Chapter 5 – Sleeping with Strangers
537 Words
The gala was over.
The lights had dimmed, the cameras packed away, and the last of the wine glasses clinked in the distance as staff cleared out the ballroom.
But the tension?
It followed Aira and Elian all the way back to his penthouse suite.
Their suite.
She stepped inside, heels clicking on polished marble, the echo sounding far too loud in the silence. Elian had barely spoken since his public declaration. She didn’t know what had shaken her more—the way he’d announced their “real” marriage, or the applause that followed it.
“You didn’t have to say that,” she said quietly, finally breaking the silence.
“I did,” Elian replied, removing his cufflinks with practiced ease. “If we’re going to sell this marriage, we need people to believe it. Fully.”
“But calling it real—you blurred the line.”
He looked up at her, gaze unreadable. “Did I?”
Aira opened her mouth, then closed it.
She didn’t have an answer.
The tension between them had shifted—warmer, sharper. Like a wire pulled too tight. They were still strangers, technically. Bound by paper and circumstance. But every glance, every unspoken word, made the air heavier.
She turned away, moving toward the guest bedroom. “I’ll take that one.”
“You’ll take the master,” Elian said.
She spun around. “Excuse me?”
“People will ask questions. Staff. My housekeeper. You think they won’t talk?”
Aira groaned. “So now I have to sleep next to you too?”
“You can sleep beside me,” he said evenly. “It’s a king-sized bed. I don’t bite.”
“Not reassuring,” she muttered, but she followed him anyway.
---
The master bedroom was like something out of a dream—soft lighting, clean lines, sheets so pristine they looked untouched. Aira sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her reflection in the glass wall.
“How long do you think we can keep this up?” she asked softly.
Elian stood by the window, his back to her, sleeves rolled up, his silhouette cutting into the skyline. “As long as we need to.”
“What happens if someone finds out?”
He turned slowly, eyes meeting hers. “Then we both lose. So don’t give them a reason to doubt.”
Aira laid back with a sigh. “You’re exhausting.”
“I’ve been told.”
A pause.
Then his voice, low and unexpected:
“You did well tonight.”
She glanced at him, surprised. “Was that a compliment?”
“Don’t get used to it.”
She smiled faintly and rolled over, facing the opposite side of the bed. “Good night, Mr. Navarro.”
He replied after a beat. “Good night, Mrs. Navarro.”
The room fell into silence, save for the distant hum of the city below.
They lay inches apart, not touching—yet the space between them buzzed like static.
She didn’t know when her eyes finally closed, but her last thought was clear:
This isn’t going to stay just business.
And when the lines blur… hearts break.
- Writer
