Melissa looked beautiful and so filled with joy as she smiled at the camera. She was holding Kamran’s hand, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at me.
My breath caught in my throat.
“Do you see it?” Kamran asked. He was looking at me closely, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the picture. I couldn’t bring myself to accept it, not until he said it.
“I’ve always loved you, Ryan. I was just too stupid to realize it.”
I shook my head in disbelief as I finally understood why Kamran was showing me this.
“Melissa saw this picture and she knew.”
“No…”
“Yes, Ryan.”
He reached out, pushed the book off my lap and took both of my hands while I sat there, too shocked to move.
“Don’t you understand?” he asked gently. “I married the wrong person.”
“Kamran,” I whispered, because this couldn’t be happening. It had to be a dream. Except his hands in mine were warm, his grip firm, and he was looking at me with just as much love as he had in that picture. So much love that I couldn’t deny it was really how he felt.
“Don’t send me away again,” he said firmly. “I don’t need to go find myself, Ry. I finally know who I am, and that is a person who honestly, has only ever felt whole with you.”
I swallowed, fighting back the overwhelming rush of emotions. Most notable was the feeling of relief because I finally felt like I could let myself have this.
Not a part of him, not from a distance or behind someone’s back. Kamran was mine, and I was his.
“Well?” he asked when I still couldn’t speak. “What do you say? Don’t leave me hanging.”
Unfortunately, I had to because there was no way I could talk without crying. Instead, I did what I was dying to do and pushed forward, sending us both falling into the cushions.
Kamran’s startled laugh was quickly silenced by my lips. His arms came around me, and he held me tight, and for a long moment, I stayed there, just feeling his warmth, his lips, his love.
When I finally lifted my head, his eyes fluttered open, and his gaze fixed on me lovingly.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said.
“Make it a hell yes,” I said, grinning.
It struck me that somehow, we were in the exact same position that we had been on that first night, but so much had changed.
Kamran was no longer with Melissa, and instead of there being tears, we were both smiling.
“You’d better get up and get ready,” Kamran suddenly said.
“For what?” I asked, wondering what other surprises there were in store.
“My parents are coming to my place for dinner,” he said, stroking my back leisurely. “I want you to be there.”
“They’ve seen me in sweatpants before.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, “but they’ve never seen you as my boyfriend before.”
At my shocked look, he patted my back and lifted to press a quick kiss to my lips.
“Don’t worry, Dave and Ollie will be there as our backup.”
He pushed me gently until I gave in and climbed off of him.
