"You look sad." The girl with brown hair and jade-green eyes stated as she sat on the swing next to the boy with jet black hair and forest-green eyes. They couldn't have been older than 7 years.

The boy frowned at her. "That's because I am sad."

"Why are you sad?" She asked, swinging slowly.

A scowl adorned the boy's young face quickly. "Why should I tell you? And who's with you? What are you doing alone?"

"Oh, my dad's gone to the washroom so he told me to wait here," the girl answered, unfazed by the boy's rudeness. "Who are you here with?" The little girl crossed her arms.

"My mom. She's talking to the old lady there," he pointed in the direction of two ladies not far away.

They were both quiet for a moment. Then, "I'm sad because my little sister's going away."

The little girl looked up from the colourful rocks to glance at the glum face of the boy on the swing next to her. "Where is she going?"

"To another country. I think Mom said London," the little boy nodded to himself.

"Why is she going to London?"

"Because my uncle is going to London."

"Why is your sister going with you unc- oh, is she your cousin sister?"

"Yes, but she's also my best friend. Well, Ethan's my best friend too, but he can't stay with us after we're done playing. She can. Do you have a best friend?"

"I do. But Mae's sick so she can't play or else you could've met her, too."

"Oh." The boy nodded, returning his sad gaze to the ground.

The girl looked around, trying to come up with something to cheer him up. Taking out a chocolate from her pocket she stared at it. Chocolate solved everything after all.

She gave out a painful sigh and tore the wrapper open. Breaking off a quarter of the chocolate, she extended it towards the boy.

The little boy cast her a confused glance before glancing at the chocolate and accepting it.

"You should be honoured," she started, "You're the first person I've shared my chocolate with. I don't even share it with my brother, Caleb. He's only 3 and he cries a lot," She glanced back at the boy to make sure he knew that this was a Serious Matter.

"Thank you," he nodded and smiled a shy smile.

A grin broke out on her face, "Are you less sad now?"

"Yes," he smiled back.

They were silent for a moment.

"I haven't seen you here before and I know everyone who comes here," the girl frowned to herself, trying to remember if she did know the boy.

"Oh, I never come here. We have a playground back home. Mom and Dad think it's safer there."

"Oh." She clapped her hands excitedly, "Now, what do you wanna do?"

The boy thought for a minute before turning to her with a grin. "Let's go feed the pigeons!"

She pouted, "But I don't like pigeons."

"Oh," the boy frowned.

Noticing the frown, she hurriedly got up from her place on the swing. "You know what, let's feed pigeons." She smiled. Before turning around and giggling, "Race you to the pigeons!"

"Hey, no fair!" He ran behind her.

"Come on, Pigeon, I'm winni- wait," she came to an abrupt stop.

"What happened?" The boy frowned with faint concern.

"What are we gonna feed them?"

"Aria! Come on, sweetie, it's late. We have to go home!"

The little girl glanced at the man near the swings. "My dad's here. I guess I'll have to go now," she frowned to herself.

Looking at the sad look on the little girl's face, the boy straightened up, "Hey, it's okay. You should go home. It is late. Also, I'm not sad anymore, I had fun," he shrugged, smiling shyly at her.

"I had fun, too. Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you my name. I'm Aria," She grinned, extending a chocolate smeared hand.

"Nice to meet you, Aria. I'm Torryn," he grinned back, shaking her hand with his own chocolate-covered one.

The scene blended away in a whirlwind of colours, already forgotten.

Bright forest-green eyes smiled at me as the boy with jet-black hair tucked a wild strand of my hair behind my ear. I grinned at him, my stomach swarming with butterflies.

Torryn tilted his head to the right as I held my breath.

He leaned in closer and........licked my cheek.

Wait, what?

I frowned to myself before my eyes opened up to the love of my life drowning my face in his love.

"Milo!" I shrieked, giggling as he licked my other cheek too. "C'mere boy," I laughed, picking him up from the floor as he barked happily at me.

I paused as I remembered where I was and looked at the warm, red blanket covering my body. I turned to my right and sure enough, a similar blanket was draped over Arabella's sleeping figure.

I rubbed my eyes, small yawns escaping me.

What time is it?

Milo's bark drew my attention away from my thoughts.

"Shh, boy. She's sleeping," I pointed towards Arabella.

I searched around for my phone and turned out, I was sleeping on it. Praying to the gods that I hadn't completely crushed it in my sleep, I switched the device on.

8: 08 PM.

"Oh, you're awake," a voice drawled out.

I glanced up to see Torryn looking at me from the doorway, his eyes soft.

The dream flashed in my mind and my cheeks heated up as I looked at him wide-eyed. He shot me a suspicious look, walking towards me.

I messed my hair a little to hide my cheeks from view. "You should've woken me up. Why did you let me sleep?" I pouted, getting up from the couch and placing Milo back on the ground. The little pug just ran in circles around me, barking happily.

Torryn shrugged, "Because."

I raised an eyebrow at him but turned around, starting to fold the blanket that had fluttered to the ground only to have it snatched out of my hands. "It's okay, you don't have to fold it," Torryn put the blanket back on the couch.

"But I want to," I grabbed it back and folded it.

"Stubborn as always, I see, Miller," Torryn sighed as he started walking out of the room while Milo and I trailed behind him.

"You know it, Cole," I smirked at him. "Also, could you please drop me home? I had said I'd be home before 7."

"Sure. Although, you're most welcome to stay for dinner," he nodded in the direction of the dining room. Or at least what I hoped was the dining room.

Honestly, I couldn't remember the way to all the rooms in this huge mansion for the life of me and if Torryn ever wanted to play Hide and Seek, I'd lose horribly.

