Fake Husband, Real Affair

Chapter 11

Caleb was hurt because of me. From beginning to end, he was the innocent one. I didn't know how to face him.

Just like this past week, he'd confessed his feelings to me more times than I could count, and every time, I was silent. I just didn't know how to respond.

Maybe he noticed how long I paused while peeling the apple, because he smiled and said with a teasing glint in his eye, "If you still feel guilty, you could always make it up to me by saying yes."

I gave him a faint smile.

"Caleb, don't do this. I'm not in the right place for a relationship right now."

"That's okay," he said casually, "I'll wait."

Mischa lost it.

This morning's headlines had been blowing up all day. Ever since that last product launch, when she publicly lashed out at Sean during the live event, her career had started spiraling. Her image was wrecked, her endorsement deal terminated, and the drama roles she had lined up? All on hold.

The breach of contract penalties wiped out nearly everything she had.

The company, eager to protect its own interests, cut ties with her overnight.

Rumors started swirling, claims that Mischa was trying to 'repay' her sponsor through more… intimate means. No one could tell where the truth ended and the manipulation began. The entertainment industry was ruthless like that. People didn't care who got trampled, as long as the story sold.

When Mischa finally responded, she denied everything. Said she'd agreed to testify about the contract dispute, but called the rest "baseless fantasies."

No one believed her. And honestly, I wasn't sure I did either.

A few months later, I was offered a chance to study abroad in Germany, a one-year intensive graduate program. The curriculum was tight, with internships and research crammed into a single whirlwind of a year. But the reward? A direct pipeline into top hospitals for medical grads.

I thought I'd be doing it alone.

But then Caleb showed up, suitcase in hand. He'd quit his job and followed me overseas without hesitation.

On the plane, he gently pulled a blanket over me and said, "Get some sleep. We've got more than ten hours ahead of us."

I looked at him, really looked at him, and asked the question that had been weighing on me for so long.

"Caleb… how long do you plan to keep doing this? Staying in this undefined thing with me?"

"How many more times do I have to push you away before you finally let go?" My voice was low. "Or are you just waiting to get tired of me?"

He didn't hesitate.

"Until the day you believe you deserve to be loved, and are ready to love someone back. That's when we'll stop this... and that's the day you'll become my wife."

(The End)