Emilia's POV
1 Month Later
"Emilia Valentino," I heard before I stood up and walked up to the stage.
The crowd cheered loudly and I felt like the center of attention.
"Congratulations Emilia," the dean said as he handed my degree. "Professor Kate showed me your essay, you deserve."
"Thank you," I smiled as I felt overjoyed.
As I looked into the crowd, my eyes immediately landed on him.
He was in the back with a proud smile on his face as he clapped for me.
I felt so complete.
This is what I wanted all my life.
I wanted to graduate university with my forever by my side.
He kissed his hand before placing it on his chest and I smiled.
He told me whenever he does that it means he's saying I love you.
We had developed nonverbal language for us to communicate when we know our words can fail us sometimes.
The photographer took a picture of the dean and I before I returned to my seat.
The graduation went by pretty fast since there were not a lot of people who graduated with me.
As I walked down the aisle with the other graduates, my eyes searched for him.
I just wanted to hug and kiss him.
My eyes finally found him in the crowd of people and I couldn't wait any longer.
I came out of the line and ran to him.
"Santo!" I shouted eagerly as he hugged me tightly. "I did you!"
"You did," he said as he kissed my forehead. "I'm so proud of you."
I closed my eyes as we hugged.
I wanted this moment to last forever.
He is everything I ever asked for and more.
After the ball, he stopped going to work for two weeks and took me shopping almost everyday.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too," I told him back before kissing him.
He pulled out a small box out of his pocket and I looked on it.
"I thought I told you no presents," I said.
He smiled. "I think you'll like this one."
I opened the box to see a receipt for the villa we stayed at in Fiji.
At first I didn't get it but my eyes widened.
"You-we're-Fiji-again?" I tried to say but my words came out weird.
"Yes, we're going to Fiji again," he laughed, completely understanding my incomplete sentence. "I thought we should finish what we started."
I smiled before hugging him. "Thank you Santo."
"Is there room for one more hug?" I heard a familiar voice ask and I immediately turned away.
"Uncle Haze!" I shouted as I ran to hug him. "What are you going here?"
"I felt bad that I made him miss your wedding," I heard aunt Eve's voice before I hugged her.
Soon came uncle Seb, Bella, and my parents holding their two daughters.
"Emilia!" their five year old Eva shouted as she ran to me.
"You're getting so big!" I said as I stooped down to hug her.
"I want to be like you when I grow up," she told me and my heart melted.
I stood up to see Dante, Jaz, Tommaso and Gia standing next to Santo.
I felt so overwhelmed with the support I was getting.
"Thank you all for coming," I told them.
"Emilia," I heard another voice say and I turned to the direction of the sound.
"Professor Kate!" I said as she hugged me.
"It is very nice to finally meet you in person," she told me as we let go.
She was so much shorter than me but she looked even better in person. "It's nice to meet you in person too."
"Why don't we go out for lunch sometime? I would like it if we stayed in touch. You always remind me of the beauty of my job."
I smiled. "I would love that."
"Oh and don't call me Professor Kate anymore. Just call me Kate," she said.
"Will do, Kate," I told her and she hugged me again before walking off.
Santo held my hand. "If you guys don't mind I would like to steal my wife away for an hour."
"She's all yours," my papá said before Santo started pulling me away.
"Where are you taking me?" I laughed as I tried to keep up with him.
He opened the car door for me as he tried not to laugh. "You'll see when we get there."
We drove for a good thirty minutes until we reached a hill.
"Santo, I'm in heels. I can't climb this," I said as I watched the hill in front of us. "Can you please just tell me what it is?"
He looked on his watch before stooping down in front of me.
"Hop on," he told me and I watched him with a straight face.
"You can't expect to climb that hill with me on your back," I told him.
"Get on and you'll find out," I said with total confidence.
I sighed as I climbed on his back. "You're crazy."
"Only for you," he joked as he stood up and started walking.
"On a serious note, I'm really proud of you Emilia," he said. "You managed to get your education and still tolerated me, even when I didn't deserve it. I'm lucky to have you."
I hit his chest. "Don't make me cry on my graduation day."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I just can't help it. I want you to know how much of a treasure you are."
"You are too," I told him. "You opened up to me about your life even though you didn't have to. You allowed me to help you heal."
"I'm glad I chose you Santo," I told him and even though I couldn't see his face, I already knew he was smiling his ass off.
He carried me for a few more minutes until we reached the top.
"Wow," I said as he put me down.
There was a clear view of Rome from here.
"How do you know about this place?" I asked him.
"My brother and I use to come here from Sicily all the time when we were teenagers. He loved the sunset," he explained.
"My brother would've loved you," he said and I smiled. "I always promised him that I'll find love and thanks to you, I fulfilled that promise."
"I'm glad that I could help," I told him.
I caught him looking on his watch again.
"What are you waiting for?" I asked him feeling very curious.
"This," he said as he turned my body to face the sunset.
I smiled as I watched the sun gently dip below the horizon and hues of orange, pink paints decorated the sky.
"Do you like it?" He asked.
"It's beautiful," I managed to say as I was almost speechless.
I have never seen such a pretty sunset before.
I turned to him. "Thank you."
"Do you know what would make this even better?" He asked me.
"What?"
"This," he said as he pulled me closer and crashed his lips on mine.
I smiled before kissing him back.
Our first kiss to a sunset.
I pulled away. "Wait, there's one more thing I need to ask you."
He looked on me waiting for my question so he could continue to kiss me.
"By any chance, is this CEO position still open or am I too late?"
He smiled. "Emilia, there is already an office with your name on the door. That position was always yours."
I should've known he was already a step ahead of me.
I smiled before kissing him back.
My heart was pounding with joy as the feeling of love charged through all the blood vessels in my body.
Everytime I felt this feeling it feels like the first time again.
This is the only person I want to share this feeling with.
After all these years of searching, I finally found my forever.
The End.
AN: Thank you guys for reading another one of my books. I hope you enjoyed it.
This is the last book relating to the Secret Duology