"Air-ia?" Kai asks, looking super excited that I just told him that we were going to hang out with my boyfriend for the day. Kadri had recommended that I spend a day with him and Kai, so the two of them could get to know each other even better. After Aria confessed to me that he had lied to me about working for Roman, it was hard for me. Right after he told me, I had forgiven him, but that doesn't take away the fact that my trust went down a bit.

"Yeah, we're going to hang out with Aria. Does that sound fun?" I ask him while we search through his drawers for clothes that he wanted to wear.

"Yes!" Kai says, jumping up-and-down a bit at the idea. I chuckle before motioning for him to pick out clothes. He takes a few minutes to decide before grabbing his striped shirt and blue joggers since he loved how soft they were. I let him change himself since that's what he likes to do since it gives him a sense of responsibility before grabbing his hand and pulling him into the living room. I put on his shoes for him while he tugs on his stuffed animal's arms while mumbling something that I couldn't quite understand.

After about a week of staying at my parent's house, I thought it would be best to go back to the apartment since it was making Kai cranky to not be in his familiar setting. But now, whenever there was a knock on the door while I was here alone with Kai, I would send him to his room while I answered it, just in case Beckett came back. But there hasn't been anymore contact with him, so I was hopeful that he was done messing with us. But I couldn't be sure.

"Ready to go, buddy?" I ask Kai, settling him on his feet. He instantly slides his hand into mine before following me out of the apartment after I grab my phone and keys. Kai decides that he wants to take the stairs today, so I wait the extra time for him to take each step before we get into the lobby. After the short walk to my car and getting him strapped into his car seat, I drive the short distance to Aria's house with my burner phone giving me directions.

Once I pull up to Aria's apartment, Kai's eyes go wide when he sees the cute building in front of us. "Is this where Air-ia lives?"

"Yeah, buddy, Aria lives here," I tell him, smiling at the way Kai says his name. Even though I've coached him dozens of times on how to say my boyfriend's name, he still couldn't seem to remember it. It was close enough, anyway.

After taking a bit of time to get Kai out of the car and letting his tiny legs walk beside me, we finally make it up to Aria's apartment. I pick my son up in my arms before allowing him to knock on the door since he asked to. After waiting for a few minutes, the door is unlocked before it swings open to reveal a smiley Aria standing there. "Hi, guys!"

"Air-ia!" Kai says in a happy voice before holding his arms out for him to take him. I carefully transfer my son to my boyfriend before he throws his little arms around the older man's neck. I follow behind Aria as he walks further into the apartment before sitting down on the couch to start asking Kai questions about his week. My heart flutters as I watch Aria's smile get even wider whenever he hears my son's giggle.

He does seem to be okay with kids. I mean, every time Kai has ever been mentioned or he's seen him, there was never any negativity that I could see. I just couldn't comprehend that this man, this man that was definitely a paternal-type, dropped his family so quickly just because he was getting a sister. It didn't make sense to me, but as he said, he changed.

I settle next to the two of them on Aria's couch, dropping the backpack I brought onto the ground. It was mostly filled with drinks for Kai along with a few toys he wanted to bring. I also came fully prepared with an outfit change for him because I had no idea what was going to happen today. And I wasn't going to deal with a dirty child if I could help it.

I look over at Kai as he moves his hands around while he explains to Aria all about his day at daycare yesterday. Apparently, he had an amazing day because he'd already explained this story to me twice without realizing that he had repeated himself. I didn't mind because if he had a good day, I wanted him to focus on those more than the bad one. Rather fill his little body with positivity at a young age before the world ruins it, you know?

Once he was done telling Aria the story and after answering a few questions, he looks around the apartment in amazement. I smile before reaching over and ruffling his hair to get his attention. "What do you want to do today, buddy?"

Kai's smile widens when he gets asked the question and he puts his chin in his hand while he thinks. I look over at Aria to see that he was smiling down at my son while keeping an arm wrapped around his tiny body so he doesn't fall off his lap. After a few minutes of Kai not making a decision, Aria chuckles before pointing to the entryway to his bedroom. "If you go in there, I have a huge box filled with movies. Why don't you find something you like?"

"Really?" Kai asks, his eyes widening with astonishment. Aria just nods his head and my little boy's head snaps over to me to silently ask me if that was allowed.

