It's been a week since Vaughn moved into my house, and everything has been wonderful. The past few days have been spent having meals together, talking about our days, finishing college stuff together, cuddling before bed -- and, of course, having morning sex, afternoon quickie (sometimes) and another making love session at night.

Psst! It turns out that we've managed to try almost everything in almost every corner of the house. Our lovemaking has been passionate and bold, fierce and brutal, slow and innocent -- you name it.

Things will surely get weird if Jake suddenly pops up in the house, which (I hope) won't happen. Fortunately, we still manage to keep our relationship a secret to the rest of the population in Boston -- except for Austin.

I'm also surprised to find out that Vaughn is actually a good cook. Sometimes, he would just take over my kitchen and prepare dishes that would make my mouth water. His speciality is Italian cuisine. Seriously, what is it that this guy is incapable of?

As for right now, we're cuddling before bed after he listened to me rattling about how Stacey is having a crush on a guy from our Business Ethics class. I don't even remember how our conversation has turned into kissing while we're lying down here on my bed, facing each other.

Vaughn brushes his lips against mine, his arms wrapped around my waist. My hand is on his back, our toes touching each other, the lower parts of our bodies covered by a blanket.

And no, we're not naked. Yet. Judging from my experience, I can't be too confident about that.

I can't help the soft smile tugging at my lips as I kiss him back. When we pull away, my heartbeat doubles as I look into those intense amber eyes of his. They never fail to make my legs go weak and shake helplessly underneath me.

Especially when he's staring at me with that look. That look, which expresses something beyond admiration.

As if he loves me.

As if I'm the only girl in his eyes.

"It's funny how you're goddamn excited about another person having a crush on someone," Vaughn says, amusement in his eyes.

I giggle. "Come on. Stacey is my best friend. I can't help but feel excited for her. I don't know why, but hearing others' love stories always make me giddy and excited for them, like I can't wait for what's in the store for them."

But then, I realize why. It's because ever since high school, I've been used to hearing my friends chattering about their love interests. And I've always wondered in anticipation about the end of their stories, wishing that it would be a happy ending.

Back then, I'd never experienced what love was. No one ever dared to make a bold move for me because of Jake, and even if some guys had given me some signals here and there, I was too dumb to notice them because I was so clueless and had zero experience in love or about being courted by someone. I was always the one who was left out. I was always the one who listened, to the point that I would feel so absorbed in my friends' stories, hoping that they would succeed. It would be enough if they did, because it made me happy too.

"I don't want to hear about them. I want to hear about you," Vaughn says, making me sigh.

"Me?"

"Yeah. You." He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. "What you're feeling now. What you wish for." His stare is so intense that my breath catches in my throat. "Come on. Won't you tell me? Unless you think I really fucked it up," he mutters.

I laugh in disbelief. "That's not possible," I say, making him raise a brow. "I'm just really happy now."

A soft smile forms on his lips. "I'm glad you are."

"There's this one thing I've secretly wished for, though," I say, bracing myself to approach the topic.

"And what's that?"

"I've always wanted to go to Bali, and now that you've told me that it holds a special place in your heart, I want to go there even more."

"You've never been there?" he asks, looking surprised.

I shake my head. "Nah. Nope. Never."

Silence creeps for a while before I decide to take a chance to find out about his past, my heart starting to pound faster. "What made you decide to escape and to go there? You said that some things happened back then."

Vaughn let out a long sigh. I can even hear my heartbeat now as I wait for his response.

"Yeah. There was some shit going on," he says.

Looking into his eyes, I know that the pain is still there, but barely. It's not completely gone, but it may be... I hope so.

"I was in a serious relationship with a girl. About eight months ago, we broke up."

I'm taken aback that he doesn't even break our eye contact while he's talking to me. Instead, it's me who almost break it. I'm such a coward.

I note his words, though. 'Serious relationship'. That's nothing strange, since he'd been with her for two years. I don't ask him any more questions, waiting for him to pour it out himself. Trying to reassure him, I hold his hand.

"I would have forgiven her had she at least told me why. Hell, I would even have done so if she fucking yelled in my face, hit me or threw daggers at me," Vaughn continues, his voice sounding bitter. "But she did none. She just left, without a word. No goddamn fucking word."

No sound leaves my throat as I keep listening to his words.

"I tried everything. Heck, I even told the cops. I know I wasn't in the right state of mind, but it's just really strange that I even thought she was kidnapped or something like that," Vaughn says, the tense still evident in his voice. "She just literally disappeared, Mel."

I squeeze his hand in an attempt to comfort him. Hearing the story directly from him feels even more heartbreaking, but I'm glad that he's opening up. His assumptions make sense, though. If a person just suddenly vanishes into thin air, who wouldn't think that far? She could even have been in an accident.

But I know now that the new girl from the dance club was telling the truth about Vaughn going batshit crazy when Camila was missing.

"So, what happened?" I can't help but ask.

"Eventually, I realized that everyone was right. She'd left on her own will," Vaughn says. "All the evidence pointed to that fact. She handled the check-out administration for her apartment by herself. She paid the remaining rent beforehand. Some of the other occupants even saw her waiting for a cab with her luggage. And she sent a message to her family."

My heart sinks. It must have been hard for him to accept that fact.

"But it's all in the past." Vaughn scoffs, playfully touching my nose that my cheeks heat up.

After some silence in which both of us just stare at each other, feeling comfortable in each other's embrace, I open my mouth.

"You know what? I really really wanna go to Bali." I smile. "It's one of my bucket lists, but sadly, it never happened."

Vaughn smirks. "You sure? It takes more than 20 hours by flight from here to Indonesia."

I nod, my smile getting bigger. "Yea, I'm sure. We should go there sometime."

Vaughn's gaze on me melts my insides. He lightly kisses my hand that is holding his and whispers, "Yeah, we should."