Sweet Hatred-Chapter 450: Truth for Truth

ARIA

We ended up on the kitchen floor.

Tangled together, breathing hard, flour still dusted across our skin and in our hair.

I started laughing first. A giggle that bubbled up from somewhere deep in my chest and escaped before I could stop it.

Kael looked at me, his expression shifting from satisfied to amused.

"What’s so funny?"

"This" I said, gesturing at the disaster around us. Spilled ingredients. Knocked-over containers. Our clothes in a heap by the counter. "We made such a mess."

He glanced around and huffed a laugh. "Yeah. We did."

"We’re never cooking again," I declared.

"Agreed," he said immediately. "From now on, we’re ordering everything."

"Everything."

"Every single meal."

We dissolved into laughter again, and he pulled me closer, pressing a kiss to my temple.

Eventually, we managed to haul ourselves up off the floor. Kael found his phone and checked on room service, this time they had staff available, while I attempted to clean up the worst of the mess.

By the time the food arrived, we’d given up on getting fully dressed.

We ate in our underwear, sitting on the floor with our backs against the couch, passing containers back and forth.

It was ridiculous. Comfortable. Perfect.

---

Evening settled in slowly.

The storm outside had intensified, wind howling against the windows, snow falling so thick we could barely see the city below.

But inside, we were warm. Safe. Cozy. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

We’d migrated to the couch, wrapped in blankets. Kael had poured himself wine. I had sparkling cider in a champagne flute, feeling fancy despite everything.

The TV was on but muted, just providing ambient light and movement.

We sat in comfortable silence for a while, my head on his shoulder, his arm around me.

But my mind was restless.

I wanted to know him. Really know him. All the parts he kept hidden, all the pieces he didn’t show the world.

"Let’s play a game," I said.

He looked down at me, one eyebrow raised. "What kind of game?"

"Truth for truth. We take turns asking questions. You have to answer honestly. No deflecting. No lies."

"And if I don’t want to answer?"

"Then you have to do a dare."

His lips quirked. "Alright. I’m in."

I shifted so I was facing him more fully, tucking my legs under me.

"I’ll start easy," I said. "What’s your biggest irrational fear?"

He didn’t even hesitate. "Losing you."

My breath caught. "Touché."

"And birds," he added.

I blinked. "Birds?"

"They’re unpredictable. And they have dead eyes. It’s unsettling."

I burst out laughing. "You’re afraid of birds ?"

"You said something irrational."

I was still giggling when he asked his first question.

"What’s the worst date you’ve ever been on?"

I groaned. "Oh God. There was this guy in college. Ben- something. He took me to a fancy restaurant and spent the entire dinner talking about his ex-girlfriend. In detail. Like, extensive detail about their sex life."

Kael’s face was a mixture of disgust and amusement. "And you stayed?"

"I was too polite to leave! I was nineteen and didn’t know I could just walk out. So I sat there for two hours listening to him wax poetic about this other woman while I ate overpriced pasta."

"That’s horrific."

"It really was."

He was smiling, but I could see him shifting gears, preparing for something deeper.

"My turn," I said. "What’s something about your childhood you’ve never told anyone?"

His smile faded.

He was quiet for a long moment, his fingers tracing absent patterns on my arm.

"When I was little," he finally said, his voice careful, "Andrew almost drowned. We were at the family estate. There’s a pool. He fell in."

I went very still.

"I was the only one nearby," Kael continued. "I saw him go under. Saw him struggling."

He paused, his jaw tightening.

"And I froze."

My heart clenched.

"I stood there, watching him, and I thought..." He exhaled slowly. "I thought that if he was gone, maybe things would be better. Maybe my father would stop pretending I didn’t exist. Maybe I’d finally be enough."

"Kael—"

"A staff pulled him out," Kael said. "Andrew survived. But I still remember standing there, doing nothing. Thinking those thoughts. I was still little and I’d already learned to see my brother as competition instead of family."

I reached up and cupped his face, turning him to look at me.

"You were a child," I said firmly. "A child who’d been taught that love was conditional. That you had to earn it. That’s not your fault."

"Isn’t it?"

"No." I kissed him softly. "It’s not."

When I pulled back, his eyes were darker, heavier.

"Is that why you two hate each other?" I asked.

"It’s one reason out of about ninety-nine others," he said. "Courtesy of our father, of course."

