THE next day Mal pulled up in front of the familiar house. She sighed in relief, realizing that she was getting a little choked in her car. She wanted to get out of there.

She opened the door and got out of the car, closing the door behind her. It made a loud bang, but she ignored it nonetheless, as she made her way towards the house.

She knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. A few minutes later, the door opened, revealing Alyvia with a smile on her face.

"Hey, babe!"

"Hey, bestie!"

The two girls made their way inside the house. "How's everything going?"

"It's great, thank you! But... Teo didn't get much sleep last night. He keeps complaining about the noise in the basement." Alyvia explained, making Mal frown and glance at her shoes as she bit her lower lip.

"I... I don't know what to make of this. He's going to leave with me today, so that will give me a chance to ask him about it. Do you guys hear it too?"

"I... I wouldn't know actually. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper, and so is Bj."

Mal knew this. Of course, she knew this about her best friends, but somehow she didn't like that answer. She wanted to make sure that her boyfriend wasn't making things up for some reason, or worse. Lying to her.

She knew that he was going through a rough time, especially with her not being around. But why the hell would he lie about something like that?

For all she knew, that wasn't like him.

Was it?

After a few moments, Mal said goodbye to her best friend and headed upstairs. Making her way towards his room, she silently prayed that he wasn't going to be in a bad mood like the day before.

"Hey, babe, I'm-"

But she was interrupted by someone opening the door, making her jump a step back as a reaction. The movement surprised her.

"Hey, Mal!"

"H-Hey, Teo. Are you in a... Better mood?" she hesitated for a moment. He smiled as a reply, then went up and hugged her as tightly as possible.

"Yeah, now that you're here." he muttered sweetly, "I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday. I was a little upset."

She nodded through the hug as a response, then let him go.

"How are you doing today?" she asked as he led her inside the room.

"I'm fine. Way better than yesterday. How about you?"

"I'm great, thanks. Anyways, are you ready to go?"

He shook his head in agreement, then stepped closer towards her. He stared at her eyes for a second, then at her lips, then back at her eyes again.

"Can you please kiss me, before we go?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she planted her lips on his, kissing him passionately.

They pulled away after a few minutes.

"How is this for an answer?"

He giggled a little. "Best answer I could ask for."

"Shall we?" she offered him her hand. He grabbed it and squeezed it gently, allowing her to lead him outside the room and close the door.

"We shall."

☭

The couple spent the whole day outside, shopping for groceries and walking around local parks. Mal brought Teo to a familiar nail salon so they could both paint their nails with whatever color they wanted. Mal chose lavender, while Teo chose dark blue.

When it was finally around nine o'clock, the pair decided to go back to Mal's house.

"These pajamas are nice," Teo stated sometime later, looking at himself in the mirror after he tried on the pajamas Mal borrowed from her brother.

Mal giggled. She wrapped her arm around him and looked at the picture of the two of them in the mirror.

"You make them look nice."

Teo's cheeks turned pink.

"Thanks, babe."

"So, are you ready to sleep?"

"Yeah! I can't wait. I think tonight is going to be awesome."

As the couple lied down on the bed, all cuddled up to each other, Mal scrolled through her Instagram while Teo just fell asleep. Not wanting to wake him up, she planted a kiss on his forehead and hugged his body closer to hers.

They were comfortable. Mal wanted to let go of her phone and fall asleep herself.

Until the landline rang.

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