everything else life throws at you in your twenties. Somehow, we’ve made it through and I can’t imagine being with anyone else. It’s crazy to feel like you’ve met the one so early on, but I really can’t see myself with anyone else… and neither can anyone else, everyone knew us as the “it couple” on campus. Gradually, all the gossip about us died down and instead turned to adoration or jealousy of how well we fit together. 

We both graduated university, Wyatt at the top of the class, of course. He always worked part-time during his studies, but got a full-time job right after graduation at a big non-profit organization. My father wanted to give me a high position at the conglomerate our family owns, but I refused for many reasons, nepotism and differing values definitely being a part of those reasons. Instead I started my own business. 

My father never did make it in politics, but he keeps trying. Being the chairman at a conglomerate just isn’t enough, nothing’s ever enough for him. His greed and lust for power has no limits, it seems. Over the years I’ve tried to talk to him, to fix my relationship with both my parents, but to no avail. In many ways, they’re as stubborn as I can be. Very set in their ways and views. Our relationship has become very strained and I’ve worked on setting up boundaries between us. I still feel sad and sometimes angry about it all, but I’ve worked hard on not letting them and their expectations get to me. I can’t get back the childhood I feel like I missed out on and their harsh words have left permanent marks in me, but I have to keep going and growing, because if I don’t I’ll never become who I want to be. 

Together, Wyatt and I still volunteer on the weekends and do all the things we enjoy, like reading comics and hanging out with friends. Eve and Irene are still together, and have been breaking up less often. They moved in together and at the same time they moved closer to us, so we get to see each other more often. Eve is still dramatic and impulsive, but at least she’s slowed down with the partying a bit. Camilla needed some more time to finish her degree, but she still made it. She’s trying to make it as an influencer. Noah is still at the university as he went in for a PhD in environmental science.

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I’m taking the elevator up to the apartment Wyatt and I live in, we moved in together shortly after university. I’m humming a happy little tune as I’m walking towards the door, excited to get home to Wyatt and our kitten, Poppy, that we rescued soon after we moved in together. Smile on my face and a spring in my step, I love coming home. Home. He is my home. I smile wider as I think about Wyatt and all the love I have for him. 

I see something on the door as I approach, my steps slowing down, my smile faltering. Suddenly, it’s hard to breathe. I see a post-it note taped to the door. I didn’t know I was still so affected by what Henry did to me with his stalking, but I still feel a bit nauseous every time I see a note on my door or car window. Please be something normal, please, please, I beg in my head as I take the last steps towards the door. No, no, no. I want to cry as I read it, I want to run and hide, I feel frozen in place. Now I really can’t breathe, I’m panting heavily, my hands shaking, legs about to give out from under me. The note says; “Thought you got rid of me? Think again. I’m back.”. I want to throw up. I look around frantically, as I try to get in as fast as I can, but the key just won’t fit, I’m crying, gulping for air. Before I can get the door open, it opens up from the inside. It’s Wyatt. 

“Hey? Hey, Audrey, what’s going on?”, he rushes out when he sees the state I’m in, concern evident in his face as he looks around, “Are you okay? Talk to me.”. I can’t get a single word out, instead I shakily tap the note on the door. Wyatt reads it with brows furrowed, anger flashes in his beautiful eyes, but they soften as soon as they’re back on me. He ushers me in and locks the door behind us, hugging me close. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”, he holds my quivering body, calming me down as he strokes my hair, calmly asking me to take deep breaths. He wipes the tears from my cheeks and gently kisses the top of my head. Holding me in his arms until my breathing evens out and the trembling calms. “Let’s get you a glass of water. Sit here while I deal with it.”, Wyatt gets me a glass and sits me down on the couch, he then takes his phone and goes to the entryway to make some calls. I’m still too out of it to catch everything, but I gather that he notifies both the police and my father. His voice is harsher and more stern than it has ever been with me, but instead of it scaring me, it makes me feel safe and protected. 

In a few hours everything is fixed. For good this time. Fortunately, we have a security camera at our door and Henry is caught red handed on it. According to the deal my father made with his family last time, he was supposed to be laying low somewhere overseas instead of going to jail for assault. This time he is punished according to the law as he violated the restraining order I filed against him last time. His family has some power and money, but mine has more of both and this time my father doesn’t let him off the hook so easily. I’ve been feeling a bit uneasy about Henry walking free all these years, but I had almost forgotten about it, but now I feel so much better with him being properly punished. It doesn’t erase the trauma he caused me, but it is a relief. Neither of my parents come to check on me in person to see if I’m okay, I only get a short phone call from my mother and a few words from my father in a rather annoyed tone. I guess, they’ll never be who I want them to be and that realization breaks my heart a little bit every time, but I know I’ll be okay, because Wyatt helps me heal all the cracks they leave on my heart. I know I can count on him to help put me back together if I fall apart. 

For days Wyatt checks up on me and all my friends visit me to see how I’m holding up. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by all these people who truly care about me, my people, my Wyatt. 

THE END