"Go ahead," I say with a smile, motioning for him to go into the room. I watch as Aria helps him off of his lap before his tiny feet rush over the wooden floors and into the bedroom. When I see that he was gone, I slide towards Aria on the couch before wrapping my arms around his neck. I seem to have surprised him because he jumps lightly before looking down at me with the cutest smirk on his face. "hi."

"Hi," he whispers back before leaning down to press our lips together. I could hear Kai rummaging around in Aria's room, but I know he's indecisive, so it would take him a few moments to pick something. I bite lightly on Aria's bottom lip and he pulls away in surprise, a blush coming to his cheeks. "what're you doing?"

I chuckle lightly before nuzzling my cheek against his neck. I make sure my voice was as lowered as possible, just enough for Aria to hear me and no one else. "I missed you."

He chuckles, leaning down to kiss me again. I could tell he was still embarrassed by the heat coming off his cheek when I settle my palm against it. We sit just like that, kissing every few moments while I continue to nuzzle his neck with my head. But when I hear the tiny footsteps rushing back towards us, we both break away to look at the entryway that Kai appears from just a few seconds later. He holds a DVD case that had light blue tones around it along with animated characters, telling me it was definitely a kid movie.

Aria pushes himself off of the couch before kneeling in front of Kai to grab the disc from him. "You wanna watch this?"

"Yes, please!" Kai says in an excited voice, using his manners as I've taught him. Aria gives him a cute smile before moving towards his TV to put the disc in. Kai instantly rushes over to me, getting comfortable in my lap before grabbing my hand and holding it between both of his. I lean down, pressing a soft kiss to the back of his head before lightly rocking us back-and-forth to keep him a bit distracted while we wait for the movie to start.

Aria settles down next to us while the movie starts up. Only 15 minutes into it, I realize that Kai was falling asleep, so I start to rock us back-and-forth with my arms wrapped around him to lull him into his dreamland. He cuddles closer to my chest before letting out a little hum, which makes my heart flutter. It only takes a few more minutes until he's passed out against my chest with small snores leaving his mouth.

I feel a hand start to run through my hair and I look over at Aria to see that cute smile plastered on his lips. I get comfortable staring at him, admiring his beautiful face. His perfect brown curls that seem to always look perfect on his head. His adorable freckles surrounding his nose region that gives him a sense of innocence, even though he was far from that. His piercing green eyes that become dull whenever he's sad, which is something I never want to see. I pull one of my hands away from Kai as carefully as I possibly could before settling it against Aria's cheek. My chest aches lightly as his smile gets even wider at my affection and I'm panged with one emotion. Love.

I don't know why, but my eyes start to tear up from the emotion. Aria seems to notice it because he slides closer with a worried expression on his face. His brows furrow and his fingers tighten around the strands of my hair, telling me he was truly concerned. He lowers his voice to not disturb the sleeping child on my lap. "What's wrong, Levi?"

I shake my head, taking my hand away from his cheek to lightly wipe at my eyes. I glance down at Kai, who was still peacefully sleeping and I'm panged with more love. These two boys, these two wonderful boys, meant so much to me and I didn't know what to do with it. I wanted to grab both of them and hold them forever, never showing them how terrible the world is, even if they both already know it. I tear my eyes off of my son to see Aria, who looked even more worried that I hadn't answered him. I couldn't hold in the words. I didn't think it was possible anymore.

"I love you."

The concern that was in Aria's eyes washes away as soon as he hears those three words. It was replaced by an indecipherable emotion that told me that he felt the same way. He loves me and he told me exactly that. "I love you too, Levi."

He leans forward, slowly, waiting for me to give him confirmation if this was alright. I nod my head before his lips crash against mine in a soft kiss that was nowhere near anything we've ever done. No, this kiss wasn't filled with lust. This was filled with love and nothing but that. Our lips move together slowly and after a while, his hand slides up to settle against my cheek. His thumb lightly runs against my cheekbone and it makes my heart flutter once again.

After a few moments of the kiss, he pulls away from my lips before settling his head against my shoulder. We sit like that while the movie plays in front of us, but I had a feeling that he wasn't paying attention to it, just like me.

I was thinking about him. About our future. About Kai. About his future with me. About life. About everything.

