A/N : I'm sorry I was wrong in the last chapter. When Elena began to hiccup, I wrote Stefan looked at the road in front of him—I didn't mean that. I meant he looked at the way through the door. Sorry ;(

Anyway, thank you so much for the reviews. You all give me spirits to continue this fanfic. I love you! 3

Knock. Knock.

No one answered.

Knock. Knock.

Jenna rushed downstairs and yelled, "Coming!" as soon as she reached the door knob, she twisted it to the right and opened the door. And there he was. A charming, gorgeous, brown eyed boy stood in front of her. But she didn't know him. "Can I help you?"

"Jenna, I suppose?" he asked politely. Jenna nodded but looked so confused. He saw that and smiled. "I'm sorry. Um, my name is Arden, Elena and Jeremy's friend from Indonesia." he introduced himself as he offered his hand to her. Jenna was being polite with taking his hand and shook it slowly.

"Ah Elena and Jeremy's friend. Did they know you would come here?"

"Jeremy already knew. But Elena… uh.. No." he answered nervously, caressing back of his neck awkwardly.

"Arden! You really came, man!" suddenly Jeremy shouted as he went downstairs quickly. Jenna stepped back as Jeremy walked towards him and patted his shoulder. He looked so happy. "Jenna, this is Arden, my neighbor in Indonesia. And Elena's school friend."

Jenna nodded again and smiled. "I know. Would you come inside?" she asked Arden. Before he could answer that, Jeremy cut him off eagerly.

"Come on!" Jeremy invited as he dragged Arden to come in. Arden nodded once to Jenna and followed Jeremy to the living room. "I'm sorry Elena is not coming yet. Take a seat." Jeremy said as he pointed the couch.

"Where is she?" Arden asked, looking around before he sat. "I can't believe she would go outside at this time." he knew that Elena was scared to go outside at night, even just to throw the garbage.

"She's with Stefan." Jenna answered as she came from the kitchen, bringing two cups of tea for Jeremy and him. Jeremy started to panic as he heard that. Arden wasn't supposed to know about Stefan yet. He glared at Jenna but she didn't notice that.

After she went back to the kitchen, Arden whispered, "Who is Stefan?"

"He's… He's Elena's friend." Jeremy answered hesitantly. This can't be happening. He told himself. "When did you arrive?" he quickly change the topic.

Fortunately, Arden bought it. "Last night. I literally came here once I got my parents' permission." Jeremy only nodded. "So did you give my gift to Elena?" Arden asked again. Jeremy couldn't lie that he saw Arden's excitement from his eyes.

"Yeah, I did. I told her that it was from you but I don't know if she already opened it or not."

"That's okay. At least she knew it was from me."

"Yeah." Jeremy said again, feeling uncomfortable. He was secretly hoping that Elena went home by herself. The last thing he wanted was Arden would meet Stefan tonight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"She was pregnant?" both of Bryan and Leah, aka Mrs. Pierce asked at the same time.

Doctor nodded. "Yes. She was pregnant, 6 weeks, before the accident happened. It wasn't right to tell you about this before her, but I think you two should know since she's not married yet and she's still too young." he explained.

Leah couldn't hold the pressure that came into her head. She babbled something but no one could hear that. Then suddenly she fainted. Her head fell into Bryan's shoulder whose was still learning the Doctor's words about Katherine's pregnancy. He came back to the reality and began panic as he looked at his wife fainted. The nurses literally ran and took her over.

"Sir, would you please stand up? We need to lay Mrs. Pierce here." Mila, the first nurse asked Bryan carefully. He only nodded and stood up. Doctor Max went to Leah and checked her pulse. It was weak, but still there.

"Is she okay?" Bryan asked, hoping she was alright. Doctor Max didn't answer, he took his stethoscope and examined Leah's chest instead. He did it for a few minutes. After that, he took his stethoscope off of his ears and examined her pupils with his small flashlight. When everything was done, he turned to see Bryan.

"She's okay but I think she's too tired and shocked to hear that Ms. Pierce lost her baby." Bryan placed his hand over his mouth and nodded. He was shocked and scared too. Dr. Max stood and went to Katherine's bed. He checked the machines and i.v line. Everything was okay. He was sure Katherine would wake up tomorrow morning.

