"Nate! I'm here, and I come bearing chocolates!"

Sebastian was grinning, his voice filled with warmth as he opened his arms up for his nephew to come running into. The tiny boy, with glasses that were too big for his face, came bounding down the hallway to be smoothly scooped up by Sebastian, both their faces beaming. 

Rose stared.

Just moments ago, even as they had stood before his family's imposing mansion, she had felt frigid waves coming off him. He hadn't said a word the whole way here, hadn't so much as looked her way. But the moment the door opened, it was like a switch had gone off in him. He was smiling, greeting his sister, and now ruffling up the his nephew's hair. Rose wasn't sure how to react.

"Every time Seb visits, I swear Nate gets twenty percent harder to parent."

Rose blinked, forcing her eyes away from Sebastian, to look at his sister, who was smiling at her. At almost the same height as Seb, with her dark hair breezing past her jaw, Serena Price cut an imposing figure. Rose had met her briefly, but under the flickering gaze of the cameras, they never really had a chance to get to know each other. And with the truly terrible day she was having, she didn't feel like socializing much right now either. But she couldn't exactly back out now, so Rose plastered a polite smile on her face.

"I've heard Seb talk a lot about him, he's definitely very fond of Nathan," Rose said with a polite smile, casting a glance their way. Her heart clenched slightly at how happy Sebastian seemed, how easily those two seemed to get along. They had made themselves comfortable on the floor, with Nate ripping into the huge box of chocolates Seb had gotten him. 

Serena laughed softly. "Leave those two be. Seb goes right back to an age that's in single digits whenever he's around Nate. And I'm wearing clothes that are in too pristine a condition to be parenting two children. Come this way."

She glided across the hall, stopping only for a second to put the flowers Seb had got her into a vase, before heading towards the tea room. Rose followed, trying to ignore the queasy feeling of anxiety swirling around in her stomach. 

But, as she soon realised, she had nothing to feel anxious about. 

Clearly, being a conversationalist ran in the family. After the first few quiet moments of the two of them settling into the cozy room, Serena dipped into stories, about their childhood, about her marriage, about her son, pulling Rose in, until soon she was laughing along. The morning felt far away as she sipped jasmine tea, a fruitcake sitting half eaten on her plate.

"So," Serena started, daintily placing her teacup down before leaning forward conspiratorially. "Enough about dumb boys. Tell me about you. I can't believe I've had a sister-in-law for two whole months, and I've not once had a proper conversation with her."

Rose laughed softly, shaking her head. "It truly is criminal. But, you're really not missing out. There's not much going on with me."

"Is that so?" Serena raised an eyebrow. "Shocking. I remember hearing something new about you every day when Seb was in college. He wouldn't shut up about you."

Rose felt the breath still in her chest. "What?" she asked, her voice sounding far away.

Seb wouldn't shut up about her?

Serena's red tinted lips pulled up in a sharp smile, and it slowly dawned on Rose that this conversation might not have been quite as simple as she initially assumed. "Oh, you know," Serena hummed, her voice deceptively casual. "My little brother had quite the celebrity crush on you. Would talk about how pretty you were and how he wished he could meet you, all the time. He used to stay updated on every crazy adventure the tabloids claimed you got up to. Which, actually, I've always wondered; did you actually start that charity to get free drugs to addicts who couldn't afford them?"

The half cake she had eaten was turning to stone in her stomach. "I... I did a lot of stupid things when I was younger," Rose mumbled. 

"See?" Serena's dark eyes sparkled. "I can't imagine someone so colourful would have not much going on anymore. You definitely created lasting impressions on people who never even met you. Did you know, mom and dad had been trying to marry Seb off for the last two years. He refused to even think about it, until they mentioned the Beaumonts."

"I didn't know any of that," Rose mumbled, and as she watched Serena pick her tea back up to take a long sip, it became entirely evident to her that Serena was well aware of this. On any other day, Rose might have played this smoother—she had been friends with Naina long enough to know how to handle this specific genre of people. But not today. Before she could think it through too much, she found herself placing the tea cup down, her eyebrows knit. "Why are you telling me this?"

Serena looked at her, a smile playing on her lips. "We're family now, aren't we? Figured I'd share some secrets."

With that cryptic sentence, she got up, beckoning for Rose to follow. 

The rest of the night was strange. It felt like Rose had walked into a Hallmark movie's family montage scene. Jace, Serena's husband, had appeared too, and all of them swapped stories and banter, the laughter flowing almost as easily as the mulled wine they had served. Nate was the absolute cutest child Rose had ever met, and Serena and Jace found ways to pull her into the conversation, never once making her feel excluded.

And yet, everything felt slightly off.

