Hi! Better late than never right? Have you got your seatbelts on?

Enjoy le update people.

For one complete week Jayden and Lara had been discreetly seeing each other as they had been devoting their time to building up their friendship. Friendship which had begun to bloom into something so tender and gentle.

Jayden had gotten to know a side of Lara he had never known existed. This Lara was sweet, funny, caring, and lovable. He had begun to feel at home with her, and it had only been a week.

The same with Lara. She had realized that beneath the heavily attractive body, was something deeper. There was a person. And even though this person had been subconsciously in need of genuine love and support, he didn't falter in sharing some of his, which made her grow fonder of him.

Three nights into their relationship, Jayden had opened up about his past to her. The deepest, darkest sides of it. The parts she hadn't been aware of, and maybe shouldn't have been, but he hadn't wanted to keep anything from her as they had promised to be sincere with each other, and build their relationship based on trust and respect.

However, he had inwardly feared that she would pass judgement, make reservations about him or slowly push away from him.

But she had done none. All she had done was to listen to him speak, without interfering or asking questions. Her eyes had watered at some points due to the guilt that had gnawed at her conscience, but she had quickly blinked back the tears. She had fixed her eyes on him as he spoke; as he confessed it all, while they had been sitting in the comfort of her bed. And when he had finished speaking, he had finally been able to return his gaze to hers, bracing himself for the worst, but unexpectedly, she had wrapped her arms around him and embraced him.

It had been an assuring embrace. The kind that made you feel like nothing else in the world mattered, and that you were worth something even if everything else made you feel like you weren't.

Jayden stroked Lara's hair as she lay beside him with her head resting on his chest, as they lay on the white fluffy rug situated in the center of the white-walled soundproofed room he referred to as the 'quiet room', which once happened to be his therapy room.

They continued with their 'favourite quotes' game as the dim fluorescence from the corner situated aquarium softly illuminated a small portion of the room with streaks of white, sea blue and red alternatively.

"You can't please everyone," Jayden began, "No matter how hard you try, somebody will always find fault in the things you do. Don't waste your time trying." His deep voice reverberated through his clothed chest as Lara fixed her eyes on the gentle circular motion of her index finger on his chest.

"That's true." She murmured, savouring the soothing feeling of his fingers buried in her thick hair as she moved on to her quote,

"To heal a wound, you need to stop touching it."

Jayden jokingly continued for her,

"And to heal a boner, you need to start touching it." He chuckled as Lara slapped his chest while suppressing her laughter.

Jayden ran his free hand through his surprisingly tamed dark tresses as he moved on to his next quote,

"Judge me only when you are perfect."

Lara mumbled, "That's one of my favourites too. So many people feel like they're on top of the world. That they're better than other people. It's terrible."

Jayden exhaled as he drew his fingers down to her ear, and continued with his gentle, sensual motion.

Lara voiced out, "My turn. Relationships are not about finding the perfect partner, but learning to see your imperfect partner perfectly."

"That's beautiful." Jayden dropped his gaze with a smile and she lifted hers, returning the smile.

With his gaze still holding hers, he said, "A woman is most beautiful when she smiles."

Lara's smile then automatically grew wider, and she said, "The most beautiful man says everything with his eyes, and the rest with his hands and mouth."

Jayden chuckled. "Real men don't love the most beautiful girl in the world; they love the girl who can make their world the most beautiful."

Lara laughed and enquired, "Is this a competition now?"

Jayden let out a laugh as well as he alluringly traced his fingers behind her ear.

And Lara, upon remembering something he once had told her, asked, "Remember when you said something's been bugging you for like a month since you got back from getting closure? What is it?"

Jayden immediately remembered, and spoke, "Yeah, I do. Florence said something about my mother. I asked her why she had ruined my childhood, and she said to ask my mother."

"What?" Lara suddenly sat up, Jayden's fingers automatically losing contact with her hair. "Why your mum? What does she have to do with this?"

"I don't know..." He trailed off, keeping his gaze on hers, "I haven't asked her yet."

"What are you waiting for? Do you need me to hold your hand to take you up to her?" She irrationally asked.