Aria and I must've fallen asleep around the same time because we both startle awake when the door starts rattling like someone was unlocking it. I glance at the clock on his wall to see that we were only asleep for about 45 minutes, which was good. I didn't want to just spend the day napping, but that's what it's turned into for right now. I feel Kai clutch at my shirt, whimpering a bit at the sound of the door opening. Aria instantly shoots off of the couch with a confused look on his face, wiping at his eyes to rid them from the sleepiness that was obvious inside of them.

"Daddy," Kai whimpers against my chest as the door suddenly swings open. Aria takes a step forward, but when he sees who it was, the confusion goes away and he kneels down onto the floor as a little girl ran towards him with a squeal.

"Aria!" She says in a cute voice before throwing herself into the man's arms. I look past them to see Arabella and Roman standing there with two older people standing with them. I instantly stand up with Kai in my arms, who was still hiding from the people that just walked in.

"It's okay, everything's okay," I whisper to my son, lightly bouncing him to calm him down.

"What're you doing here?" Aria asks, looking mostly at his sister and Roman, who looked a little guilty when they saw me. I focus back on Aria to see him holding the little girl, who had instantly started to play with his hair with a huge smile on her face. She looked slightly older than Kai and seemed much less shy than my little boy was.

"Well, we knew you wanted Levi to meet Mom and Dad," Arabella says, motioning to the two older people standing next to her. My face instantly heats up in a blush since I definitely wasn't expecting to meet my boyfriend's parents today. I would've loved to have been more mentally prepared for that, but I guess that wasn't happening. "so we decided to bring them over here since we knew you were hanging out with him. But we really had no idea that Kai was with you, Levi. I'm so sorry."

I go to say something, but I'm stopped by feeling Kai move against my chest. He peers his head up with a bit of skepticism on his face before glancing up at me. I give him a soft smile before leaning down to whisper into his ear. "These aren't bad people. They won't hurt you. I promise."

"You promise?" He whispers, looking up at my face again.

"I promise," I say with a confident smile on my face.

That skepticism washes away from his face before he glances back at the other people in the room. He already knew Arabella and Roman since he'd met them before, but he still wasn't super comfortable with them. It probably also worried him that there was another child here because he always got super nervous around kids his age.

Aria motions to the little girl in his arms before setting her on the ground. I'm assuming she was Audrey, his five-year-old sister that he's told me a lot about. I get his message and sit down on the couch before sliding Kai onto his feet. He peers up with me with a hesitant look on his face when Audrey takes a slow step towards him, clearly sensing his fear. I smile at my son, running a hand over his hair. "It's okay."

Everyone in the room watches as Kai takes a few steps away from me before waving lightly at the girl in front of him. "Hi."

"Hi," Audrey says to him in an excited voice and that seems to bring that confidence out from Kai because just a few moments later, they launch into a conversation about something that I couldn't hear because they were mumbling. I stand from the couch with a smile before walking over to Aria, feeling nervous from the two older people in the room that were watching their daughter with happiness on their faces.

Aria wraps his arm around my shoulder, clearly knowing that I was nervous since I had no time to prepare myself for this meeting. I mean, I even looked like a mess. I was only wearing light blue jeans and a simple black t-shirt and that definitely wasn't something I wanted to be wearing when I met my boyfriend's parents for the first time. I bet my hair looked like a mess from my nap, so I run a hand through it to tame my curls a bit. Aria clears his throat before motioning to his parents, who were now staring at me with huge smiles. "Uh, Levi, these are my parents."

Before I could even react or say anything, Aria's mom steps up. She's absolutely gorgeous and looks just a few years older than her son, even though that wasn't possible. She has beautiful, wavy dark locks that make me believe that that's probably where Aria got his curls from. She reaches forward to hold her hand out for me. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Levi. We've heard wonderful things about you. I'm Emerson."

I was definitely shocked at her slight British accent because Aria never mentioned that to me. I shake the woman's hand, putting on a confident smile even though that's not at all how I felt at the moment. I was more nervous than anything. "It's so nice to meet you as well."

Arabella chuckles before rolling her eyes at her brother. "You never mentioned that Mom was from England?"

"It never came up," Aria says with a shrug of the shoulders, lightly rubbing his hand along my back. I look up at his father, who steps up next to his wife. I was definitely intimidated by him because he's even taller than Aria, which was surprising because the man was practically a tree. I mean, I wasn't super short with my height of 5'6, so Aria must've been about 6'0 and his father, I had no idea how tall the man was. But not only was he tall as fuck, but I also remember Aria mentioning to me that he was a lawyer.

