The Billionaire's Getaway Tryst

~Epilogue~

A year later

The entire hall boomed with a screeching sharp intake of breath before it was released. I winced because the microphone made it sound so annoying with its blare.

"Jeez, giving a thank you speech here feels like I am giving a valedictorian speech which is funny, considering I never even gave one in my whole life." The whole crowd erupted with laughter while the sound of applause was heard and it made me smile so big because Shivaay was enjoying this. "I still remember the time when I had just held onto the dream of winning a Pulitzer. I also remember thinking that I would go on a lifelong hiatus after winning one. But the thing is, it was just a "dream". A hopeless one at that and I have changed a lot since then.

"I was a snarky, rude and arrogant... butt?" Another round of laughter echoed in the hall and Shivaay's grin widened. "But I changed along the way. Before I thank anyone, I wanna thank my best friend, VVJ. If it weren't for her, I would have still been the same. She's the rock that I never knew I needed. Then a huge thanks to the love of my life, Mikasa. She's the sweetest of them all because she always lets me play video games."

Emika, who was sitting beside me, rolled her eyes but her tears were eminent as she wiped them away every few seconds.

I put my arm around her shoulder and patted it. His dedication to me was heartwarming to hear too. No matter what, Shivaay would always be that one friend who would tease you for falling down before being the one to also pull you up. And somehow that worked just fine for me.

"And lastly to my friends, Sea, Kee, Ivee and... Skye-ie?" He made a weird face when he uttered those nicknames and I could hear the chuckles resonating everywhere. "That's all, I guess?" With a fly kiss in a general direction, Shivaay and Bill, Shivaay's partner, walked down the stage.

I looked over at Skye, who was sitting on my other side and had his face hidden behind his hand. "That guy, I swear," he muttered.

"Admit it that you've spoiled him by luring him in with that "free video games" scheme." I poked his cheek.

"Touché." He sighed but smiled nonetheless. "And why does it feel like we're talking about our bratty kid?"

That made me laugh out loud and I elbowed his side shyly.

Ever since that incident of Mr. Miller and my bait of Shivaay winning a Pulitzer prize, he never gave up on that opportunity. He made a thick report on the whole scandal because he had witnessed it first hand. He was not alone as he took the help of a 62 year old veteran journalist, Bill Reacher.

A few weeks ago, the duo were nominated under the 'Investigative Reporting' by the Pulitzer Awards.

The reason why last week, Shivaay had literally threatened us to attend this event to be his "lucky charms". He had even invited Ivan surprisingly but he couldn't make it. Unfortunately, he had been on a vacation with his family and wouldn't be back in the States for another two weeks.

He had asked Ms. Maxwell to come too but apparently she was "busy". According to Emika, she was doing and working fine on her own. Emika and her still talk to each other because even when they used to work together, she had always held a soft spot for Ms. Maxwell.

She even informed us that Ms. Maxwell moved to Canada and opened up her own advertising agency. Within just a year, her agency was booming with success, solely because of her big name in the advertising world already.

But not once did she apologize to Skye and his dad and even today, I am left to wonder, whether she still felt no guilt? I quickly shook my head because I didn't want to think about her.

As Shivaay joined our table, he was literally glowing with happiness radiating off of him. "Guys, come on, let's go. We need to party! I don't intend to sit here till the end to get bored. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" He clapped his hands.

Skye took my hand in his as we all made a beeline to head toward the backstage. Bill didn't join us and walked back to his own table. That man hardly uttered a single word and his poker face was his signature look.

As we were walking, my ears were filled with constant yapping because the energy around us was buzzing with happiness. I glanced toward Chelsea and Keith as they were bickering over which football team was better. They had decided to stay as friends only because Chelsea had told me that they didn't feel comfortable dating each other.

While, Shivaay on the other hand, was rambling on about what he would be doing from now on to a smiling Emika. Honestly, it was a cute sight.

"Do you wanna party?" Skye mumbled, leaning closer to me so that only I could hear.

"Mm... frankly speaking, no." I shook my head. "You?"

"Same. Wanna go somewhere else?" He asked me with a hopeful expression.

"You know my answer." I smirked before turning to my friends. "Hey, guys, you go ahead. Skye and I are gonna skip this one out." I winked at them, a clear message that we wanted to be alone for some time. They understood because no one tried to convince me otherwise. I even saw Shivaay wiggling his brows teasingly and I had to hide my blush.

As we were out of the hall, Skye's bodyguards wrapped us up in their cocoon. The camera flashlights and the loud voices overpowered us but we were quite used to it by now.

"Let's go on a bike ride? I miss my bike rides," I said, my voice getting nostalgic. I missed reserving my Sundays only for the parks and fun bike rides but recently due to the unnecessary attention thrown on me by the media, it has made it almost impossible.

"Bike ride it is then," Skye confirmed with a thumbs up.

"Where are we gonna get a bike from again?" I laughed while putting forth my question.

"We'll buy one. How about that?" He suggested.

"Perfect."

And that night, we recreated our bike riding moment of about a year ago but under a weird disguise to not be recognized. However this time, the kiss on the bridge had been possible with no one to interrupt us. A magical night for me, to be specific.

At that moment, I felt powerful and I felt like I could conquer the whole world even if the media threw its dirty claws and jabs at Skye and I. It didn't matter as long as we had each other because he's like an order to my chaos. We had been pulled apart from each other for a few years after we'd first met but fate had a beautiful way to twist us back into each other's lives.

Unpredictable yet beautiful.

~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~

Anddddd this book is officially over! If you've come this far then remember that I love you SO MUCH! I'm gonna miss so many characters from this book because they hold such a special place in my heart. It might not be "the best" but I tried. Sigh.

So just like Valerie's dad's lullaby says, "Just stay, you have a beautiful smile." I wanna say that NEVER stop smiling and if this book made you smile even the tiniest bit then SPREAD THE LOVE hahahahaha <33