A/N: song setting the scene:

Without You by The Kid LAROI

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Sofia's POV

I pause outside the guest room door and shake the emotions flooding back into my brain. I know that putting my hand on AJ's back to keep her calm was an instinct I guess never went away, but it was calming me down too. And that hug we just had. That was the first time I've felt her arms around me in five years, and it felt right. It felt like home.

I make my way downstairs and head towards the kitchen where I found both my parents standing at the island whispering to each other. "Thanks for the warning," my dad looks in my direction as I sit at one of the stools. "I know, but I was scared at what your reaction was going to be if said anything before we got here," I mumble reaching to the bowl of grapes Paulina had left on the counter. "AJ was going to hop in the shower, so let's lay everything out on the table before she comes downstairs," Paulina says taking a seat next to me going to grab a grape. "We have a least twenty minutes so," I gesture to my parents to start asking me their questions. "How did you find her, Sofia?" My dad asks the first question. I bite my lip, "She's the Sound Coordinator for Descendants 3, so we've been working together the past month." I pull my hair back into a ponytail trying to avoid my parents' burning gazes. "Where did she disappear to after everything happened?" My mom asks the question I really haven't gotten to ask for myself. "England, I think."

"Have you two talked about everything or at least tried working it out?" My mom asks hesitantly knowing that it's a hard topic for me some days. I shake my head and start picking at the granite countertop, "We haven't really gotten to sit down and talk about everything. We've only seen each other at work and we're both extremely busy." "Well, we aren't going to pry. Right, Laura?" My father looks at my mom. "I would never," she dramatically puts her hand over her chest making me and Paulina laugh. "Okay fine, I won't meddle. Honestly, I'm just glad AJ's back home. I was worried and I want her to know she needs to come around more now," my mom wraps her arm around my father pointing her last words at me.

Before I can ask what the plan for dinner was, my mom spoke up. "I know that you still think that AJ cheated on you Sofia, but I don't know amor. Even after all these years I have this feeling that something about that situation wasn't right. I can't wrap my head around AJ doing that because it doesn't make sense," I can tell my mom wants to continue but we hear footsteps coming down the stairs. "I think that's the first thing you both need to discuss," my mom says quickly before AJ approaches. Her hair is still slightly damp, but she put it up into a tight knot on her head showing the undercut I hadn't noticed until now. She wears a hat so often, I thought it was permanently attached to her head. "You cut your hair?" My mom gasps walking over to examine AJ's head. AJ simply laughs at my mom, "I needed a change. The longer hair was getting annoying." My mom stops moving AJ's head but keeps her hands on AJ's face. "I like it. It fits you!" My dad chimes in across the kitchen.

I notice AJ's eyes were on me. "What? You know I like the short hair," I say walking over to where her and my mom were still standing, "I just hate that you wear a hat every day. This look is much better." Our gazes remain locked on each other until I hear Paulina clear her throat breaking us out of our trance. "Why don't we head to dinner? I'm starving," Paulina says throwing another grape in her mouth. "Yeah, me too. Let me go put some shoes on," AJ makes her way back up to the guest room. "The love is still there. It's whether you choose to accept it or not. I can see that that girl still loves you, and that alone makes me believe she didn't cheat," my dad points in the direction AJ had walked. I feel my cheeks heat up a little bit. This is going to be a long week.

"I didn't bring AJ here so everyone could tell me what she did or didn't do. I didn't bring her home for anybody to try and justify her actions or tell me what to believe," I say as I start making my way towards the stairs to go to my room.

~~

I go to grab my purse and phone off my bed before I hear my bedroom door close. I turn around to see AJ leaning her back against the door. "What's wrong?" AJ asks stuffing her hands into her pockets. "What gave you the impression something was wrong?" I ask and she starts making her way towards me. She leans against my bed frame, "Well the stomping up the stairs like a brat was my first guess but the attitude you're clearly giving me just proves that something is wrong." Why can she still see straight through me? "Just a couple disagreements with my parents," I take a seat on my bed.

