Chapter 153 Chapter 153

Chapter 153 Chapter 153
Aurelia

“I’m sure he already knows,” his mother replied calmly.

Honestly, she was probably right. A little later, after Amy disappeared to do something chaotic somewhere else in the house, I ended up alone in one of the upstairs sitting rooms. The sun was starting to go down outside, and everything felt calm and quiet.

And for the first time in months, I wasn’t rushing toward anything. I curled slightly into the couch with a blanket and my phone beside me. Talon still hadn’t come home yet; that wasn’t unusual. But instead of feeling disappointed, I just… waited. Comfortably, like this was already part of our rhythm.
At some point one of the staff members came in carrying tea without even asking if I wanted any. That caught me off guard a little.
“Thank you,” I said.

“Of course," she replied with a smile. Again, it was natural and easy. Nobody treated me carefully anymore. Nobody acted like I was temporary. And sitting there in the quiet warmth of the house, I realized something slowly. This place didn’t feel intimidating anymore; it felt safe.
Hours later, I was still half curled on the couch when I heard the front door downstairs open. There were low voices and movement. Then silence again. I looked up instinctively. A few seconds later, Talon appeared in the doorway. And immediately stopped walking; he just… paused.

His tie was loose and his jacket gone. He looked exhausted in that controlled, talon-like way where most people probably wouldn’t notice unless they knew him well. But I noticed. And the second he saw me sitting there, something in his entire posture shifted slightly.
Like tension quietly leaving his body. It was subtle. Really subtle but real. “You’re here,” he said; he wasn’t surprised. Just quieter than usual. I smiled a little. “I told you I was coming.”

He walked fully into the room, slower now, and weirdly enough, seeing him after weeks of rushed calls and short messages felt strange for a second, not awkward, just… grounding.

Like my brain needed a second to reconnect this version of him with the voice on the phone. He stopped near the couch, looking down at me. “You look tired,” he said.
“I literally survived finals twelve hours ago," I said.
“That explains it," he said, and I laughed softly. And then, without even thinking about it, I reached for his hand. He let me pull him down beside me immediately without hesitation.

The second he sat down, I felt him exhale slowly. Not dramatic, just tired. I leaned lightly against his shoulder. “You’ve been working too much,” I murmured.
“So have you," he replied.
“Mine’s done now.”

"Good," he said. For a little while neither of us said anything. And honestly, that silence felt more intimate than some giant emotional reunion speech would’ve Because this wasn’t new anymore This wasn’t unstable. This was real life. Comfortable, Quiet, and Steady.
Eventually he glanced down at me slightly. “How’d finals end?" he asked.

“I think I passed everything," I said.
“I know," he replied. I smiled against his shoulder. “You always say that.”
“Because you always underestimate yourself," he said. That made my chest tighten softly. Not painfully, just warm. I looked around the room after a moment. At the familiar furniture The dim lighting.

The quiet house around us And suddenly it hit me completely. This place didn’t feel like Talon’s house anymore. Not entirely. Somehow, somewhere along the way, it started feeling partly like mine too. Not ownership, not fantasy, but belonging And judging by the way nobody questioned my presence here anymore, I wasn’t the only one who felt it.

Talon

By the time I got home, I was exhausted enough that even Nico stopped talking during the drive back. Which, honestly, said a lot. The last few weeks had been nonstop meetings. Travel Pressure: Constant movement without pause And underneath all of it, one thought had stayed quietly in the background all day.
Aurelia finished finals today. That was it, simple and still there. When I walked into the house, one of the staff immediately informed me she’d arrived earlier. Not formally, just naturally. Like it was obvious she’d be there And something about that settled instantly in my chest before I even saw her.

Amy appeared halfway down the hall dramatically. “Your girlfriend was academically dying earlier," she said. 
“I assumed as much,” I replied.
“She’s upstairs," she said.

Of course she was. I loosened my tie while walking upstairs, already feeling the weight of the day catching up with me. Then I stepped into the sitting room. And there she was. Curled into the couch under a blanket like she already belonged there Like she’d always belonged there.

The second she looked up at me, I felt something inside me quiet immediately. Not excitement or intensity but relief, real relief. That feeling was rare lately. I crossed the room slowly, watching her smile slightly at me. Tired, Relaxed, and Home And for the first time in a long time, the house didn’t just feel like somewhere I returned to after work. It felt lived in differently, warmer, because she was in it.

Aurelia

The weirdest part about staying with Talon during break was realizing how normal everything started feeling. Not normal in the regular people sense because the Blackwell house was still the size of a luxury hotel, and somebody literally brought me fresh fruit one morning without me asking.

But emotionally normal That part surprised me. The first few days after finals, my body completely crashed. I slept like I was recovering from war. The first morning I woke up at almost eleven and genuinely panicked for half a second, thinking I missed class. Then I remembered the semester was over and almost cried from relief.
I dragged myself downstairs wearing one of Talon’s hoodies and found Amy already sitting at the kitchen island eating strawberries dramatically. She looked up immediately. “Look who returned from the dead," she said.

“I slept for like twelve hours," I retorted.
“Honestly, good for you," she replied. I grabbed coffee first before doing anything else. Priorities. Amy watched me carefully over the rim of her glass. “You look happier," she said, and that made me pause slightly.

“Happier than when?” I asked.
“Second semester,” she said. “You were stressed all the time.”

I leaned against the counter while sipping coffee slowly. She wasn’t wrong. The entire semester felt like survival mode. Everything is constantly moving: assignments, pressure Distance from Talon Trying to balance everything without falling apart.

Now everything felt slower. Not empty, just calmer. And honestly, I think Talon needed that too; I saw it the second day I stayed over.
He came home around seven instead of nearly midnight for once, still tired, still carrying that same controlled energy around him but different and less sharp.
He found me sitting in one of the downstairs living rooms reading through notes from one of my classes because apparently I was psychologically incapable of relaxing completely.