Third Person POV
Asher knew his grandmother knew where Zaliyah was, when he was told that she was heading to her house he quickly made his way there but she was long gone, and his grandma was angry and disappointed in him. "She deserves to find herself Asher, she needs to pursue her dreams while you sort out all this drama that is going on, the poor girl has been through a lot," she said to him. "But grandma, I will lose her. Please I can't lose her, I can't lose the person I love once again," he said begging his grandma, she looked at him like he was a little boy, she felt his pain but she knew it was for the best.
"If she is truly the one, the heavens will find a way for you to reunite with her, if she is truly the one, I want you to trust and believe that fate will bring you closer together once again," she had said to him. He didn't understand it at first because he was scared and mostly devastated, Aria showed up to his house, "What do you want?" he asked.
"Where is Zaliyah?" she asked as she looked around, there wasn't panic or fear in her eyes just curiosity. "She left," he said plainly to her, she was shocked, "Left? Just like that?" she asked unsure what he meant. "All because of your stunt, you planned this didn't you?" Asher asked , anger consuming him, he should have never agreed to meet her, he should have never spent more than a minute listening to her useless story.
"What? I didn't plan anything Asher, I didn't know there were going to show up but they made things easy. We can finally be together like we were meant to be-"
"Shut up Aria. You don't get to say that to me. Not after you left me when I thought our relationship would mean something, not after you ditched me with no explanation whatsoever, without ever telling me why. You left and I moved on and you think things will go back together. There is nothing to go back to," he said angrily.
Aria swallowed a lump that magically appeared in her throat, she couldn't tell him the entire truth. He would hate her, she realised her mistake, she wanted anither chance, a second chance and maybe things would go back being like they were. "Asher, I can explain," she said as she fought back tears, "You should have done that years ago when you ditched us," he said before turning to walk away from her, leaving her fighting tears she didn't want to shed. She saw it, the anger in his eyes wasn't just anger at her leaving, it was nager at her ruining things for him.
The night before when she called telling him she wanted to explain things, she really did want to explain things. She didn't call the paparazzi, but when they showed up and captured her kissing him a part of her was excited. Asher had been indifferent to her, he seemed confused, unsure but she could feel him pull away the more they spent time together. When she came back she thought he would pull away from her, hate her or ban her from ever being close to her but when he didn't she thought she still had a chance but that night of the kiss she could see how he didn't care, how his eyes didn't glow when he looked at her, how bored and impatient he seemed and that frustrated her and led to her kissing him in hopes she could remind him of what they shared but he didn't kiss her back instead he pushed her away, wiped his lips like he was disgusted...disgusted of her?!
That confirmed what she was trying to ignore all along, Asher loved someone else. That someone else was her little sister. But now that she is gone, just like she left. Maybe they could have been back together but she was wrong, when she heard of Mrs Sterling's passing away, she made her way to Asher's house, hoping to be there for him. To comfort him and maybe even bring them closer but what she didn't expect was to see Asher, vulnerable Asher in the arms of her sister Zaliyah, telling her never to leave him and him kissing her. Zaliyah was supposed to be gone, what was she doing here? Why was she with Asher and why were they kissing.
The past year was rough on Asher, he felt like the heavens were punishing him for disappointing and losing Zaliyah. His grandma's health deterioriated and the business was undergoing some problems because of the aricle about the affair he never had, everything seemed to be crumbling down on him, on the other hand Aria was a pain, she would find excuses to be around him or visit him but he managed to find ways to avoid her. On the other hand he was still hoping Zaliyah would come back to him and everyday, every minute that went by was painful, he hoped she would come back when grandma was sick and stay but she never did. He knew she visited but no matter how much he tried he would never bump into her.
He knew his grandma was dying, she said it herself and so did the doctors. When he got a call about how urgently his grandma wanted to meet him he was afraid, he was scared because he knew it was time. "Asher, my grandson. My time has come," she said weakly, "I will finally be with your grandfather but even though I am going, I will always be watching over you. The time has also come for you to finally hold onto what you love the most, Know when to hold on the most and know when to let go, the rest will fall into place," she said as she weakly caressed his cheek, to her Asher would always be her sweet young grandson who liked playing cops and robbers.
"Grandma," he said, words failing him. Tears glistening in his eyes. "I can't lose you too, please," he said. He lost his parents, lost Zaliyah and now his grandma. How would he survive this, he knew she would leave, but not this soon. He still needed her, "You don't need me anymore, you have her," grandma said as her eyes met the eyes of the person he hadn't seen in over a year.
As Asher kissed Zaliyah, he felt the spark, it was as if his heart was being jumpstarted, his hand hand slid at the back of her neck, fingers tangling in her hair, as he pulled her tighter, deepening the kiss until she was breathless. This kiss to him felt like a confession, an undying confession of how much he loved her and needed her, how much he couldn't bare the thought of losing her once again. He hoped that with this kiss she knew how much he really really really loved her.