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“We probably could,” I mutter. “But I doubt we’d want to. Let’s go.”

Before we can leave, Noel halts, forcing me to stop. “I’d like to take you up on your offer,” he finally says.

“Which one?”

“I want to move in with you.”

My heart stutters for a moment. I thought it would take him a bit longer to agree to moving into my place.

He grins. “You look shocked.”

“I didn’t expect you to agree so soon,” I admit.

“Does that mean you changed your mind?”

“Not at all. I told you, I am all in.”

Noel smiles warmly. “I am all in, too.”

thirty-one

*NOEL*

Mateo and Lynn carry my cupboard inside, both of them laughing because Mateo is so tall, he constantly hits his head somewhere. He has always been insecure about his height, but Lynn is pretty tall too, and it seems that together with her, he sees everything much lighter.

“This one goes in the corridor upstairs?” Lynn asks me.

“Yes. Are you two okay?”

“We are coping,” Mateo grins. They put the cupboard down for a moment to catch their breath.

“This is nice,” Lynn muses, brushing over the wooden surface with her hand. “Good quality.”

“The only quality piece I own,” I admit. “It was my dad’s. He sold everything else, but somehow forgot he had that one in the garage. I always liked it. As a kid, it gave me fairytale vibes.”

I don’t own much, so moving isn’t exactly a big deal for me. Aden wanted to hire someone to do it for us, but after I showed him what we needed to move, he saw reason and just rented a bigger car to be able to transport my stuff in one go.

Plus, all of our friends offered to help out. I am happy that Lynn and Mateo are here, in particular. After the drama I caused a week ago when I ran to the lake house, I am glad I can show Lynn that I am not that unstable.

I am lucky to have such amazing friends. No one called me out on what happened, not even Lynn, and she certainly had the most reason to do so. For one, she is Aden’s friend and probably worried about him; and second, she was there and saw everything first-hand.

I talked to her briefly about what happened to make sure she knows I would never betray Aden, but she assured me that she knew what happened and why, and that I don’t need to apologize to her.

As for Mateo and Sterling, they were just relieved to hear that Aden and I talked it out and found a constructive way around our issue.

“Did you and Aden truly buy that old house from Sterling?” Lynn asks, successfully pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Yes, we did. Aden had the contract set up yesterday,” I say.

“He was over the moon,” Mateo says. “I mean Sterling. I think that despite how much he despised his grandfather, he is glad that his old family property fell into your hands now, and he knows you are going to renovate it and not bulldoze the whole area. Plus, he can pay Roxanna’s student loan now.”

“So, that’s how he will use the money,” I muse. “I figured.”

“He is going to pay for her education fully now,” Mateo says. “And guess what, he paid some of my student debt too, plus put down the deposit for a new apartment. He wants to own a bigger place, so he can do his art there peacefully.”

“That is amazing!” I exclaim.

Mateo smiles and nods. He doesn’t mention it, but I know that ever since Sterling came under Aden’s mentorship, Mateo’s salary has increased a lot. He gets a certain percentage of the sales and also a salary from Sterling himself. At the beginning, he did most of it for free, but now it’s a full-time job, and Ster is the last one who would rip off a friend. He couldn’t have done it without Mateo, and he knows it.