It was dark out, but the lights in the spacious backyard shined brightly into the night. With a hand in his pocket, he leisurely walked down the long garden path towards the pergola next to the illuminated pool.

He took a seat in front of the fire that had already been started, bringing his phone up to his face. Even though it was cold outside, he could feel the warmth of the fire on his skin. He needed a break from his nosy family who seemed to not want to leave him alone. The phone rang until a face he had been missing appeared on the screen.

"Xavier!" Aurora's eyes lit up as she gave her boyfriend a happy smile. Seeing her smile naturally made him smile as well. "I'm drinking a smoothie."

She brought a mason jar up to her face, grinning like a child. His smile widened as he watched her pose with the smoothie next to her face, not knowing that he could barely see anything since her house was dark. The light from the phone illuminated her face and he quickly took a screenshot.

She grinned cheekily as she heard the shutter of the camera. Both their phones' camera rolls were slowly starting to fill up with photos of each other. Some of the photos consisted of Aurora falling asleep during their FaceTime calls on the nights they couldn't be together, which happened more often than you would think.

"Hey sweetheart," His eyes softened as he watched her climb the stairs in the dark. He chuckled when she yelled out a curse from stubbing her toe into the steps. "Are you alright?"

Aurora grunted in pain. "Yes. No. Maybe. I really have no depth perception in the dark."

Since both her hands were occupied— using her right hand to hold the phone up to her face and her left to hold her smoothie, Xavier could imagine her using her elbow to feel her way to her room.

A sudden noise behind him caused him to turn around. Eyeing the bush suspiciously, he already knew what was going on behind him. He turned back to his phone where Aurora was turning on the fairy lights in her childhood room, switching from color to color until she was satisfied with a purple-pink. Before he could speak, he heard the thumping sound of glass on wood as well as crumbling and static.

She not so gracefully moved the phone around until she finally appeared in the frame with her phone propped up against a tissue box.

"Finally settled?" He asked teasingly, causing her to roll her eyes. "How was dinner?"

"It was really good," She began to clip the front of hair back, one on each side, to stop her hair in the front from falling into her smoothie. "Did you see those photos I sent you?"

"I did," Xavier had gotten photos during dinner of the whole table of food that her parents and grandma had spent the whole day making. "I've only seen that much food during Thanksgiving and Christmas."

She giggled, taking a sip of her strawberry banana smoothie. "I think grandma went a little overboard this year."

Aurora's grandmother really did go a bit overboard with the food, especially since Lunar New Year was such an important traditional holiday to them. It was a time where everyone and literally everyone, gathered. Even her extended family showed up from both sides of the family causing them to set up another table for the younger adults and children.

"The food looked great though," he admitted, rolling his eyes when he heard a sneeze behind him.

"Shut up or he'll hear us."

"You shut up. It's not like I can control when I have to fucking sneeze."

"Watch your language!"

"Sorry, ma."

"It did, didn't it," she raised her eyebrows teasingly. "How was your dinner?"

"It was good. Ma wants to meet you," he muttered. Before she could ask, he continued. "Stephanie saw us at the restaurant I took you for dinner the other day and this family just doesn't know how to keep their big mouths shut."

He made sure the last part was heard loud and clear.

"Why didn't you tell me? It would've been nice to meet her."

"I just didn't want to freak you out. She can be a bit," he paused for a second, thinking of the correct term to use. "Dramatic."

Aurora giggled. "Please, my best friend is Maddie. I think I would've been able to handle her."

"I'm sure you could've. I just wanted to keep you to myself before my family tries to steal you away from me," The soft tone in his voice caused Aurora to smile.

"Selfish man."

"I don't like sharing, love," he claimed possessively. "Would you be able to handle my whole family?"

"I would like to think I can, but you know me. I'll be overthinking and fidgety the entire time," she admitted softly. "My dad wants to meet you too."

"How'd he take it?"

"Better than I expected," She answered truthfully. "Connor's staying this whole weekend, so they want to meet you before he goes back to Boston. Maybe Saturday night?"

"That's tomorrow, love."

"I know, is that too soon?" She asked worriedly, chewing on her bottom lip.

"No, of course not. I'd love to meet them tomorrow," He agreed, not wanting to cause her any further worry. "You're staying the night at your parents' right?"

She nodded.

"I'll be there," he confirmed as she gave him a relieved grin.

"Elijah, are you fucking serious right now?"

"Language!"

"Did you really just fart when all of us are literally huddled together?"

Xavier was almost in disbelief at how loud they were being behind him. For people trying to eavesdrop on a conversation, they were doing such a shitty job. He was too focused on the commotion going on behind him that he almost missed what Aurora had said.

"I miss you," she said quietly.

"I miss you too, sweetheart."

Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard from Aurora's end causing Xavier to immediately become alert. Aurora jumped in her seat with surprise and turned to look at the culprit.

"Are you okay, love?" Asked Xavier worriedly.

"Who's calling you 'love'? Who are you saying 'I miss you to' baby sis?" A loud voice asked. "Is that your boyfriend?"

"What? Go away!" Argued Aurora, trying to move away from her brother, who was taking his role as an older brother too seriously—and mainly because he wanted to annoy his little sister.

"Let me talk to him," He said as he threw himself onto his little sister, reaching out to grab the phone. Here they were, 26 and 27 years old, yet still fighting like children.

She grunted, trying to push her brother's face away. "Get off of me! You stink and you're fucking heavy."

"I just want to have a nice and warm conversation with him," pouted Connor as Xavier listened to the scene unfold. The camera was shaking so he couldn't see what was going on, but based on what he was hearing, he could practically imagine it.

