"Can you just leave me alone, Sebastian?" Ella asked, hoping it'd be easy.

"That's not a nice way to talk to me." Sebastian grabbed her forearm.

"What do you think you're doing? Let go of me." She tried to pull away from him and then shrunk back at the dark look in his eyes. Please, someone... help me... She quivered and scrunched her eyes closed.

"Get your hands off her." A woman in dark clothing and sunglasses came charging at them and chopped at his hand.

"Alice?" Ella recognized her voice.

"Ouch." Sebastian let go and rubbed his hand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He raised his hand, ready to slap Alice.

"I'd rethink that if I were you." Charlie appeared from the other side and grabbed his raised arm. He shoved her off, and she stumbled back. "Dammit," she cursed under her breath as she hit the ground.

"Charlie!" Ella reached out to her and Sebastian blocked her path. "Stop it, Sebastian. I know how much you hate making a scene, and this is turning into one."

"It's only turning into one because you're reacting like this."

"Still never willing to admit when something's your fault?" How can a decade go by, but he still stayed this way?

"How is this any of my fault? Come on, let's go talk in private." He reached out to grab her, but someone else grabbed him again. This time, he yelped in pain as he was brought to his knees.

"What's going on here?" Leon was fuming. He had rushed over once he saw Sebastian push Charlie.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Ella's fiancé. Who are you?"

Sebastian's expression darkened. "Her ex-fiancé."

Leon's eyes widened. He never expected to meet any of them. "Well... That doesn't matter; you're in the past and I'm her future."

"We'll see about that. I think it's fate we reunited here, of all places."

Ella took a few steps back, her stomach in her throat.

"Why would it matter where you are?" Leon moved to step between them, blocking his view of her.

"Heh, you don't know much about her past, do you?"

Don't tell him.

"This is the place we got engaged."

And the place you broke my heart... Ella backed away from all of them, her breathing ragged.

"She must've had me in mind to bring you here." He laughed. "Doesn't bode well for you, bub. Why don't you just move along and forget about her?"

"How can you talk all big while you're on your knees?" Leon put pressure on Sebastian's arm and he yelped.

"Don't worry, security is coming for him," Alice said, her phone to her head. "They'll deal with you. Ella...?" Alice looked over behind Leon and didn't see her. "Where'd she go?"

Charlie turned around and searched the crowd before pulling her phone out to call her. "She's not answering."

"She... ran away?" Alice bit her lip.

"This place is huge; how are we supposed to find her?"

"Call Kyra... Oh, there's security now." Alice waved them over.

After a lot of arguing and outsiders explaining what they saw, security dragged Sebastian out of the amusement park and put a ban on him. Kyra showed up in time to see Sebastian leaving.

"I guess I know why he looked familiar now," Charlie said, remembering an old photo she saw of Ella with him.

"None of you know him?" Leon asked. He looked between them all; when he checked up on Ella, he was told about her close friendship with all of them.

"He's... pre-our time," Alice said. "Like... he was the high school sweetheart, and I knew he asked her to marry him, but she never said anything about agreeing to it... to me, at least. On that note, she never said much about him, but we all got the feeling things didn't end on a good note."

"She talked to me about him once," Kyra said. "She said he was sweet in the beginning, until they started college, and then he changed. He became possessive and controlling... to the point of not wanting to let her out on her own. She was so afraid of him..." Kyra sighed. "I wish she never had to run into him ever again."

"What's done is done." He held his phone out. "Give me your numbers, and we can split up to look for her."

"Okay." Kyra took it and put all their numbers in. "We'll let you know." Kyra headed off first, hustling like a mother looking for her baby.

"I still doubt she wants to talk to me..." Alice trailed off, realizing Ella had more than one reason to want to run than she thought. "But I'll let you know..."

"Come on." Charlie wrapped her arm around Alice's.  "We'll check on the other side of the amusement park. Good luck." Charlie dragged her away.

"Ella... Where would you go?" Leon looked at his surroundings, trying to remember any place in the amusement park that stood out. Where would she hide? Where would she run to? Is there somewhere she'd feel safe away from everyone? He looked up in the distance and saw the Ferris wheel. "Maybe..." he mumbled and took off towards it.

Why? Why did he have to be here the same day as me? Ella sat on a bench surrounded by foliage on an elevated area, blocked off from people's views. Most people didn't know about it, but she had found it while working there, and used it as her place to relax while still in the amusement park. I haven't been here in so long. She gazed up at the Ferris wheel in clear view. I used to love looking at it, but now... it makes me remember him...

Ella played with the ring on her finger, trying to remind herself that things were different now. Sebastian had been out of her life for so long, but seeing him again brought back a lot of memories; both good and heartbreakingly bad.

"Have I really not changed?" Ella rested her head in her hands. I'm still just running away from everything, even though my friends were there. They were trying to protect me, and I ran. I'm so pathetic... Tears threatened to fall.

Leon stood in front of the Ferris wheel, the sky darkening. There was a line-up for the Ferris wheel, and Ella wasn't there. He approached the attendant and pulled up a picture of her on his phone. "Have you seen this woman?"

They looked closely at the picture. "It's hard to say; so many people go through here... but I don't think so. I'm sorry."

"Okay..." he sighed and stepped away. "If she's not here, then where?" He gripped the metal railing and gazed up at the Ferris wheel. "If she's not on it, then maybe she's somewhere she can view it." He scanned through the nearby crowds. "Or I'm wrong and she's not here at all." He sighed and stretched his stiff neck. A cliff above with a railing caught his eye. He could see trees and bushes, but since it had a railing, it must've still been a part of the amusement park. "How would I even get up there?"

