You run until you're out of breath. That's what I'd been doing for years. I ran away from my home when I thought I was losing my voice; I ran away from my family when I lost my father; I ran away from New York when I realized I lost myself. I ran every time I thought I didn't have a choice.

But when I finally ran out of breath and slowed down, I realized how much life I had to live. I stopped trying to make up for lost time and started living in the present. Paul was the biggest part of that. When we moved to Seattle, as soon as we stepped foot into our apartment, it felt right.

I ended up going back to New York a couple of times for the lawsuit which was the most stressful thing in the world to do. Paul asked if I wanted him to go with him. And originally, I had said no because I knew I needed to close this door by myself. But to my shock, after I'd boarded the plane, I was sitting there minding my own business when a very tall, very handsome Paul Lahote came to sit right next to me right before the doors closed. "Hey, pretty lady," he'd said with a wide grin on his face. "New York, huh? I used to live there once upon a time. Moved with my girlfriend. I'm meeting her there actually. She's a very important photographer. So what's your name, gorgeous?"

"What are you doing here?" I'd asked, tears in my eyes.

He put a hand over mine. "I'd never let you do this alone," he'd told me.

Telling my story with Julian over and over and over again in front of lawyers, my boss, and my boyfriend was really hard. But it was the very least I could do in order to really make a difference. I met the girl that was suing Julian; she was just a kid. She was still very shy and bashful and, just by looking at her, you would have never thought she would have ever gotten involved with someone like Julian. But maybe…that's the point. People like me and GiGi and Adriana are so loud with our opinions, he needed to switch up his MO. That's just my theory…

In the end, they couldn't really hammer him for revenge porn because there was no direct evidence of how the video got out. It's all very…complicated. But the media storm it created was insane.

"Lee, look at this," Paul had said, handing me his phone the morning before we left for New York.

Prestigious Columbia professor accused of revenge porn and grooming in new lawsuit

And there it was. A big old picture of Julian walking into his lawyer's office and dodging pictures. I could almost feel bad for him. He looked rough. Like he hadn't slept in days, his hair was a mess, and his beard was fully grown in instead of the close cut he usually kept. But it was him. Clear as day. Identified as Professor Julian Gerard in the caption.

"Wow," I breathed. I quietly read the article to myself. It was The New York Times. Real deal. They really meant it when they said media coverage. Within days, it was everywhere. At first the attention made me nervous because my name was included, along with GiGi's, as one of the people speaking out against him. But the world didn't end. My existence didn't collapse on itself. Once it was all over, I really felt free.

Life is as wonderful as we make it. And my love and I look at each day in a brand new way. Every day is a new adventure, as fast or as slow as we want it to be. And we get to live out the dreams the way that we always saw for ourselves.

I was closing up my studio on a Wednesday evening. I had been working on my very first showcase for months now and was finally in the home stretch. I would be showing my work alongside three other local photographers in a couple of days. The freedom to make art and work with artists has been the most amazing feeling in the world. Shutting off the lights, I checked for everything I needed. My phone, my keys, my wallet, my camera.

Before I pulled out of the lot in my little Nissan, I stopped for a second as I felt myself smile. My heart was warm, my steps felt lighter, and I finally let myself release the dread and anxiety. I was living. I was letting myself live.

And so was Paul. It was beautiful to see him happy again. He was splitting his time between the new restaurant in Seattle and the bar in La Push. I worried that that would be too time consuming, too tiring. But he loved every second of it. He got to spend time with the wolves and he got to be the chef he always dreamed he would be. And, in his downtime, he would still make me dinner and my favorite desserts in the apartment we made home.

I pulled up to Sebaste and found it to be a little more crowded than it normally is on a Wednesday night. The kitchen closed in exactly 45 minutes and that was always just enough time for me to sit down for dinner and for a certain someone to join me for wine and dessert. I walked into the front where Hannah, the hostess, was just looking up from her iPad. Her face brightened as she saw me. "Hey Leah, welcome back! Small table for two?"

"Only if you have the space," I told her. It was a full house.

She waved me off. "There's always room for you. Follow me." She took me to a small table in the back. I liked this table; it was quiet, intimate.

I had a glass of wine while I waited for my food which was personally delivered to me by a very handsome Paul Lahote. He grinned as he set my plate of pasta down. "Hello beautiful," he said, bending over to kiss me. "How was the studio?"

"It was great. I picked my final piece for the showcase," I told him. I could tell my voice was bouncing with excitement.

"I can't wait to hear all about it after I get the kitchen shut down," he said. "I'll be back in a little bit, ok?"

"Go," I said, smiling at him. There are no words to describe how proud I was of him. It was unreal to see him in his element this way.

"Enjoy," he said with a wink.

The restaurant was this very cool, moody type of place with walls covered top to bottom in plants and warm lighting and cozy, private booths. Perfect for date nights or a private dinner for one. It was very quickly becoming a local favorite. Nothing but good vibes, good music, and amazing food.

This was a typical Wednesday night for us. I'd people-watch until a bottle of red and a cinnamon roll with two forks appeared. And we'd talk for hours after closing and then go home. It was perfect. He was perfect.

As we were enjoying our time, I said to him, "You know, it's fine if you can't make it on Friday. I know how busy Fridays are for you."

