Chapter 92 Aitor
Aitor
Helena William stood a few feet away, her expression twisted in pure disgust—until her eyes landed fully on me. And froze.
“You?” she hissed.
“Mrs. William?” I straightened slightly, caught off guard by the intensity of her reaction. I knew she was conservative, but—this?
Then her gaze shifted.
To Aslan.
Sugar still smeared across his face, his lips slightly parted from the kiss.
“With him?” She said, like the words tasted foul.
“Shame on you both,” she continued, shaking her head slowly.
Shame?
My jaw tightened.
We had nothing to be ashamed of.
“Excuse me?” I said, stepping forward before I could stop myself. “Why exactly should we be ashamed?”
She didn’t hesitate. Didn’t even blink.
“Of being… this.” Her eyes dragged over me like I was something dirty, something beneath her. “I should have known,” she added coldly.
Then, her gaze sharpened as she turned to Aslan, and my body went on instant alert mode.
“Is he the one you and my son are fighting over?” She pointed at me.
Aslan went pale, clearly thrown. “Garrett has nothing to do with our relationship. We argued over the girl he’s with now, and that’s all,” he said, trying to hold his ground.
“Was that before or after each of you slept with my son?” she asked without flinching.
The words hit harder than they should have. Before I even realized it, my arm tightened around Aslan, pulling him closer as I stepped in.
“Neither of us have ever seen your son that way, Mrs. William. You’re very mistaken and completely out of place,” I said, my voice steady even as anger burned under my skin. She could mess with me all she wanted, but she was not gonna poison my angel or even Garr. “Garrett is my best friend. He’s a brother to me. He’s with Trisha. I’m with Aslan, and that is that.” I held her gaze without backing down.
“That is that…” she mocked.
“Yes, ma'am. And with all due respect, what my boyfriend and I do is none of your business.”
What I really wanted to say was, fuck you, but I was honestly pretty proud of myself for stopping there.
The second she turned away, the tension snapped just enough for me to breathe again. That's how toxic Helena's presence was…
I looked at Aslan, both of us trembling slightly, our hearts still racing, the echo of her words lingering in the air like something that hadn’t quite settled.
For a moment, I thought she had ruined everything, but then a marshmallow on a stick appeared over my head.
I blinked, startled, as Aslan stretched his arm toward me with quiet determination. “People will judge and hate,” he said, meeting my eyes. “One day, we might have to fight them all. But not tonight. Tonight…” A small, stubborn smile pulled at his lips as he lifted the stick slightly. “Tonight, let’s set this one on fire!”
All my anger melted away as a laugh slipped out of me. And I swear, in that moment, my brave angel had never looked hotter.
We stayed there longer than we probably should have, hands warming by the flames, bumping into each other, laughing over absolutely nothing. It was so simple… so easy with him, even in uneasy times.
As we walked a little further down the park, the carousel lights caught his attention instantly.
“Oh—no way,” he said, already pulling me toward it. “Can we do this?”
“Of course we can. Next thing on my list was the carousel.” I raised a finger to make it official.
“A Christmas carousel,” he corrected, like that somehow made it different.
It did.
The whole thing was lit up in gold and red, music playing softly as people circled around on painted horses and ridiculous creatures—including a dragon at the center with rings hanging from its mouth.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“You have to grab the rings as you go around,” I explained, already dragging him toward the entrance. “And if you get the golden one, you win a free ride.”
A minute later, we were on it.
I hadn’t done something like this since I was ten, but the second it started moving, something about it felt lighter. Freer.
Aslan was laughing next to me, trying—and failing—to reach the rings as we passed the dragon, missing the first, then the second.
“Focus!” I called out.
“I am focused!” he shot back, nearly losing his balance as he leaned too far.
“Angel, if you fall off a carousel, I’m not explaining that to anyone—”
“I’ve got it—aww, not the gold one, but still…”
On the next round, I reached out just in time, my fingers closing around one of the rings.
When I looked down, it was gold. I held it up, a little surprised, a little proud.
“No way,” he laughed. “You actually got it?”
“Of course I did.”
When the ride slowed to a stop, the attendant confirmed it with a smile and handed me the free ride pass. I looked at it for a second, then at him, then past him.
A kid stood a few feet away, staring at the carousel like it was the best thing in the world, but not moving any closer.
I didn’t think twice. I crouched slightly, holding the pass out to him. “Hey,” I said, “you want a ride?”
His eyes lit up instantly. “Really?”
“Yeah. It’s yours.”
He took it like I’d handed him something priceless, running back toward whoever he was with.
When I stood again, Aslan was watching me with that look he always gave me, like I’d done something bigger than it actually was.
Suddenly, he took my hand. “I might not have gold, Sir Aitor, but I offer you my ring of honor.” And just like that, he slipped the ring onto my finger with a smile, both of us pausing for a second as the meaning of it settled in.
“And I accept you, Sir Aslan the Great, in marriage,” I replied with a smirk.
His face turned red, and I chuckled, leaning in to kiss his nose as I took his hand, guiding us toward the next stop.
A small coffee stand where he spent ten minutes decorating the most chaotic cookie I’d ever seen, proudly showing it to me like it was a masterpiece.
“I’m so glad we’re not diabetic…” I laughed, following his instructions and piling frosting in three different colors onto my gingerbread man.
Sugar, activity. More sugar, another activity… that seemed to be the pattern of my very healthy planning.
“I’m really having fun, Ai. Thank you.” He leaned into me, wrapping an arm around my waist.
“I love seeing you smile. It makes me happy.” I leaned in and kissed him.
At the end of one of the lines, I noticed a small commotion near the Santa setup. A boy in a wheelchair was struggling to get through the crowd, his grandmother trying to help, clearly overwhelmed.
Before I could even react, Aslan moved.
He stepped forward without hesitation, crouching slightly as he spoke to them, then gently lifting the kid with ease, asking the staff if he could take him through.
No fuss. No hesitation. No need for attention.
Just kindness.
I watched him carry the boy forward, talking to him like they’d known each other forever, making him laugh as they reached Santa.
Something shifted in my chest. I’d met good people before. Kind people, but Aslan… Aslan felt different.
It wasn’t just what he did. It was how naturally it came to him. No hesitation. No second thought. Like helping others wasn’t something he chose—it was simply part of who he was.
And somehow, that made me want to be better.
Better for him.
Better with him.
I had been lonely for a long time. Withdrawn. I have loved a lot, and I had lost just as much, and somewhere along the way, I stopped allowing myself to feel anything that could break me again.
I was still afraid of it.
Then he came into my life.
He made me smile without trying. Made things feel lighter, easier, like there was more to life than loss, more than memories.
More than Linnea.
I still cared about her. A part of me always would. What I felt for her had been real, still was.
But this… this felt different.
I didn’t know if what I felt for Aslan could be compared to that. I didn’t know if it was supposed to.
All I knew was that every time I was with him, something inside me quieted. The noise, the weight, the ghosts that had followed me for so long—they faded.
Aslan didn’t take them away. He just made them… not matter as much.
He gave me something I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Peace.
And for the first time, I found myself wondering if maybe that peace…
... was love.