No matter how many tears she wiped away, they kept coming back. "Ugh, why won't it stop?"

"Because you keep avoiding your past pain instead of dealing with it." The bushes behind her rustled and Leon came out, a bit out of breath. "Do you know how hard it is to find this spot?" he huffed and sat down next to her.

She tensed, clutching her phone in her hands as she expected the worst.

He leaned back, gazed up at the sky, and let out an exhausted sigh. "Ah... I thought I was in better shape than this..." He steadied his breathing before turning to look at her. A tear-stained face and red eyes. She turned away from him.

Strong arms wrapped around her from behind and hugged her tightly. "It's not the past, Ella; he has nothing to do with you anymore," Leon whispered into her ear. "He's been tossed out of the amusement park and can't hurt you anymore." She trembled in his arms. "If you can manage to trust me, I can keep you safe."

"You're not... mad?"

"Maybe a little, but I was more afraid and worried than anything. I'm so glad I found you, and that you're safe." He sighed and hugged her tighter.

Much to her own surprise, her tears stopped, and she leaned back into him. "I'm... sorry about him."

"What are you apologizing for? You didn't ask him to come here."

"But..."

"None of what happened is your fault." He pulled her over onto his lap, his arms still around her waist.

"W-what are you doing?" She tried to get off of him, but his grip tightened.

"Hopefully making you more safe and comfortable, and trying to get a look at your face since you're trying to hide it from me." And make sure she didn't run, but he didn't want to say it out loud.

More nervous, not more comfortable. "Don't look at my face right now; it's a mess."

"I'm going to be your husband; I plan to see every face you can make, and hopefully be the only one for some of them."

Her lip quivered.

"Your friends are worried about you, especially Alice, so once you're feeling better, you should talk to them. For now, I'll let them know you're safe." He pulled out his phone and texted the others.

"You have their numbers?"

"Yes, for exactly this purpose. Look, they're happy you're alright." He showed her the texts from them on his phone.

Of course, they'd go looking; my friends are awesome, and I'm not sure I even deserve them with the trouble I always cause.

"And they went looking for you because they care about you, you know? They value you more than you know. And regardless of what you think, you're an amazing person to them... and to me..."

She cringed. He doesn't know me well enough for that.

"I know you better than you think..."

"And apparently you're a mind reader." She glanced at him.

"I've just noticed how hard you are on yourself sometimes, and how much you seem to run away from things."

"Ha... pathetic, isn't it? I can't see anything through, can I? It's no wonder my relationships explode."

"I don't think it's pathetic. A bit worrying because I don't want you to run from me, but no, not pathetic. If anything, I think you have a trauma that keeps nagging you more than it does most people, but that doesn't mean things won't change. And how long have you four been friends?"

"I'm not even sure anymore... almost ten years, I think. Kyra remembers dates better..."

"See, you have a long-term relationship that's still going, several, actually. And as long as you make up with Alice like I know you both want to, I think it'll last a lifetime. I'm also hoping a certain other relationship lasts a lifetime." He sighed and kissed her shoulder.

"You know... with this whole fiancée thing, I kinda expected you to use me for a few years, then discard me, but you're serious about a lifetime, aren't you?"

His eyes widened slightly. "I told you it was a lifetime commitment before..."

"Yeah, but... Look at how we went about things. I keep thinking you were desperate to find someone normal who wasn't after your money, and you figured you could stand being around me, so you went with me as quickly as you could after we met that night."

He took a deep breath. "I know this might seem like a contract marriage or something like that, but it's not really. I mean, I need you to inherit the company, but I'm not going to leave you after a few years or anything like that. I'm the one bound by all sorts of things; you're really the one thing... person I got to choose for my life. Hell, if you don't want to bear kids in the future, I'm totally okay with adopting a kid."

"I... I guess even with all you've said, I still didn't believe you were serious."

"Do you now?" His eyes pleaded with her. "Because I have been serious this whole time."

It still doesn't make sense to me... Why me? "You're one-hundred percent certain you want me?"

"Yes."

She sighed and looked up at the darkened sky. "I guess that means you deserved to know about... Sebastian..."

"I will admit I'm curious, but you don't have to talk about him if you don't want to." He could only imagine all the bad memories that might come back by talking about him.

"You should know about him... and about my dad I guess..." Or the other ones that proposed? That might be a bit much all at once.

"Well, I want to know more about you, but you don't have to stress yourself out about it, or do it all at once. That said, I'd love to talk. So, shall we head home?"

"That's a bit of a drive... and I don't want to lose my nerve." I definitely want something to drink.

"There's a great hotel right here at the amusement park, if you'd prefer that."

"Wouldn't it be bad to stay in one that isn't your own or something?"

He chuckled. "One, I'm allowed to stay wherever I want and no one will care since it's a hotel, and two, my dad owns the one attached to this place, anyway..."

"Does it have alcohol?" Although I stopped drinking after that night... for a while...

"Of course."

"Then let's go." She went to stand and finally remembered she'd been sitting on his lap the entire time, his arm still around her waist. "Um..."

"Want me to carry you there?"

"I'll pass..." That'd be super embarrassing.

Leon sighed. "I guess I have to let go now." He slowly released her because he wasn't sure she wouldn't run away.

"Thanks." She hopped off of him, her ears red, and her back turned to him as she held her hand out. "Let's go."