He shook his head. "I've already got the full day covered. Jared and Seth have the bar fully staffed and managed; inventory's done, deliveries are handled. All they have to do is open the door. And my staff here can deal without me for a night."

"I just don't want to step on any toes."

"Baby," he took my hand from across the table. "This is your first show; I wouldn't miss it for the world. Do you know how many times I'm going to point at your work and go 'hey, buddy, my girlfriend took that'? I can't wait."

I laughed and shook my head. We finished dessert and Paul drove us home. Our home.

When Friday came, I was a nervous wreck. I had gotten up at 5 am so I could go for a run and then head straight to the gallery. Paul called me around 8 in the morning completely unsurprised that I was already gone when he woke up. "Do you want me to bring you coffee?" he asked as he yawned.

"God no, I think I'll explode if I have caffeine on top of all of these nerves," I sighed. "Just relax, I'll be home around lunch."

"Everything is already in place, Lee. There's nothing else to be done," he told me.

"Did you order the food?" I asked.

He chuckled. "Of course I did. I'll be hand delivering it myself at 5:00 sharp. Stop stressing, my love."

I blew out a big breath. And, for a second, I let myself be warmed that this was my stress. It wasn't Julian or Sam or dealing with the death of my dad. I was having very normal stress happening in my very normal life.

Somewhere in the midst of the day, I managed to get back home and shower and get dressed. Right before people started to arrive, I was nitpicking around the gallery before stopping in front of a mirror. I ran my fingers through my curled hair no more than a million times when Paul appeared behind me. He tenderly grabbed my hand to stop me. "You look perfect," he said.

I turned to him and saw a huge bouquet of red roses in his hands. "What did you do?" I laughed.

"What you deserve," he said with a grin. The other artists were doing their own last minute checks around us and I couldn't ignore that warm feeling that you get all over your body when you're in love. "I'm beyond proud of you, Lee."

As people started to file into the gallery, it really set in that I was doing what I'd always dreamed. With the person I was always meant to be with. Throughout the night, our friends and family stopped by to congratulate me. Seth and Alexis were glowing in their married life, Rachel came with Embry and she actually ended up buying a photo that I took while I was in La Push. It was one of my favorites, and I couldn't be happier that it was going with my best friend.

And then Bex came in with her husband…and her little baby daughter, Leilani. I gasped as she reached her little arms for me. "Hello, my little flower baby," I cooed as I kissed her cheek. Bex and Sol were splitting their time between Port Angeles and Honolulu. They said it was so important that their children experience both of their cultures. Which was amazing—and incredible for me because I got to hang out with my best friend and her little creation whenever I wanted.

"Lee, this place looks incredible," Bex said, grinning. "Congratulations, babe."

"It's surreal," I shook my head. Then I squealed, "But we did it!"

"You did it," Rachel corrected.

My heart had never felt warmer. The crowd was buzzing the whole night and I got my fair share of compliments on my art. That never gets old.

Then something strange happened. Bex had gone to the bathroom to change the baby, Rachel walked away to get herself a drink, and Paul was talking to Embry and Jared, who came with his wife, Kim. I don't know what it was…intuition, I guess? But I looked up and locked eyes with a very familiar pair of emerald green eyes. Adriana was wearing her signature red in a pair of leather pants and a tight cropped top. She was holding a clutch and had an unreadable look on her face. She placed a gentle hand on the person next to her and whispered to them before walking toward me.

Fight, flight, or freeze? My body chose freeze. I hadn't seen Adriana in almost five years. She hadn't showed up to any of the trial dates; she had gone completely AWOL after Julian was in the news. So to see her standing two feet in front of me, in six inch heels, was jarring. "This is impressive. I knew you were a genius," she said, a light smile on her lips.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came to see you," she said.

"Why?"

"Come on, don't be like that, Leah. We were friends at some point."

My brows furrowed. "Friends don't do what you did to me," I reminded her. "I think you should leave."

Adriana rolled her eyes. "You're being a little sensiti—," she was saying as I turned to walk away from her. She gently restrained my wrist. "Wait, stop. I'm sorry, ok?"

"Sorry?" I repeated. "You're sorry?"

"Yes," she sighed. "Look…I don't like the way things went down. Julian…he…I felt like I owed him my life. And I was scared, ok? He was the only person I had in Manhattan. But what he did…it was wrong. I knew it was happening and I didn't do anything about it and I feel awful."

Paul had said that Adriana was as much of a victim as I was. He was right. She was a victim…probably even more than me.

"Thank you," she finished, "for what you guys did. I feel like we're all finally free of Julian Gerard."

My mouth was all of a sudden very dry. "You're welcome."

She nodded once with a tight smile. "Maybe I'll see you around." She walked away from me. And that was honestly the last time I ever saw Adriana.

Paul came up to check on me; he'd heard the whole thing. "Are you ok?" he asked, running my arms up and down. Bex and Rachel were approaching, laughing and joyous.

"Yeah, I'm good," I grinned. Standing here, surrounded by, not only my friends, but the love of my life too? It's worth way more than gold. I reached to drape an arm around Paul's neck to bring him to kiss me. He pulled my body to his and we fit just perfect. Everything was perfect. This is just a small glimpse of our little life together. What we've done so far is nothing short of spectacular.

See, we told you this is a love story.