Chapter 11: "The Real Date"
379 Words
The next morning, Aria woke up to a note on her door.
_7PM. Wear something that isn’t from my credit card.
- D_
She stared at it for 10 minutes.
This was stupid. This was a date. A _real_ date.
At 7PM sharp, a black car pulled up. No driver.
Damian got out in jeans and a black shirt. No suit.
He looked... younger. Human.
"You look nice," he said when she opened the door.
Aria was in a simple blue dress. Her own. "Thanks. You look illegal."
He almost smiled. Almost.
The restaurant was small. Quiet. No board members. No cameras.
Just them and candles.
For 20 minutes they talked about nothing. Weather. Food.
It was nice. Too nice.
Then the door opened.
Selena.
Damian’s assistant. Evelyn’s best friend.
"Aria," Selena said sweetly. Too sweetly. "Fancy seeing you here."
She turned to Damian. "The board is looking for you. Evelyn’s memorial gala is next week. They need your speech."
The air got cold.
Damian didn’t touch Aria. Didn’t look at her.
"I’ll handle it tomorrow," he said.
Selena smiled at Aria. "Right. The contract wife.
It must be hard. Playing house in her kitchen, sleeping in her bed."
She sipped her wine. "Evelyn would’ve hated this place. Too cheap."
Aria’s hands shook under the table.
Damian stood up so fast his chair screeched.
"Get out," he said. Low. Dangerous. "Now."
Selena laughed. "You can’t fire me, Damian. The board loves me."
She left. But the damage was done.
Silence.
Aria pushed her plate away. "You didn’t tell me about the gala."
Damian rubbed his temples. "I didn’t want to ruin tonight."
"Too late," Aria whispered. "Is that why you brought me here? To see if I could handle it?"
Damian reached across the table. Caught her hand before she could pull away.
"No," he said. "I brought you here because for 2 hours I wanted to pretend we were normal.
And I failed."
Aria looked at their hands. His was warm. Hers was cold.
"The contract was 48 weeks," she said. "How many are left?"
"44," he said immediately.
"Good," Aria said. "Then we have time to figure out if this is real.
Without ghosts. Without Selena."
Damian squeezed her hand. "Deal."
Outside, it started raining again.
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- Writer