"But will she… My daughter, back to normal again?" Bryan asked, feeling too afraid to hope. Dr. Max turned around and looked at him again.

He sighed, being carefully with his words before he split it out. "Yeah I hope so. But she needs to do some physiotherapy first. I will arrange the schedule for her."

"Okay." Bryan agreed. All he wanted was Katherine back to normal again. Dr. Max walked towards the door and patted Bryan's shoulder once as he passed him to give him support and empathy. Bryan nodded and kept looking at the door until Dr. Max and nurses out of the room and closed it. He walked back to the couch where Mrs. Pierce had laid down and sat there. He moved a little to place her head on his lap and caressed her hair. He was tired too. And before he knew, sleepiness was taking him over to the dreamland.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wanna come inside?" Elena asked Stefan as she unbuckled her safety belt. He looked at her and smiled. At the time he almost said yes, his phone rang. Damon called.

"What?" Stefan asked through the phone. Damon obviously said something important because Stefan's face went serious. Elena couldn't hear the conversation but she was sure he wouldn't come inside to her house tonight. She kept looking at him until he ended the call.

"My uncle and his family are in my house. Damon insists me to go home now." Stefan informed, feeling guilty as hell. And she was right about what she thought before.

"Okay." she smiled and nodded. He could come over tomorrow. Or whenever he could.

"I'm so sorry, Elena." Stefan said again, couldn't hide his guilty from his face and voice.

"That's okay, Stefan. No needs to apologize. You should go back now though." she reassured him as she caressed his cheeks. Stefan nodded and leaned in to kiss her slowly. She accepted the kiss and smiled as she pulled away.

"I love you." Stefan said, his hands were still cupping her face. Elena held his hands and mouthed those magic words right back to him. Then she hopped out of his car and turned around to say goodbye once more from the opened window. Stefan waved his hand to her and started to leave her house. She waited until his car was out of her sight and walked to her house.

Her steps were so light, she didn't know why but it felt… easy. It was so different from this morning, when she couldn't find Stefan anywhere. But after she met Stefan, forgave him, hugged and even kissed him, she was way more than happy. It felt like he was half of her life. Actually, he was her everything. Or it was what she believed. When she was in front of the door, she heard someone's familiar voice. She hesitated.

No way. It's not him. She told herself. She opened the door slowly and walked in. She knew his voice was from the living room. She closed the door without any sounds and walked towards where he was. Then her eyes went wide as soon as she recognized who exactly the voice's owner. It's Arden. Her friend, Arden.

It's him. Oh my God. It's exactly him. She kept talking to herself disbelief. Her eyes were teary.

"Elena?" Jenna asked. Elena quickly turned her face to see her aunt. Jenna saw Elena was nearly crying and literally ran to her. "What happened?"

Elena shook her head no. "Nothing."

"Elena?" That was Jeremy. This time Elena turned her face to see him walked towards her. Then she looked at the boy who stood up from the couch but didn't move at all. He waited there. "When did you come? We didn't hear any voice." Jeremy said as he looked back at Arden, somewhat proud. But Elena didn't know why.

"I just came." Elena answered, almost whispering.

"Ah okay. Um Jenna, I need to talk to you about something. Upstairs." Jeremy suddenly said. Jenna's eyes went wide as she looked at him, couldn't believe what she heard from his mouth. Jeremy never asked to talk to her. This was weird. But Jeremy didn't wait for her to approve, he eagerly pulled Jenna's hand and went upstairs, leaving Elena and Arden alone.

Elena couldn't believe what just happened with Jeremy and Jenna. But she realized that Jeremy was up for something. By that meant, Arden and her. She cleared her throat as she looked at Arden. He was standing still near the couch and smiled nervously.

"Hey." he greeted. Elena only nodded uncomfortably. She was battling with herself whether she wanted to get closer to him or keeping the space. But then she decided to sit on a chair near his couch.

"Have a seat." Elena said. If Arden didn't know her so well, he would think that Elena was annoyed. But he knew that she was just shocked and confused how to act in front of him. Arden placed himself again on the couch, still looking at her. She realized that but kept making her busy with pretended to look for something in her bag.

