Until July *COMPLETED*

Chapter XXXI

The morning came around. Clouds were dispersed across the early, light blue sky.

They looked like pieces of cotton candy that drifted from one side of the atmosphere to the other, powered by the strong winds.

The warmth so far was shown by the overall attire of all the residents who were out and about. Some wore shorts and t-shirts, while the rest dressed up into something more covering.

Briella was in her apartment, asleep. Today was Thursday. The time just ticked past 10:13 AM.

With some minor movements, Briella gently opened her eyes. At first, she stretched before she sat up.

It took Briella a second or two for her to wake fully up.

And once she did, she couldn't help but think back to what happened last night. A smile developed on her lips as all the memories from only hours ago flooded back to her.

She reminded herself of how she confessed back to Ryan, and how he reacted.

With that, she also allowed her mind to rewind back to last night...

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"I..." she began but dropped her gaze in diffidence. "I thought over everything too. Over everything that has happened...". A pause. "And I couldn't help but think about our fight. Out of everything, it was the fight that I thought about it the most".

From her feet, Briella looked up at Ryan only to see him looking into her eyes. For some reason quite unknown to her, it was that, that action of his, that caused a smile to grow on Briella's lips.

"Despite not talking for a while, you still wanted to make things work out.". It was these words that caused her smile to shrink ever so slightly. Tears accumulated in her eyes. 'He really is a one in a million... rarely any other guy would have done what he did. Would have had the patience that he had...'.

Ryan noticed this sudden, melancholic change. "Well..." he began. "That's because I am not a dick...".

His words caused Briella to let out a giggle or two. A small smirk returned to her lips. Ryan smiled alongside her.

"I knew it'd work...". he added seconds later.

Then a moment of sheer silence was shared between them both. They both looked at each other as they let nature and her soothing melodies fill the late-night, April air.

Then, Ryan began, "You know the way you confessed?". He observed Briella only to note that he had her full attention on him. "You are such a cliché, you know that?".

Briella rose her brow, which only caused the smile, already present on Ryan's lips, to grow even bigger.

"But I like it. I like it a lot..." he added, breaking another short-lived moment of silence. "Actually... I love it.".

Ryan smiled at Briella as she did the same to him.

A deep inhale caused Ryan to look down at his wristwatch. He widened his eyes ever so slightly. "Crap, it's so late! I am so sorry for keeping you out here for so long.".

"Hey, no worries at all!" She began. Then, she cleared her throat. "And once again... thank you. Thank you so much for today. It really was amazing.".

Ryan replied by nodding along to her words. "I am very glad to hear that you enjoyed your time with me. I really have to say, I enjoyed my time with you too. I really did.".

Then a short pause followed and it was spent by them both looking at each other.

Suddenly, Ryan took a step towards Briella, still managing to keep his eyes on her. He took in a deep breath.