AJ goes to sit against my desk across from me, "About me?" Her question makes me sigh. "About us. I brought you here because despite everything that's happened between us, my family is still your family too. When we broke up, they didn't ask questions and I didn't really talk about it either. Now that you're here-" "Now that I'm here, they want to know what really happened and where I've been the past five years? Or at least they want to know the truth about what really happened and what's currently happening," I nod at her words earning a loud sigh from her. "Well, maybe it's time we stop tiptoeing around it and talk about it. It might not change anything, but at least we'll both have some sort of closure. I guess instead of running away from it, I could've handled the situation differently," AJ says ramping up my already short attitude. "You think? You called off our engagement and then left the country," I look up seeing that I'm not the only one with emotions on edge. "What did you expect me to do, Sofia? You wouldn't even hear my side of it. You were so stuck on trying to make me confess to cheating that I couldn't get a word in. No matter how many times I told you the trust, you just didn't believe me," she throws her hands up in the air shaking her head. "It's not like you hadn't cheated before," I mumble and those were the words that set her off. "When we were FOURTEEN Sofia!" I watch her run her hand through her hair taking the small knot out and playing with the hair tie. "Almost ten years later and you're still using the same excuse. Holding it above my head like...like something to be proud of," I could see the tears starting to well in her eyes. "I cheated when we were fourteen, and I regretted it the moment it happened. I was a stupid kid! I learned from my mistakes but if you want to keep thinking that that one mistake proves I'd do it again then you are extremely mistaken, Sofia."

"After all these years why don't you just admit it?!" I yell going to stand in front of her. "Because I didn't cheat! You run around believing things every single person says instead of believing the one person that did everything to make sure you were happy and didn't get hurt, even if that all meant I was hurting!" AJ's voice rose above mine. "I was hurting, Sofia! And even then, I still made sure you were happy. I never did anything to hurt you or to seem ungrateful. I was the perfect fiancée, who loved you unconditionally day in and day out, yet a mistake from when we were younger kept you from trusting and loving me fully! I did everything, I left everything, for what? For you to not even trust me. I threw my whole family, my whole life away for you! Someone who didn't even value me, who wouldn't listen to me, who throws the little shit in my face every chance she got just because I fucked up once. ONE TIME! That's all it took for me to realize that if I did it again that I would lose the best thing to ever happen to me." I drop head my not wanting her to see the tears welling up from her words.

She lightly grabs my chin to look directly into my eyes, "I understood that when I was fourteen, I never wanted to hurt you like that again, but you don't understand. Maybe it's a good thing we didn't get married. Why stay with someone who doesn't even trust you? How long would our marriage have lasted? How long would you kept pretending like things were fine when you didn't even trust me?" I try to speak but the words just wouldn't come out. What could I say? I knew AJ was right. I knew that sometimes I was a horrible girlfriend and that I never truly appreciated her.

Speechless. Her words had made me speechless. I watch AJ nod before stepping around me and leaving my room. "Fuck," I mumble into my hands as I lean over my desk chair. What did I just do?

I hear the door open causing me to spin around hoping it was AJ so we could have a do over of that whole conversation. To my dismay it was Paulina standing there looking at me. I rush into her arms and sob into chest. I had messed everything up. I had ruined my entire relationship because of a stupid grudge I had been holding for years. A fear, no, a nightmare that I didn't want to happen again. Instead of working it out and making a move to talk to her about it sooner, I kept throwing it in her face every time she messed up. It was my fault we weren't together, and now. Now I was going through a whole different heartache. One that I had inflicted on myself. One that was my fault, and I couldn't fix it.

I pull away from Paulina groaning at the headache forming from how hard I was crying. "Feeling better yet?" Paulina asks handing me a Kleenex off my desk. "What am I going to do?" I ask wiping under my eyes as I take a seat on my bed. Paulina comes over and takes the Kleenex from my hand to help wipe the make-up I had running down my face. "I think you should talk to her. Let her explain everything that happened, and actually listen and hear her out. No arguing, no going back and forth with each other, and no screaming matches. Actually let her speak, Sof." I sigh falling back onto my bed running my hands over my face. It was still too late no matter what I did from here on out. No matter what I try to say or do nothing would be enough to fix anything or rewrite the past.

"Alright, you two come on. You've yelled, argued, and cried which is okay but now I'm starving," my dad pushes the door open making me sit up. I see him open the guest room door and watch as AJ walks out looking like she had been crying too. "Well let's go. I'm only getting older and hungrier here," my dad looks at Paulina and me to move our asses before he walks away. "Everyone should've seen that coming. Ten years later and this is still how he gets y'all out of the house after an argument," Paulina snickers walking out of my room. I sigh looking around the room. This place feels like a time capsule. Seeing pictures of AJ and I together around my room brought a smile to my face. I knew in the end everything would be fine between us. We just needed to act like the adults we are now and not the kids we were five years ago.

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A/N: These next couple of chapters will not only be hard for AJ, but Sofia too. The love between the two is noticeable but there's a lot they both need to face before they can admit they never stopped loving the other.