The sadness in his expression made my chest ache.

So I kissed him again. Longer this time. Trying to pull him away from those dark memories and back to me.

When we broke apart, some of the tension had eased from his shoulders.

"Your turn," I said.

"What’s your biggest regret?" he asked.

I paused, the answer immediate but painful.

"Not seeing Sarah for what she was sooner," I said quietly. "Not protecting you from her."

His hand found mine, squeezing.

"That’s not your fault either," he said.

"Feels like it is."

"It’s not."

We sat with that for a moment, both of us carrying guilt we shouldn’t have to carry.

Then I asked the question that had been eating at me.

"Were you scared?" I asked. "When I said I wanted to die?"

His entire body went rigid.

"Terrified," he said, his voice rough. "I thought I’d lost you before I even got you back. I thought... I thought I’d failed you. That I hadn’t protected you from everything that hurt you. That I’d let you get to that point and I hadn’t seen it coming."

Tears pricked at my eyes.

"I’m sorry," I whispered.

"Don’t be sorry. Just don’t leave me." His hand moved to my face, tilting it up so I had to look at him. "Promise me you won’t leave me."

"I promise."

He kissed me then, desperate and claiming.

When he pulled back, his eyes were searching mine.

"Do you ever regret choosing me?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Never," I said immediately. "Not once. Even when everything was falling apart. Even when I thought you’d betrayed me. Even then, some part of me knew I’d choose you again if I had the choice."

Something in his expression cracked open.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too."

We stayed like that for a moment, just looking at each other.

Then I asked my last question.

"What kind of father do you want to be?"

His hand moved to my stomach, resting there gently.

"Nothing like mine," he said. "I want to be present. I want our child to know they’re loved unconditionally. That they don’t have to earn it or prove themselves worthy of it. I want them to feel safe. Protected. I want them to come to me when they’re hurt or scared or happy. I want to be the kind of father who shows up. Who stays."

My vision blurred with tears.

"You will be," I said. "I know you will."

He smiled, small but genuine.

"Your turn," I said. "Last question."

His eyes darkened, a different kind of heat entering them.

"What’s something you’ve always wanted to try?" he asked. "Anything."

I felt my face flush immediately.

"Kael—"

"Anything," he repeated. "No judgment."

I leaned in close, my lips brushing his ear, and whispered my answer.

His eyes widened.

Then darkened with heat so intense it made my breath catch.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice dropping to something rough and wanting.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

The vulnerability we’d been swimming in shifted, transformed into something else.

Something raw and open but also charged with desire.

He pulled me into his lap in one smooth motion, settling me so I was straddling him.

Then he kissed me.

Slowly. Deeply. Tenderly.

Like he was trying to pour everything he felt into it.

"I love you," he murmured against my lips.

"I love you too."

His hands moved gently, reverently, sliding under my shirt to rest on my bare skin.

Not rushing. Just touching. Feeling. Connecting.

"I love you," he said again.

"I know." I kissed him. "I love you too."

We moved together slowly, shedding the rest of our clothes piece by piece, never breaking apart for more than a few seconds.

When he finally slid inside me, we both gasped.

Not from urgency or desperation this time.

But from the sheer intimacy of it. The connection. The feeling of being completely and utterly joined.

He moved slowly, his forehead pressed against mine, our eyes locked.

"I love you," he whispered. "I’m sorry I can’t stop saying it."

"It’s okay, don’t ever stop saying it." I whispered back."I love you too Kael."

Over and over, like a prayer, like a promise, like the only words that mattered.

Our bodies moved together in perfect sync, slow and deep and achingly tender.

When I came apart, it was gentle. A wave rather than a crash. Overwhelming in its completeness.

He followed moments later, my name on his lips, his hands gripping me like he’d never let go.

Afterward, we stayed tangled together on the couch, wrapped in blankets.

My head rested on his chest, his hand on my stomach, both of us quiet and content.

The storm raged on outside, but in here, we were safe.

Connected in a way that went deeper than physical. Deeper than words.

"Thank you," he murmured into my hair.

"For what?"

"For choosing me. For staying. For letting me love you."

I tilted my head up to kiss his jaw.

"Thank you for making me want to stay."

His arms tightened around me.

And for the first time in a long time, everything felt right.

Like we were exactly where we were supposed to be.

Together.