"I'm sorry." he started. Elena literally looked at him and tried to look casual.

"About what?"

"I didn't reply all of your e-mails." Arden said again.

There was a long silent between them. But then Elena suddenly spat. "Damn it, Arden! Did you know how worried I was? I thought you were that mad at me!"

"I was mad at you, yes." Arden told her honestly and calmly. "I was that mad at you and I didn't want to talk to you until regret came over me."

"Did you know how childish and pathetic you looked?" Elena asked. Soon she realized that she was rude, but she didn't care. He hurt her at the first place.

"I know. I was being childish and pathetic." Arden confessed. "And I'm sorry."

Elena sighed heavily. As much as she mad at him, it never took a long time to forgive him. He was her best friend after all.

"So do you forgive me?" he asked.

"I can't believe you would ask me that since you know I've never liked to get a question like that when I am mad at someone." she said, got more annoyed with his question.

Arden chuckled. "You're still the snarky Elena."

"And you're still the goody Arden."

This time, both of them were chuckling. Elena stood from her chair and walked towards him. Arden stood and accepted her hugs, clearly feeling relief that she forgave him.

"I missed you." Elena said.

"I missed you too, E." he said it back to her as he buried his face to her hair. Her shampoo is still the same, flower blossoms.

Elena pulled away and giggled. "When did you arrive? And what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Last night. I wanted to spend this holiday with you and Jeremy. You know that I don't have any friends except you two." he answered, letting her go back to her chair.

"Poor you." she said playfully. "So now you have to tell me."

"Tell you what?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Your exactly reasons why did you not reply my e-mails."

"I thought I told you already."

"Just because you were mad at me?"

"Yes."

"The horror."

Arden laughed this time. "You left me, Elena."

"Yeah but I promised you to keep contact. Remember?"

"Yeah but I didn't see that's the way to keep me close to you."

Elena sighed again. "You know why I moved here, Arden."

He nodded. "I know. But that's not an excuse."

"You're so annoying."

"Ouch."

Elena smiled again. "But I'm glad you came here."

"Yeah me too." So that I can get your heart. For real. He thought then looked at his watch. He should go back to his place though.

"Wanna go now?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, don't want to disturb you any longer." he said as he stood and she followed him.

"How did you get here?"

"Bus."

"Bus? There's no bus anymore at this time. Jeremy will take you to your place. Jeremy!" she yelled as she walked to the stairs. "Jeremy!"

Arden didn't say anything because he knew Elena never wanted people to refuse what she offered. So he was following what she wanted instead.

"Uh what?" Jeremy asked as he made his steps downstairs.

"Can you please give Arden a ride? There's no bus at this time."

"Yeah sure. Jenna I borrow your car!" he tilted his head to the second floor and yelled. "Come on, man." he said to Arden. Arden nodded and walked towards Elena.

"Thank you and good night." he said. Elena smiled and followed him out of the house, just being polite as the house owner to their guests. She waited until the car disappeared from her sight and walked into her house again. She obviously needed to get rest soon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Missed me already?" Stefan teased.

"You know what Stefan? When people accept their calls, they would say 'hello' first instead of 'missed me already?' just like you." Elena said sarcastically.

Stefan laughed. "That so? I didn't notice."

"Boo." Elena acclaimed him. Stefan laughed louder. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm heading to my room. I just had a meeting with my big family about Damon's wedding."

"Had have fun?"

"Not quite." Even though she didn't see him, she could know that he shrugged.

"How many days left for his wedding?"

"About 8 days."

"8 days?" she could hear the click sound as he closed the door and locked it.

"Uh-huh."

"Are you afraid?"

"Afraid of what?" he asked, sitting on his bed.

"That you might be miss your brother."

Stefan sighed. "I guess. Even though he's so annoying, but he's the only one I've got in this family."

Elena literally regretted what she asked. "I'm so sorry, Stefan."

"Sorry for what?"

"For asking you about that." she could feel that her eyes went teary. But she didn't really know why. Because she felt sorry for Stefan? Maybe. Or…

"Nah, that's okay. I have someone as important as him too, by the way."

"Yeah? Who is it?"

"You."

