The CEO's One Night Stand Wife

l My life had always played out like a Barbie cartoon, bright and full of happy moments. Then my mum died, and everything started to crumble. My father remarried almost immediately, as if he had been waiting for her death all along. ⸻ The sun rose beautifully that morning. The air blew gently, as if it had heard my silent prayer. I stepped out of my apartment in the best dress I owned. Simple, if I had to classify it. At the venue, I sat in a corner waiting for my dad and his wife. One hour passed. Then two. No sign of them. When my name was called, I walked to the podium alone and collected my certificate to polite applause. I spent the whole day by myself. Just as I was about to call it a day, Amir walked up to me with his family. His little sister Noor had always called me "big sis." She whispered it now, and we smiled at each other. I greeted his parents, and his mum studied me warmly. "You must be Miriam?" I looked at Amir for an explanation, but he looked away at once. "Yes, ma." She took my hands. "Thank you for making Amir's university days memorable. There was never a day he didn't talk about you. You're always on his lips." I almost laughed. Instead, I composed myself and thanked her for raising such an amazing son. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to go home. My parents aren't here, so I'll just..." I left the sentence hanging. I'm sure they understood. Then Amir put me in a tight spot. "I thought you lived alone? Your parents are out of the country, right?" Noor tugged my sleeve. "Big sis, come for dinner! Stay over, it's your last week in the neighbourhood." I was about to refuse when his mum insisted. What else could I say? They welcomed me, and for the first time in months, I felt at home. We ate, laughed, and gisted for hours. His father joked that Amir would take over the family company at the end of the month, and Amir groaned like a man being sentenced. Later, Noor hugged me goodnight and his mum led me to the annex. I had barely sat on the bed when someone knocked. It was Amir. "I wanted to make sure you were comfortable." He leaned on the doorframe. "So... what next? Will you be working for your parents, or...?" "As if I have a choice." I tried to laugh, but it cracked in the middle. "My dad didn't even show up today, Amir. Not even a call. My mum would have been in the front row with a banner." He stepped inside and closed the door softly. I told him everything I had never told anyone: the silence in the house after the funeral, the stepmother who moved in within weeks, the father who stopped seeing me. Somewhere between my second sentence and my last, I was crying. Amir sat beside me and held me without a word. "You're not alone," he said. "You never were." His thumb wiped my cheek and stayed there. The room went very quiet. I should have moved away. He should have stood up and left. Neither of us did. When he kissed me, it felt like the first honest thing to happen all day. "We shouldn't," he whispered against my lips. "I know," I said, and pulled him closer anyway. The lights went out, and the rest of the night belonged to grief, loneliness, and a closeness I should have been strong enough to refuse. ⸻ I woke at dawn to the sound of birds and the weight of what we had done. Amir was awake, staring at the ceiling. "Miriam..." "It was a mistake," I said before he could. My voice sounded strangely calm. "We were both emotional. Let's forget it." He didn't argue, and that hurt more than it should have. I dressed, slipped out before breakfast, and left a note for his mum. By noon, I had packed my life into two bags. I told myself it would be easy to forget. Five weeks later, in a new city, I sat on the cold bathroom floor, staring at a small white stick. Two lines. Clear. Unmistakable. My hands shook. The mistake I had run away from was now growing inside me. And the father of my child was the man who would soon run his family's empire.