I remained on top of Kiara even as I began to go soft and kissed her once more.
“You love me,” she whispered. “For real?”
“I love you. For real. No simulated affection or love ever again, because with you, I don’t need to simulate. You dragged that dead part of me out of the past and revived it. I didn’t die fifteen years ago, but I didn’t live either … until you.”
She held even tighter on to me. “I love you, Nino. A part of me died six years ago, but you helped me live again.”
We had both been scarred by our past, but together we fought our demons and came out as the champions. Never had a victory felt better.
THE END