"Thanks for the offer, but I should head home," I smiled at him.

"Okay," he nodded, grabbing his car keys from a cute little plate thingy. "Let's go."

"Good night, boy," I scratched Milo behind his ears as he continued to drown my other hand in dog slobber.

A few minutes later, we were on the road, the atmosphere in the car quiet but not uncomfortably so. I was still half-asleep and Torryn was not one for conversations.

When the car came to a stop in front of my house, I smirked lazily at Torryn, "Thanks, Pigeon."

"Anytime, sweetheart," he deadpanned.

Even though he had clearly said it sarcastically, I couldn't help but blush. I thanked the gods above that it was dark in the car or Torryn would've clearly seen my blushing cheeks.

Get it together, woman!

I shook my head at myself.

"Good night, Torryn Cole," I snickered, getting out of the car.

"Good night, Aria Miller," he nodded, the unreadable look back in his eyes.

I beamed at him and walked towards my house. Once I reached the door, I turned back and waved at Torryn, who waved back and drove away.

"Whose car was that?" Dad asked the minute I stepped inside. Of course, I tilted my head in amusement. I'd seen him spying from the front window.

"Why?" I gave him an amused smile.

"It was a splendid car!" His face broke out in a grin as he rambled on about the other amazing specialities of the car.

"It is a very nice car," I agreed.

-×-×-×-×-×-

"Here," I said the next morning, passing an old, worn-out diary to Mae as we walked towards our lockers.

"Why?" She asked, scowling at Thomas Lake's diary as if it was the reason she was awake before noon.

"What, on earth, are you wearing?" Rhea screeched when we reached her. Drowsy greetings followed from others, the hatred of Monday clear in their eyes.

"Sweatpants and T-shirt. Damn, Rhee, what happened to your eyesight?" I shot her a confused look.

"Why are you wearing that?" She frowned, completely ignoring my question.

"Because I can," I shrugged, opening my locker to get my books, my movements perfectly sluggish for a Monday morning.

"Oh look, Aria's wearing trash again," an annoying voice commented from behind me.

"Tracy, these are so clearly not your clothes," I sighed, shaking my head at everyone's bad eyesight today. A sound of someone gasping and one of Tracy's friend pulling her away from further humiliation could be heard. I turned around to see all of my friends raising their eyebrows at me. I shrugged.

"Oh, by the way," Matt started excitedly, "there's a rumour going around that the Cursed House is getting a new owner or something. Wonder who it'll be," he thought out loud.

Huh, new owner?

"Again, why do I get the stupid diary?" Mae asked, arranging the collection of knives in her locker.

"Wait, Mae gets the diary?" Owen pouted, giving the diary longing looks.

"How come?" Mason yawned.

"Yeah, Aria. I thought I was your favourite," Ethan exclaimed, looking heartbroken.

"Back off, buddy. She's my best friend," Mae narrowed her eyes at him.

Matt, being a bigger flirt than Eric from the cafe, advanced towards Mae, "I can be your new best friend if you want." The smirk on his face and the look in his eyes told me that his definition of 'best friend' differed from that of Mae's.

I leaned back against my locker, excited to see how this was going to play out. Mae had never taken kindly to flirting.

Mae turned to Matt, a pen, correction: a dangerously familiar pen, raised in her hands, "Step closer, I dare you."

Matt was about to step- closer or back, that was something we would never find out because someone just had to speak up. "Weren't we talking about the diary literally a minute ago?" Torryn raised an eyebrow at everyone. Mae and Matt turned to me, nodding, already having forgotten about their conversation. I had the sneaking suspicion that Torryn had interrupted either because he didn't want one of his closest friends to die or because he didn't want one of his closest friends to die.

I flashed him a small smirk, telling him I'd noticed. Turning to face everyone, I sighed, "Well, most of the pages are torn out and there's only baking stuff in there. I'm guessing that's because Thomas had a bakery. Now, Mae's the only crazy baker out of all of us, therefore she gets the diary. Or does anyone else wanna bake?" I looked around and sure enough, everyone shook their heads hurriedly as Mae grinned at the diary, a soft "noice" escaping her.

I beamed at them, "See? This is why you should never question my decisions."

Mason snorted at this. "Aria, Kyle is the only person clumsier than you and you decided to join a salsa class in freshman year, which, let me remind you, only ended in broken bones."

"That was an impulsive decision," I huffed. "This is an obvious one."

"Wait, you joined a salsa class?" Ethan burst out laughing as did everyone else except, of course, Torryn.

"I wish I could see that," Owen chuckled as Torryn nodded in agreement, his eyes glinting with amusement and mischief.

"Oh, you can," Mae smirked and I'm sure the entire corridor could feel the dread rolling off of me in waves.

"Uh-huh, we didn't record it for nothing," Rhea cackled evilly.

"Hey, not cool," I whined as all of my so-called friends made plans to watch my embarrassing videos together this weekend.

********************************
Hey, everyone!

So, I wanna thank you all for commenting, voting and supporting Trouble In Paradise! It means the world to me.

Now *tries to calm down* Trouble In Paradise has been ranked #1 in #goodgirlsarebadgirls for a long time and I'm so happy I'm going to cry- ok, I'm semi-calm again.
*does the weird penguin dance*

And last announcement, the credit for the new amazing cover goes to awesomeismymidname! She is truly very talented and awesome!! *cries in gratitude*

Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter!

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Aria: Vote because I'm going to need all kinds of moral support to sit through the videos of embarrassment!

Mae: *smirks at Aria* Yes, you are!