“Still,” he began, his fist rested on his thigh, he tried to gather up the words to express the thoughts in his head, but there were so many, and they were all so cluttered among other memories he thought he had stored away for good. This conversation was bringing out his inner demons, and he didn’t like it. “Don’t be so hasty as to think we’re anything alike, because we’re not.”

“I still have Corin…all you have is what you wish was Gage…but will never be.”

Yan could have gotten angry, and it would have been acceptable at this very moment to be, but she didn’t lose her temper. Only because, he was right. “You may be onto something, pretty boy. Regardless, Kaneda is all I have that’s really mine right now, and had Gage never been in my life, I never would have been grown up enough at this very moment to admit that, and be okay with it.”

“I was going to marry Gage, you know? We were going to runaway together…but fantasies like that are for children.”

Kevin’s eyes grew, as she uttered the same words that escaped Mikkael’s mouth weeks ago.

“Doesn’t mean I regret having them while I still had the chance.”

For weeks now, Kevin had been searching for the hidden meaning behind this saying, and now…he had it, from the one person he would have never expected to get it from.

“My dad eventually caught onto us,” she explained. “Like every relationship I’ve had since Gage, he stepped in to remind me my place in this world.” Leaning over the couch, her legs curled up behind her, she never took her eyes off of Kevin, even though he never exchanged glances with her throughout her entire story.

He couldn’t, only because he knew where all this would lead.

Yan sighed. “I guess the reason why I hated you so much, is because even though our complicated love lives were so alike, you were the heir, and I…the heiress. I guess it’s why I sympathized that night, when I walked in on your sister crying alone in her room.” She lowered her eyes, if only for a brief second. “She’s still young, but one day she’ll come to realize the curse of being the one who has to marry into her inheritance, rather than just have it handed to you. There was a reason why there were so few queens throughout history. Some traditions never fade, and not all princesses can rule as queen.”

“Like how not all heiresses, can head a company built from nothing by men, and only men.”

Pausing briefly, she looked back at him, to make sure he was still paying attention to her, despite the television being on. He was…he was just…quiet, she guessed. “Still, I’m sorry I miss judged you…and I’m sorry for making your life such a living hell because of—”

“Not like I made yours any easier,” he interrupted, speaking up at last. “So I’m sorry too.”

Well, it’s a shame I’m a dream…

You’re sure you’re ready to do this?