His pupils widened, he dropped the towel and wrapped her in the tightest hug ever. She smiled and reciprocated his action. Ellie's warm breath caressed his neck, which made his heart flutter. At that moment he cared less about why she was at his home. He just wanted to keep on holding her in his arms.

"Poppy." he said and his breath sent a shiver down her spine.

Richard cupped her face and placed his forehead on hers. She closed her eyes and so did he, and he slowly planted a kiss on her forehead. The smile on her face resonated the happiness and warmth he gave her.

The refuge they felt while doing that was unexplainable. Richard intertwined his fingers with hers and they stood holding hands, and breathing in unison.

Nothing else mattered besides their feelings and how comforted they felt in each other's presence.

With each other their hearts felt lighter and everything became less stressful. Without even saying anything they instantly felt better and felt as if that was all they needed. In fact, it really was all they needed.

"This makes me want a girlfriend even more," Kiaan said and shook his head.

"Also the towel will get even more wet if you leave it on the floor," he snickered.

Richard and Ellie get startled and realised that there are other people around them. He took a step back and glared at Kiaan, whose facial expression showed amusement to the highest level.

Ellie flashed a face of dismay too, and he picked up the towel and headed inside.

He threw the towel at Kiaan's face and said, "Don't be jealous," and he indicated with his pupils, to his mum, who was busy in the kitchen, and to Ellie, "And..?"

Kiaan smiled and put his hand over Richard's shoulder as they walked.

"Literally everything is okay. So when Aunt Dahlia came home after you dropped her off to leave for work, I was heading to the extra photography lessons and she asked to go with my mum to Ellie's house. So she went there, and my mum told me she apologized and told uncle Davis she won't let anything affect your relationship with Ellie, and that they should come for dinner. So here we are."

Richard was amazed, shocked and happy at the same time. So many things happened already, and he hadn't had the slightest clue, neither did Ellie until her father told her when she got back from university.

"Giving him the update I see," Susheel looked at them and laughed.

"Ofcourse, I mean look at the way they're walking and talking," Sarita said and chuckled.

They looked at them teasingly and Richard said, "You're talking about us as if we're not here."

"I was thinking the same thing," Kiaan said and they bumped shoulders in agreement.

Sarita sighed, "Growing up is really not a phrase for you two."

They laughed and Richard looked at Ellie.

He was genuinely happy that everything was alright again. He just wanted it to stay like that forever.

He held her hand and said, "I missed you a lot."

She smiled, "I missed you more."

"No I did."

"No I did."

"Poppy, I did."

"Mr Russell, I did."

"WE DID!" Dahlia and Davis said as  they walked toward them.

"We missed you both, and your relationship," Dahlia said.

"We missed you together," Davis completed.

Richard and Ellie smiled at each other and Ellie said, "Well we can't argue with that."

There was a sense of fulfillment and contentment that surrounded atmosphere.

Richard looked around and asked where Gogo and Sizwe were, for they were nowhere to be seen. At that moment the door swung open.

"Sorry we're late!" Gogo exclaimed as she opened the door, took off her shoes to dry and entered.

"Great amount of traffic out there, and I had to handle a bit of anger because of that."

They immediately realised what she was trying to say, and before Sizwe could hear her as he walked in, Susheel changed the topic.

"Yeah, the weather like this would bring traffic, and you're coming from a much further distance than Davis," he said.

She nodded, "Precisely," and she smiled at him to acknowledge what he did.

"Gogo!!" Ellie jumped and embraced her in excitement.

They greeted and Ellie did the same for Sizwe, she was excited to see everyone together and happy again.

"I'm sure you all must be starving. We've had a rough time to be honest," Dahlia said and they agreed.

Richard had a quick shower and they proceeded to have dinner. Everyone laughed, had interesting conversations and just enjoyed what was happening.

"So, I heard you're jealous because you don't have a girlfriend," Dahlia teased Kiaan as they ate.

Putting on a straight face he replied, "No I'm good. I'd rather be jealous of thin air than be jealous of Russ. He's an idiot."

Everyone laughed and Sarita said, "But you've got to admit these two look really cute together."

Kiaan snickered, "They look cute together. But alone he looks like Shrek!"

Richard smirked and looked at Kiaan, "And you know who's the Donkey," and everyone burst into laughter, "I rest my case."

"I'm not clicking your pictures anymore!" Kiaan huffed and continued eating.

"Then you all say I'm childish," Richard shook his head and laughed.

"You are childish," everyone said at one time, and they laughed at that.

Dahlia got up and she opened the silver fridge.

"Oh God! It totally slipped my mind that we don't have cool drinks. Damn, I can't believe I forgot that," she looked down and hit her head with her palm.

They started to wash their plates having finished eating and Richard said he'd go to buy it.

"No Son. I'll do that, you and Ellie haven't spent time together today. I'll go and buy the cool drinks, besides Gogo did need to get something from her home so I'll take her to get that too," Davis said.

"Yes, thanks Davis, I'll come along to fetch it," she replied.

Dahlia looked at Davis and smiled earnestly, "Thank you."

"No worries," he said and went to Ellie.

"I know you missed him today. Spend some time together. I'll just be back, going to get a few cool drinks. I love you Ells," and he kissed her forehead.

"I love you too Dad," she said and smiled.

"Gogo is getting too old. Memory loss and all that," Sizwe teased.

Gogo laughed, "Excuse me. I'm never aging. I'm immortal."

They left and everyone chatted, laughing and making every moment memorable.

"Let's play a nice game, what say?" Kiaan suggested.

Everyone agreed and they decided to play some fun games. Filled with laughter and enjoyment, it was just the best night.

"No! I'm not cheating!" Kiaan shouted and the phone rang in the background, being challenged by all the cheating accusations and defenses from the players.

Richard heard and he got up and answered it, while laughing at them acting like a bunch of kids.

"Hello, I'm calling to ask if you're in any way related to Davis McAllen?" and he couldn't hear what the lady said properly because they shouted in the background.

"Davis McAllen you said? Yes I am," and he waved for them to keep quiet for him to hear.

"I'm sorry to say, sir, but Davis and the lady who traveled with him has unfortunately passed away."