Elena couldn't hold her tears anymore. So she let her tears fell down onto her cheeks silently. She thought that she didn't deserve his love because he might lose her as well. And she hated that fact.

"Elena?" Stefan recalled. She cleared her throat a few times. "You okay?"

"I'm okay." she answered but couldn't hide her thick voice. Typically of crying person. And Stefan noticed it.

"Don't cry, baby."

But it made her cried louder instead. Her tears fell like a waterfall.

"Elena?" Stefan suddenly felt depressed. He didn't mean to make her cry louder. Damn it! He cursed to himself. "Elena, I'm sorry." he said again desperately. "What can I do for you? Please tell me." he begged.

Elena didn't say a word. She was too weak to say something. Yet she was still crying too. But then he went silent, hearing and hoping that her cry would stop as soon as possible. He hated to see a girl cry, especially his girl. He felt bad to not to be there for her. He felt bad because he couldn't cheer her up right now. Then he decided to wait for her. He knew she needed her time.

When Stefan knew that Elena calmed for a bit, he sighed. At least the hard time was over. Or still nearly over.

"Stefan?" she called, making sure he was still there.

"I'm here, baby."

"I love hearing you call me baby." Elena tried to bring the situation up. And Stefan respected it.

"Admit it, Elena. You just love me that much, don't you?"

She chuckled with her-still-thick-voice. "Always being confident."

"I am." They went silent for a little while. "You feel better?"

"Yeah. Thank you for not leaving me."

Her words hurt him to be honest. He really felt bad because he couldn't hold her close and let her cry on his shoulder. But he didn't want to show it so he just tried to calm her more. "Anytime, my love."

She leaned back against the head of her bed. "I was so rude to cry in front of you in all of sudden. I'm so sorry."

"You make me worried, Elena." he told her honestly. "But that's okay. I'm glad if you're feeling better now."

"I appreciate that." she said and smiled.

"Hey, tell you what, I can make you feel more better." Stefan promised her.

She raised an eyebrow and asked, "Really? How so?"

"Place your phone as close as possible to your ear."

Elena became more confused but still followed his first instruction.

"Done? I can't see you from here."

Elena laughed a bit. Of course he couldn't see her. "Yes."

"Good. Now, don't say anything and keep your phone close. Keep concentrate."

"Okay."

"Ah ah ah. Don't say anything, remember?" he quickly cut her off before she said something else. "You just have to hear my words."

Elena almost wanted to hurry Stefan up. But then she quickly closed her mouth and smiled.

"I. Love. You." Stefan whispered carefully. "You, Elena Gilbert. I love you." he said again, reassuring her. She kept listening to him but then she heard something. She wasn't sure about it at first. Is that…?

Stefan's kissy voice. It really was.

When she realized it, she laughed out loud. Stefan heard that through his phone as he made kissy voices on the screen then quickly placed his phone against his ear again. "Your laugh is so beautiful." he stated.

She blushed as she heard it. "Thank you, Stefan. You really make me a lot better."

"I'm glad."

"But why did you come up with your kissy idea?" she asked, still containing her laughter.

"Because I wanted to kiss you." he answered honestly. "And I bet you're blushing right now." he added, teasing her.

"Are you even a witchdoctor?" she teased him back.

"Kind of."

Elena chuckled for a millionth time since she called him. Stefan clearly made her feel much better. "Kind of." she stated it back and nodded.

"You ready for bed?"

"Yeah, I just need to brush my teeth and wash my face first."

"Then do it. It's past midnight, Elena." he said, looking at his clock on his nightstand.

"Will do, Sir." Stefan smiled as he heard this. "Hey Stefan." she called him again.

"Yes?"

"It's your turn."

"What turn?"

"Place your phone as close as possible to your ear." she copied his words. Then he smirked as he realized what she exactly meant.

"Up for revenge or something?" Stefan asked playfully and obeyed her.

"Maybe." she answered, trying to sound careless. "Done it?"

"Done."

Elena counted one until three then whispered,

"I love you, Stefan."

Hold on to that, never let that go…

A/N : I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it didn't disappoint you. Please fill me in with reviews so I can try my best to write the next chapter. Thank you so much for reading! :)