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Jace POV

I look at Chloe who is playing with her dog Millie. She seems to be happy. I sip my coffee and look at my mother who is approaching me with a smile.

"She seems better" she comments sipping her coffee.

I came to pick up Chloe as her summer break will be finished soon and she has to get back to college.

Natalie comes out of the back door with Chloe's phone clutched in one hand and her phone in the other.

We are sitting in the back yard. Mille and Chloe are playing near the water sprinklers which dad switched on to water the garden.

"Chloe" Natalie calls from where she stood.

My dad stops taking pictures of Chloe and Millie and lookup.

"What is it Nat" Chloe calls back holding the tiny dog closer.

"Beth will be here soon. You should get ready too" Natalie says to Chloe.

For a second her face falls.

"It's ok. You can come again for Thanksgiving break" my dad encourages her softly.

She smiles at him timidly and nods her head.

She goes inside with her dog, closely followed by Natalie.

Chloe felt bad that Natalie will have to stay alone during the break, while she and Beth will spend their time with their families. So she offered her friend to tag along.

Three of them became inseparable in this last one year. Natalie being a bodyguard doesn't seem to affect their bond.

They respect Natalie for what she does.

Just then a car pulls into our driveway. We all make our way inside the house. I go to my room to freshen up. Mom and dad open the door and welcome Beth and her parents.

"Chloe" Beth rushes upstairs towards Chloe's room which is opposite mine.

"What a mess" Beth mutters going inside the room.

I ignore their conversation and finish my business. I go down freshly showered and changed into jeans and a shirt.

My mom is hugging Chole and Natalie and wishes them good luck. My dad stood at a side with a soft smile on his face.

I go stand beside my dad.

"Are you guys ready?" I ask them, as we have to start soon. So that we can reach the city by the time dinner rolls down.

"Yes," three of them say in unison.

We say our final goodbyes and start driving. Chloe sits in the front. The other two sits in the back. They chatter among themselves and I listen to some music.

After about an hour Chloe seems to zone out and was silent for more than 20 mins.

I reach my hand towards her and take her palm in mine. She raises her head and looks at me with a panicked look.

I squeeze her palm a little to assure her. She nods her head once and rests her head on the headrest. Soon sleep overtakes her and she sleeps with her hand in mine.

We reach our destination by 7 pm. Chloe woke up half an hour ago and is talking to the girls.

"What would you like to have," I ask them.

"Anything is fine" Beth answers.

"I don't feel like eating," Chloe says.

"You should eat something," I say softly.

"Maybe later" she whispers.

The girls go to their apartment and I go to mine. I order food for them, to deliver it to the apartment.

I have some work to do. I will go finish it. With that though I make my way into my study and start working on my laptop.

There was an issue which arrived recently with our new game we launched a month ago.

The game seems to work fine all over except in one country. There are game seems to have lagging issues.

We tried every possible idea we had, but to no avail. It was fine when we had a trail here, but as soon as it reaches there, issues are arising.

I fixed the possible errors and forwarded the file to the marketing department.

I look up and notice that it's past 10 in the night.

I wonder if Chloe had her dinner or not. I go down through the attached garden ladder.

I know she must be in the garden. like I predicted, she is sitting on one of the chairs.

"Hey" I announce my presence softly not to startle her.

"Hey" she smiles a little.

"You had your dinner?" I ask her making my way towards her.

"No" she averts her eyes.

I kneel on one knee in front of her.

"What's bothering you" I turn her face towards me.

"My parents would have been proud if they see how far we came in treating my phobia," she says sadly.

"They would have been" I agree expecting a but.

"Am I forgetting them, by being happy?" she asks and a tear rolls down her cheek.

"No, you are living your life, which is a gift from them. They don't want you to be miserable. They always want you to be happy. They will be happy, looking at you being happy " I gently wipe out her tear from her cheek.

"I miss them," she says looking down at her palms.

"I know, I miss them too" I confess.

We sit like that for a while.

"Come, you should eat" I get up and offer her my palm.

She takes it without hesitation and allows me to lead the way into their apartment.

I warm up the spaghetti and meatballs I ordered for her in the oven. I plate it for her and place it in front of her.

She starts eating.

"Have you eaten?" she asks after a couple of bites.

"Will eat later" I answer truthfully.

I forgot to eat. I was busy working.

"I'll get you another fork, we can share" she offers.

"It's k, I will eat later" I repeat.

"It's already late, let's share. We have more than enough for both of us" this time she doesn't give me a chance to refuse. She gets another fork and we sit and eat dinner together from the same plate.