“Siva,” I said and my heart broke for this beautiful man. “You once told me that love is hard, painful, and anything but pleasant.” I laughed, “I feel that with you, Siva. I love you so much it hurts. I didn’t have that with Dev. I loved him, of course, but now… When I look back on our relationship I realize that we were more like best friends. He didn’t make my heart speed up like this,” I said and placed Siva’s hand over my heart. “He didn’t make my toes curl with a look, he didn’t make me love him and hate him at the same time, and he didn’t leave me breathless. I love you. I’m in love with you. You’re the one I want. You’re the one I choose. You are not second best, Siva, do you hear me? You’re not. Even if… even if Dev hadn’t died I still think we would’ve found each other. You’re my heart and my soul Siva. I fell for you Siva and I fell hard and I’m okay if I never get up.”

“I’m going to go," he said."All right."He didn’t move. Then: "I don’t want to.""Do it anyway."He chuckled. "You’re a hard woman, Faith Devlin.""Hardy.""I didn’t know him. He isn’t real to me. Did you love him?""Yes." But not the way I love you. Never like that.”

“Devak. Did you love Devak?” he growled at me.“Yeah… yeah I did. We were always happy.”He glared at me. “Then it wasn’t love Sloane. Not really. You may have loved him but you weren’t in love. When you fall in love with somebody you fall… hard and you can’t get back up. You feel sick and breathless. You’re the farthest thing from happy,” he spat. Siva and Sloane”

“Everyone’s done bad in their life. No one’s perfect. But what makes the difference between bad and good is learning from your mistakes. You’ve done that Siva. You’ve acknowledged that you’ve done bad and you’ve learned from those mistakes. You’re good Siva. When I look at you I see someone that’s good and kind and loving. I see the man that I love,” I said. Sloane to Siva”

“I never thought this day would come for me. I never thought I’d find someone whom I loved with every fiber of my being and I never thought that I would find someone that taught me that I was worth being loved. I’m beyond happy, no, I’m honored to have you sitting beside me Sloane. My partner, my friend, my life, my love, my wife, my everything. Thank you for teaching me about love,” he said. Siva”

“You’re not asleep, and you’re not dead. I’m here, and I love you. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. I was thinking of you, seeing your face in my mind, every second that I was away. When I told you that I didn’t want you, it was the very blackest kind of blasphemy.”