But when he opens his mouth, I was no longer intimidated. He had a friendly voice, telling me that he didn't dislike me from the start, which was definitely good. "Hi, Levi, I'm Gage. It's really great to finally put a face to the name. We've heard loads about you."

"It's great to meet you too," I say to the man, shaking his hand as well. Roman and Arabella walk further into the apartment, settling onto the couch and we follow their lead. I make sure to sit on the edge of the couch close to Kai, in case he needs me or something. He and Audrey now sat on the carpet a few feet from the couch and Kai had grabbed my backpack where his toys were and they were playing with them.

Aria makes sure to sit next to me on the couch while his parents sat on the other side while Roman and Arabella sat in the middle. I slide my fingers through Aria's since I was still insanely nervous about this. Not only was I meeting his parents, but his sister was here. Of course, I was comfortable with her since everything at Roman's office went down, but I didn't know what she knew about me and what she would tell her parents. I just didn't know.

"So you're a call center representative?" Emerson asks me, giving me a soft smile.

"Yeah, I am," I tell her with a firm nod of the head. "it's not the most exciting or anything, but it pays the bills."

Aria tightens his grip on my hand, running his thumb over my knuckles. His mother seems to notice that because her smile gets even wider as she stares at us. "Yeah, from what Aria's told us, it doesn't sound like the most fun job. How'd you start that?"

I clear my throat before getting comfortable against the couch, placing my free hand on top of Aria's that still held mine. He gets comfortable next to me, making sure that I was getting the support that I needed from him. "Uh, when Kai was born, I went to a temp agency and they told me about a company in Pennsylvania that needed people to answer calls from nine to five, so I took it. It's not the hardest job I could be doing, but like I said, it pays for things."

Gage clears his throat before glancing at Aria for a second before looking back at me. "But is it what you want to be doing? I mean, when you were younger, was this what you planned to be doing?"

I glance over at Kai to see the smile on his face that gave me that confidence to keep talking. "No, it's not, but I had to make sacrifices of my own life to give Kai the one he needs. I never thought this is where I would be, honestly, but it is and I don't really want to change it."

Emerson smiles before nodding her head. "That's good," she whispers in a soft voice. She glances at Aria too, making me believe that there were things that the two of them wanted to say, but Aria had asked them not to. "but you dropped out of college. What were you majoring in?"

I felt my heart leap in my chest because this was getting way too close to a topic that I was definitely not comfortable having. Not only with his parents but also with my son in the room. Before I could speak up, Aria does, clearly noticing my nerves. "Why don't we change the subject?"

"Oh," Emerson says, her smile dropping. "I apologize. I didn't mean to get too personal or anything."

I clear my throat before shaking my head. "Oh, no, it's fine. But, um, I wasn't majoring in anything. I was a sophomore when I dropped out, so I was still undecided at that point. I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do with my life."

Gage chuckles a bit before motioning to Aria. "Well, we completely understand that. This one had no idea what he wanted to do until a few years ago."

Aria rolls his eyes at his parents. "Oh, whatever. I figured it out."

"Well, I hate to break this up," Arabella says, standing up from her seat, which surprises everyone, including her husband. She looks straight to me with a small smile on her face. "but I want to talk with you for a second, Levi."

Aria sits up with a confused look on his face. "Uh, about what?"

"It's nothing bad, Aria. Don't worry. We'll just be a few minutes," Arabella says with a small smile before reaching me. She grabs my hand before pulling me off the couch and towards the office in the apartment. I glance back at Kai to see that he didn't even notice what was going on, so I follow behind Arabella until she closes the office door and turns towards me. When she sees my nervous face, she puts on a friendly smile before motioning for me to sit down. "seriously, Levi, it's nothing bad. I promise you."

We sit down before she leans on her knees with a sigh. She looks a bit troubled, so I sit up and give her a worried glance. "Is everything okay?"

"Well," she says with another sigh. "Aria told us that he told you the story about how he was gone for three years and I wanted to talk to you about it. I know that hearing that probably doesn't make this any easy on you, especially since the reason he left was because a child coming into his life."

I avert her gaze, not wanting to confirm what she was saying. Yeah, I was a bit worried that Aria would get frightened and run again. I mean, if this kept going in the serious direction, then Kai would be a part of his life. A child, the reason he ran before, would become a huge part of his life and I didn't want him to run at the sight of something bad.