Maybe it was Serena's words, weighing on Rose's mind. Or perhaps, it was the fact that the whole night was winding to an end, and Sebastian still hadn't looked at her. 

He had been civil, of course. He had passed her the salt when she asked for it, and politely replied to her when the conversation demanded it. But not once did he look at her for more than half a second. And it was killing Rose. For all the strangeness of the whole setting, this was what she had always wanted. A close knit family, with people who truly, genuinely cared about each other. Not the plastic pieces on a chessboard that the Beaumonts were, but this. A real family. This had been her chance, and Rose had squandered it. 

Nate had fallen asleep on the living room couch by the time they said their goodnights. The air was colder, and the moon was hiding behind a blanket of clouds as Sebastian and Rose made their way back to the car. The drive back home felt much longer, somehow, even though the roads were empty.

As they entered their quiet house again, with Sebastian walking in silent as the night, Rose finally couldn't take it any more. She whirled around to face him, the dim lighting casting dancing shadows around them.

"Why did you agree to marry me, Sebastian?"

Sebastian looked surprised—the first bit of expression he had sent her way since this morning. But it flickered out almost as quickly as it had arrived. "What's this about?" he asked, his face schooled back into its neutral mask.

"Please," she implored, her voice soft. "I need to know—"

"What, Rose? What do you need to know?"

Rose winced, her eyes widening slightly as Sebastian took a step towards her, his expression fracturing. The low lights of the room reflected in his eyes, setting them ablaze as he took another step closer to her. A soft breath escaped her lips as she suddenly felt the wall hit her back, the cold seeping through her clothes. 

"Do you realise how cruel you are, Rose?" he whispered, tilting his head down, his eyes boring into hers. "You held me, night after night, in your sleep. You kissed me, and told me to not talk about it. You slept with me, and then disappeared with no note or warning, whatsoever." He leaned in closer, close enough for Rose to feel the heat of his breath against her skin, and catch a whiff of the alcohol they had drunk at dinner on his breath. 

"Seb, please, I really didn't mean to—"

Before Rose could say anything more, his palm was pressed against her mouth. "Stop. Stop. Stop calling me 'Seb' like that, stop looking at me like that, just stop." He closed his eyes, his forehead dropping to rest against hers. Rose was sure her heart simply stopped. 

"Do you really want to know why I married you?" he whispered, and all Rose could do was make a quiet sound, the noise muffled by his hand. "You have haunted my daydreams, Rose. You, with your fire red hair and your crazy hijinks. Everything I had ever heard about you—it never left my head. You never left my head. But you always seemed so far away. So out of reach. A distant star that I was cursed to forever dream about. And I was fine with that. Us mere mortals can't dream of grasping a burning star." Something between a breath and a bitter laugh left his lips. "But then, I found out that your family was looking for a groom—no. No. They were auctioning you off to the highest bidder. One Rosaline Beaumont, for the mere price of investing in all their future projects. A piece of work, those Beaumonts. But they... they gave me you." He looked down at her, finally dropping his hand. "And now you're here. You're here, you're my wife, and you've never felt farther away. And I don't know what to do, Rose. I don't know how to act. You are driving me crazy, and I don't know what to do."

Rose stared at him, her eyes wide, her heart a sledgehammer against her chest. He wasn't holding her mouth shut anymore, but she had no words. Sebastian had his eyes closed still, as if he was scared to look. To see her, to open his eyes to the world his words had just created.

Rose didn't dare to breathe as she raised a hand, ignoring the slight tremor in it as she lifted it up to place her open palm against his chest. She could feel the way his heart thundered under her touch, see how his face twisted, as if she were torturing him. 

For a split second, she thought of Malachi. How she had known from the very first moment that she had seen him; she was his, and he was hers. 

Except he wasn't, not really. He never had been.

Everything she had felt for Malachi had been built on quicksand, and they had drowned in it. Even now, four years later, she was still drowning, still suffocating because of him.

She looked at Sebastian again, her eyes trailing over his face. 

Rose was tired of drowning. Of burning.

Maybe love could be a choice. 

And she wanted to choose this.

She wanted to choose him.

"I want to do this," she whispered, and his eyes flew open. She held his gaze, drinking in the shock, the small spark of hope. "I don't want to run away, and not talk about this. I want to do this, properly. I want to be your wife."

—🥀—

A/N: okay NOW I can wish you a happy valentine's day, and mean it. double update because I couldn't possibly have that miserable previous chapter as the update for the day of love ✨

how have you all been celebrating? I hope it's been a day filled with love (and hopefully, some chocolates and flowers, too). much MUCH love from me to all of you <3

let me know your thoughts on the chapter, and do vote if you liked it!

Love,
Mimia 🍓