Epilogue

Epilogue
#SIX YEARS LATER #

VIOLET'S POINT OF VIEW 

“Give it back to me!”

“No way, you always lose your things and then blame me!”

“I did NOT lose it, you hid it!”The sound filled the entire house like it had nowhere else to go, bouncing off walls, sliding down the stairs, refusing to settle. I stood in the middle of it all for a moment, completely still, like if I didn’t move maybe the chaos would pause with me,It didn’t.

I adjusted the baby in my arms carefully, rocking him gently as he slept on peacefully, his tiny face completely untouched by the storm happening around him.Honestly… I wanted to be him.

Six years had passed since everything changed Since confusion turned into truth,Since heartbreak turned into healing,Since we stopped running from each other and finally learned how to stay and somehow… life didn’t end there,It expanded.

Mira still called me every other day, and somehow still managed to be dramatic about everything in life.She ended up with Zayn properly in the end ,not the messy version people expected, but something softer, steadier. Zayn had changed a lot over the years too. He wasn’t just my stepbrother anymore in the way we first knew it… he became family in a way that made sense only after time passed. Now he ran his father’s company alongside Michael, who had grown into a calmer, almost softer version of himself since marrying my mom and my mom…....She was happy,Really happy.

Something I used to think she wouldn’t find again,She and Michael had a little girl now four years old, loud, stubborn, and completely spoiled by everyone in the house.

Chloe had always been the loud one in the group, but in a good way.She and Jason finally stopped dancing around whatever they were and just… became something real.
Jason still acted like he had everything under control, still gave that calm, slightly sarcastic energy, but Chloe somehow always managed to break through it.
And yes… he still got protective in that annoying “I’ll pretend I don’t care but I actually care too much” way,Some things never changed.

Amanda and Brian were exactly what they always were too.Chaos,Laughter,Arguments that somehow always ended in kisses and reconciliation like it was their natural cycle of life.They got married before anyone expected them to, and now they acted like the loudest couple in every room they entered.

Oh and as for Austin…The name still made people pause sometimes but he had become exactly what everyone predicted he would be ...... a top lawyer in the country. Calm, sharp, respected. The kind of success that didn’t need noise and yet, when I saw him sometimes, there was no bitterness anymore Just history and growth, And distance that finally made sense.He was with someone else now too ..... someone who actually matched the life he built and I was happy for him........Truly.

Even Dylan’s family had changed in ways I never expected.His dad had softened so much over the years that sometimes I forgot he had once been anything but kind to me. His dad, still serious, still powerful, still the governor of the state, had learned how to look at Dylan without anger now.
His siblings still teased him like he was fifteen again, but even they had grown into their own lives now.Life didn’t erase what happened,It just… carried it differently.

“That’s because you married their father.”His voice jolted me out of my thoughts and I turned slowly and there was Dylan.Leaning against the doorway like he owned the calm inside the storm, watching everything with that same composed expression that always made it feel like nothing in this house was ever truly out of control....even when it clearly was.The twins froze instantly.

“Daddy!” they shouted in perfect unison, abandoning whatever war they were fighting and sprinting straight into him.I closed my eyes briefly and shook my head.Traitors,bsolute traitors.

Dylan crouched just in time to catch them as they crashed into him, his arms wrapping around both of them effortlessly like this was the only thing he was ever meant to do.

“What happened this time?” he asked, voice calm, almost amused.

“She called me a liar!” Kai said immediately.

“He hid my phone!” Lyla fired back without hesitation.Dylan sighed under his breath, the kind of tired patience that only comes from years of repetition.

“Alright,” he said finally, standing back up with both of them still clinging to him, 

“go sort it out before I come back here.”No shouting.No long lecture,Just that and somehow… it worked.

They ran off again, still arguing, but noticeably less dramatic this time.I watched them disappear down the hallway before turning back to him.

“…how do you even do that?” I asked quietly.Dylan walked closer, his eyes softening the moment they landed on me and the baby in my arms.

“Do what?” he asked.

“Make them listen to you in one sentence,” I replied.He smirked faintly. 

“Experience.”I rolled my eyes lightly, but I was smiling as he carefully took the baby from my arms, adjusting him with a softness that still made my chest tighten in ways I never fully got used to.

“Hey, little man,” he murmured, brushing a finger gently against the baby’s cheek.I leaned back slightly, watching him,There were still moments like this… moments that made everything before feel far away, like another life I had survived just to get here.

“I missed you,” he said suddenly, still focused on the baby.

“You were gone for a few hours,” I replied softly.

“That’s too long,” he said simply, finally lifting his eyes to mine and that look again.The same one that once broke me,The same one that rebuilt me and I smiled.

“You’re dramatic.”

“You like it,” he said.And I didn’t even pretend to deny it.Because I did,I really did.
Somewhere upstairs, something crashed.

“Kai......!”

“I told you......!”

“No, YOU......!”Dylan let out a quiet breath, like he was already mentally preparing for round two of parenting and I laughed softly.

“Your children are impossible.”

“Our children,” he corrected immediately.I looked at him for a second, then at the house, at the noise, at the life we had somehow built out of everything that once felt like it was falling apart and strangely…It felt like peace.....Messy peace,Loud peace but peace nonetheless.

Dylan shifted the baby slightly in his arms and turned toward me again, his voice lower now.

“You okay?” he asked.I met his gaze properly this time and I thought about everything.

“I’m okay,” I said,Then I added, quieter....

“No… I’m more than okay.”He didn’t respond immediately,He just looked at me like he still couldn’t believe I stayed Like he still couldn’t believe we made it,Then he stepped forward, pressing a slow, gentle kiss to my forehead.

“Good,” he murmured,Because that was all he ever needed and as I stood there, listening to the sound of our children still arguing somewhere in the house, watching Dylan hold our baby like he belonged in his arms, I realized something I hadn’t understood before......Love was never meant to be perfect,It was meant to stay and somehow…We did......We really did.