I know that he acts happy around my son, but what if that's not really how he's feeling? What if he actually hates him and doesn't want him in his life? I would 100% choose Kai over him, but I didn't want to have to make that choice. I wanted him to be prepared for the future and that story of his past just made it harder for me to think of it.

Arabella nods her head. "Yeah, I know it's affected you, Levi. But the thing is, he's a completely different person. I know most people say 'oh, yeah, I've changed because this and that happened' and most of the time, they don't mean it. But we mean it. He was a prick before he left. He was a bratty kid that just wanted Mommy and Daddy to revolve their lives around him. But as you've probably seen, that's not who he is now. He genuinely learned from the past and became a better version of himself."

"How am I supposed to know that for sure? How am I supposed to believe that he won't just run again?" I ask in a soft tone, hating that these were my thoughts.

Arabella sighs before brushing a hand through her hair. "Levi, I need you to trust me. I need you to trust him. He doesn't want to leave you. After all that's happened, you have to believe him when he tells you that he cares for you. He knows that you will always put Kai first, he knows that, and he's not threatened by it. When he was 20, he would've bailed the second he heard that, but he's not. He respects your son and respects you. He's a different person."

I glance up to see that she was 100% serious with what she was telling me. But I couldn't help but be confused at what she was saying, as well. "Then why'd you keep in contact with him? If you thought he was so terrible then, why did you and your family continue to want him in your lives after he ran? For three years, you wanted him back. Why?"

She sits back in her chair with a sigh. "Because he's my brother. And yeah, I know I don't have to love him just because we're blood-related, but that's not why. I knew the person that he could be. I knew the person he is now without him ever having to act like him. There were these moments when we were little that showed me the man he would become."

I sit up, leaning against my knees before giving her another confused look. "Moments?"

"Yeah," she says with a sigh before looking down at the ground. "when we were younger, he would have these moments where he was different. Where the act that he was putting on for the whole world to see would drop and he would show me who he was. Like, he would always stand up for me whenever my parents thought I did something wrong. Or we would watch movies together after hours of me trying to convince him and he would put his head in my lap. Or he would always compliment my outfit every single morning."

"So you think he put on an act? You don't think that he was being genuine for what? 23 years?" I ask her.

She nods her head, looking a bit skeptical. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but yeah. He was this soft, perfect kid, but as soon as he hit middle school age, he changed. He wasn't himself. It was like a switch overnight. I think he saw how the people around him, his friends, acted and he followed their lead. He saw their brattiness and created it within himself. It sounds crazy and I know he'll deny it because I don't think he even realizes it. But did he ever mention to you how when we moved away from our town when he was 18, how he got depressed and less confident in himself?"

I nod my head, remembering that conversation we had. "Yeah, he said that he started to see the judgment in the world since he left that liberal town you guys grew up in."

"Yeah, that's what he says, but I think..." she says before sighing, running her hand through her hair again. "I think he realized that he was leaving the friends that he created the act for, so he dropped it. When we moved here, he was a different person. He became the person he never wanted to be, then just a year later, he bailed on us. He didn't realize it, but that fucking act, that character he created was fucking with him. It wasn't until he saw how much we truly cared for him that he dropped it. He forgot all about that character and became himself. He was a less confident version of that act and became himself. He became a sensitive, caring, confident brother. The exact same person I saw in those moments when we were younger."

I take a moment to think all this through. The man that I see now, I trust him. I trust him and I love him and I don't think he would ever hurt a fly. Sure, I still had my doubts from all these stories of his past, but I saw Aria. I saw the man I met at the bar and it has never changed. This 'act' has never appeared to me, so yeah, maybe Arabella was right that he changed. Maybe I do need to trust her. I let out a sigh before giving a firm nod to her. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay, I trust you. I trust that he's a different person," I whisper to her.

She nods her head, a smile coming onto her lips that definitely looked genuine. "Okay, I'm glad."

We stand up without another word and walk out of the room. She said what she needed to say and I took all that information in. I trust her because I know the person I've grown to love for however long I've known Aria. It didn't matter what his past was like because this was now. This wasn't then. This is what's happening now and the person he is now doesn't reflect who he was then and I was happy for that. I could live with that and I really, really wanted to.