Serena's P.O.V.

The first day in Toronto with Aidan and his parents was pretty normal. After we grabbed lunch from Panera, we walked around the shopping center to get some extra things we couldn't take with us on the flight. I didn't need that much. All I needed was shampoo and a few other hair products. After that, we went down to a small restaurant on the main floor of the hotel for dinner and chilled out in the room for the rest of the night. Aidan sat at the small wooden desk with his laptop, editing some of his videos he made back in LA, while I made a few Instagram stories and responded to Vanessa and Ethan's texts.

The Gang 💖

Vanessa: Hey girl! How's life in Toronto with Aidan?

Serena: It's going great! We went to lunch and shopping, and now we're chilling in the hotel room.

Vanessa: Ooh! Did you guys get any make-out sessions in yet? 

Serena: Ew, no!

Ethan: It wouldn't surprise me if you did. You two were making out on stage remember?

Serena: First of all, screw you! Second of all, we were not making out. It was just one kiss!

Vanessa: Sure, 😏

Serena: Anyway, he gave me this cute locket with our initials engraved on it, and a picture of us from the concert! 😊

Vanessa: AWW! I knew I shipped Aidrena for a reason!

So, what are you going to be doing tonight and tomorrow?

Serena: Mostly chill, and tomorrow he has to go in for a camera test, and I get to go with him and meet the cast!

Ethan: Awesome! Who are you the most excited to meet?

Serena: I don't know! I love them all so much!

"Hey Serena, can you watch this and see if I got the editing right?" Aidan asked, bringing me out of my zone. "Yeah," I said as I got off the bed and walked towards the desk. He handed me his headphones and played a video of him unboxing more Umbrella Academy merch. I wasn't good at editing videos, so I had no idea how it worked, but I knew that Aidan did a good job so far with the editing. "I think it's good," I said after the video ended.

"Is there anything I should fix or add?" he asked, grabbing the headphones from me. "Nope, I think you're okay with that," I smiled, kissing his cheek before I walked back to the bed and continued texting my friends and scrolling through random apps. I couldn't help but look at pictures that me and Aidan took together in LA. At the time, I was coming to terms with hanging out with a famous actor. In fact, I was still coming to terms with dating one. But, it wasn't as much of a shock as it was back when we first met.

I flipped to a photo of us holding each other as we watched the sunset at the beach, and I remember we took that picture two months ago. I flipped to another photo. But instead, it was a video, and I remembered it all too well. It was a mostly black screen, but that memory was still fresh in my mind, and I started having a panic attack when the video automatically started playing.

"Get off the floor and pick up this mess!" Aunt Mary shouted in the video. I could hear the faint sounds of my cries as Aunt Mary hit me across the face. "Little shit, I should've left you to starve in the streets!" she shouted as her footsteps receded away. The sound of my cries grew louder as I got closer to the camera and shut it off. I found myself panting and struggling to breathe as the video came to an end, and I looked up to see Aidan was staring at me.

"Serena, are you okay?" Aidan asked, standing up from his seat and pacing towards me. I tried desperately to get the words out, but the more I tried, the harder it was for me to breathe. Aidan sat in front of me, placing a hand on my back and rubbed it firmly. "It's okay, baby. Let go of the knot," he said, caringly looking into my eyes. I took his advice and let the knot unravel itself, and I started crying into his chest. "What's wrong?" he asked. I continued to cry but handed him my phone and pulled up the video so he could see.

I don't know why I still had those videos on my phone. I was planning on deleting them after the custody hearing because even though those videos didn't show any abuse, there was still audio evidence. I didn't intend to record those videos, I used to secretly record myself playing the guitar so I could hear myself and try to improve. But then it turned into actual proof of abuse in case CPS didn't believe me. After the hearing, I was too busy with Aidan and my singing career that I forgot all about them. But hearing those videos again made me take ten steps back and made me feel just as vulnerable.

"Why do you still have these?" Aidan asked, bringing me out of my flashback. "I-I don't know. I just forgot all about them. I was looking at photos of us, and that started playing," I explained. Aidan pulled me closer to him, and I could feel his calming heartbeat in my ear as it was pressed against his chest, making me feel a little better by just hearing it. "I'm so so sorry you had to go through that. But you don't have to be scared anymore. We're far away from her, and she'll never lay a finger on you again,"

Aidan comforting me helped me out so much. But in the end, I knew that I would never be able to fully forget what happened to me because of how scarring it was, both mentally and physically. "Hold me and never let me go," I muffled, burying myself deeper into him. 

"I promise, I'll never let you go," He whispered. I wanted to say that with Aidan forever, but we couldn't. But, we just held each other like it was the last day on earth. "Promise me one more thing," I said, looking up at him. "Anything," he said as he looked down at me, smiling. "Promise me that you'll never raise your voice to me. Even on the stressful days," He nodded before planting a kiss at the top of my head. "I promise,"