Sebastian woke before dawn, eyes snapping open to the silence of his room. Sleep had been a losing battle, slipping away with each minute that replayed the chaos of the past few days. He sat up, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth despite the tension coiled in his chest. The world was already buzzing with the news of his engagement, and he hadn’t even had a chance to get ahead of it. Typical, he thought. The whispers had reached him at work yesterday, glances that held a mix of awe and disbelief, colleagues testing the waters with hesitant congratulations. It was a circus he had no patience for.
He rolled his shoulders, pushing out the stiffness that settled there like an old enemy. The engagement wasn’t supposed to be public yet. Not until he was ready. But Aria’s name tied to his