"Should I call you back?" Asked Xavier, not sure if she could hear him with all the commotion going on.

"No. Yes. You know what. Babe, I'll call you later," she uttered quickly, grunting as her brother elbowed her in the ribs.

"Why the fuck are you calling him babe?"

"Because he's my boyfriend. Now get your fat ass off me."

She ended the FaceTime call, leaving Xavier both amused, yet surprised with the pet name she blurted. It was the first time she called him anything besides his name and he found himself liking it.

Now that it was quiet, he could clearly hear the whispering coming from behind him. They weren't exactly the quietest bunch.

"You guys can come out now."

Silence.

After a moment, one by one, heads popped up from behind the bush, as they each gave him a sheepish smile. He counted 4 figures— Damien, Liam, Megan, and Elijah each sporting a guilty look as they tried to look anywhere but directly at Xavier.

His mother and father stood a little farther away, looking at the group with amusement. Instead of crouching on the ground, they chose to hide behind the wall that led into the gazebo.

"Damn it, how did he know?" Muttered Elijah, picking a leaf off his hair, flicking it onto the floor. He proceeded to help Megan get rid of the stray leaves and branches that got caught in her long hair.

"Because you guys are so damn loud," Xavier rolled his eyes.

"It's all Liam's fault," cursed Damien with his arms crossed, glaring at his friend. "He just had to fucking sneeze."

"It's not like I can fucking hold it in," Liam glared back at Damien. He then directed his annoyance at Elijah. "At least I didn't try to kill everyone by letting one rip."

Elijah threw his hands up in the air in surrender. "It wasn't me, I swear."

Damien, Liam, and Megan looked at him with an unamused look. His lips formed into a pout, as he looked down at his shoes.

"Fine, it was me."

"We know," said Megan, glaring at her brother. "It smelled really bad—of course, it was you."

"Okay, first of all—rude!" Elijah looked at his sister with betrayal. "And second of all, it didn't smell that bad."

"My eyes were watering," Liam shook his head dramatically, not wanting to even think about the horrid smell. "What the hell did you eat?"

"What everyone else ate!" Elijah ran his fingers through his hair with annoyance.

"Could've just held it in man."

Xavier continued to stare at the 4 of them bickering. He was rendered speechless. It seemed like he was the only one in the family who was normal.

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Xavier sat with a beer in his hand, staring at the flickering fire in front of him. His phone dinged with messages from Aurora, apologizing for her brother. He quickly replied, letting her know not to worry.

He looked up from his phone as he saw his family spread out around the fire pit under the pergola. It wasn't odd that they gathered there at night when they got together for dinner. He watched as Maddie sleepily leaned her head onto Lucas' shoulder, his left arm wrapping around her waist and his left hand holding a beer as he talked quietly with Liam and Damien.

Elijah sat next to Megan, skillfully making a s'more. He gave it to the youngest Knight, who took it happily, as he moved on to making himself one.

Stephanie and Ethan cuddled together, content to get a moment of peace from their energetic child.

Alexander sat a couple of seats away with his grandson laying on his chest as the toddler slept peacefully, hand clutching his blanket tightly in his tiny fists. Alexander had a warm smile on his face as he softly patted Colton's back who was laying comfortably on his grandfather's chest.

Isabella made her away towards Xavier, taking the seat next to him. He turned to look at his mother with a small smile on his face.

"I think I found the one, ma," He said once she got settled in her seat. Despite his quiet voice, Isabella could hear him loud and clear.

Growing up, he vowed to have a relationship like his parents did. Even after over 30 years of marriage, they continued to be in love. He watched as his father's eyes softened every time they spotted his mother and how his mother's mood brightened when she looked at his father.

Like every other teenager in the world, the thought of finding the one was absurd. How would you even know that you've found the one? He didn't understand it at all. Yet whenever he thought of Aurora and her beautiful smile, he just knew she was the one for him.

"I remember when we had that talk with you— about finding the one," his mother began softly. "You looked at us like we were spewing out nonsense. Now, look at you."

"I just didn't understand how you could even possibly find that one person who's suppose to be your other half," explained Xavier, thinking about his younger self. "There are billions of people in the world. It just didn't make any sense to me."

His mother scoffed. "You were always thinking too logically."

"Well, logically, it would've been impossible," Xavier kept his gaze on the fire in front of him. "But every time I look at Aurora, I just know."

"And that's how you know you've found the one," She reached out to grab her son's hand, causing him to turn to look at her. "There's no explanation because you just know."

"Yeah, try explaining that to an angry hormonal teenager," He shook his head, taking a sip of his beer.

"You were pretty bad back then," Isabella chuckled, remembering the young and angry Xavier who constantly had a scowl on his face—although now, he was good at masking his anger with his poker face. "When are you bringing her home so I can finally meet her?"

"I don't know, ma," he answered truthfully. "I'm supposed to be going to her parents' house tomorrow night for dinner."

"Well, how about next week? Since everyone will be here for the weekly dinner, she'll get to meet everyone," suggested Isabella.

Xavier was hesitant. He didn't want to overwhelm Aurora by making her meet his whole family all at once. "I'll ask her."

"Good. It feels just like yesterday where I was bringing you home from the hospital," She gave him a happy smile, patting his hand softly. "My baby."

"Ma, I'm 28," His tone came out as a complaint, but they both knew he wasn't being serious.

"Even when you're 40 years old, you'll still be my baby."

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Thank you guys for being so patient! Starting next week, I will be going back to updating two times a week-- on Tuesdays and Fridays. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please let me know what you think <3 Have a lovely weekend and remember to stay safe^^