**Natalie’s POV**
"Of course you are my real boyfriend!" I blurted out, the words rushing from my mouth in a frantic, breathy sob.
My heart was hammering so violently against my ribs that I thought my chest would split open. I reached out, my fingers trembling as I desperately tried to touch his arm, to anchor him to the fragile reality I had constructed. I needed him to see the adoration in my eyes, needed him to feel the raw, suffocating fear that was currently consuming every cell of my body.
"How could you even ask me that, Gavin?" I pleaded, tears spilling over my lashes and burning hot trails down my pale cheeks. "You are my entire world. Every touch, every word, every moment we’ve shared... it’s all real to me. You’re not a game. You’re not a contract. You are my real boyfriend,