The questioning look he gave her made her take her words back, "I'm sorry." She knew she was impulsive. She was still working on it.

Jayden brushed it off as he dropped his gaze to her hands flattened on the fluffy rug and began stroking one with his thumb as he said, "I'm just," He returned his gaze to hers, "Am I ready to know that my mother had a hand to play in my unfortunate past? Because if she did, I just don't know..." He shook his head on the rug.

She was silent as he spoke, "My parents still don't know that I visited Florence in jail. But I want to ask my mother about it. I need to. I need to know what part she played in it and what else she's keeping from me. There are too many lies and secrets in this house."

Lara sighed and inaudibly muttered, "Tell me about it."

"That's why I respect my father a whole lot." Jayden then said, and Lara was thankful that he hadn't noticed the flash of alarm in her eyes.

He went on, "He has been supportive and caring throughout my upbringing, whereas my mother has spent her time lashing out at people who she felt should not be near me."

Lara stretched her hand to caress his cheek as she thought, 'If only you knew what your father has been up to.'

She would have told him, but she didn't think it was her truth to tell. It was Mr. Benson's.

But what if one day the truth came out, and Jayden found out that all along, she knew about it? Would he be infuriated with her?

After several moments of silence, soft breathing and silent yawns from Jayden, Lara turned around to check the time on Jayden's phone and it read 2:03am.

"Jayden, it's two. We have to get some sleep."

Jayden who had been drifting off to sleep suddenly regained some consciousness, and drowsily asked, "My room or yours?"

"It's thursday so mine."

He grinned lopsidedly, charming Lara with the cutest smile ever since it was so obvious that he was sleepy as hell.

As they walked out of the quiet room in their pj's, Lara asked Jayden,"So what's the surprise? The day's over now so tell me."

Jayden locked the room once they were behind the door and placed the silver key into the dish that was attached to the wall, beside the door but slightly above it in position.

He then turned to an anxious looking Lara, and gently pulled her closer to him by the waist as he fixed his dreamy deep blue eyes on her beautiful dark brown ones. "I'm taking you out tomorrow."

"I mean today," He corrected, since the next day had already begun.

Lara's eyes widened, "What? Really? How? Where?" Excitement nearly ripped off her head as she envisioned what it would be like to finally step out of the house with Jayden by her side, as her boyfriend. Words could not express the joy it brought her as she had dreamt of this day for so long.

"It's a surprise."

"Jayden, really?! A surprise in a surprise?! I'm not really a fan of surprises." She whined.

"You'll know in a couple of hours. Patience." He tightened his grip around her waist and she felt the skin in that area come alive even though the contact wasn't direct, as her light pink pajama top had served as a barrier.

Lara smiled and stood on her toes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in the circle her arms had formed.

His chest was warm, gentle and his arms around her made her feel at home.

Jayden had no intentions of pulling out from the embrace as it filled his lungs with a warmth so peculiar to him. He had rarely gotten that kind of warmth from a simple hug.

Lara chuckled as her mind travelled back to the night their relationship had commenced, precisely the ten minute headstart.

They had savagely attacked every corner of her room, and her bed, all under ten minutes. The minute the timer had gone off, Lara had not expected Jayden to pay any attention to it, but he had detached his lips from hers, although reluctantly, and his hands from places they had certainly wanted more time with.

Since that night, all they had done was to hold hands, embrace each other, cuddle during the nights and spend time sharing their life stories with each other. The bond between them had been strengthening. They could feel it.

Jayden then swiped Lara off her feet into his arms, bridal style, provoking a squeal from her, as he reminded, "Time for bed."

They had certainly not expected to hear the voice of a third party.

"What in God's name is going on here?" Mr. Benson suddenly asked, as he made his presence known to a frozen Lara and Jayden.

•••

A/N: We're caught up in drama. (AJR reference). Thoughts?

A/N: Wrestlemania 34 happened last NIGHT. (If any of you watch wrestling)

A/N: I want to thank you all for your support on this book. I get amazed by your comments and the time you spend reading it. I appreciate you all.

GOOD WEEK EVERYONE.