20- Married?

The ballroom was more luxurious than Elena had expected.

Enormous crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, golden lights reflected off the marble floors, and elegantly dressed guests mingled throughout the room, exchanging quiet conversations.

She entered beside Kaysen, her arm resting on his just as it had when they arrived.

She was trying to hide her nervousness, but it wasn’t easy. She wasn’t accustomed to attending events like this or standing among people who seemed to know one another so well, while she didn’t even understand why some of them kept looking at her.

Kaysen leaned slightly toward her.

“You’re nervous.”

She turned to him.

“Is it that obvious?”

“To me, yes.”

She looked away toward the ballroom.

“Perhaps because I don’t know anyone here.”

“You will.”

He said it with confidence, then picked up a glass from a passing waiter.

“And there’s no need to try to please everyone.”

She almost smiled.

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“Good.”

They continued walking, and Kaysen occasionally stopped to shake someone’s hand or exchange a few brief words. Each time, he introduced her by name without explaining the nature of their relationship.

It made her curious, but she didn’t ask.

Until an elderly, elegantly dressed man approached them. He seemed to have known Kaysen for years.

“Kaysen Vance!”

He shook his hand warmly.

“Good to see you.”

“And you, Mr. Harris.”

The man’s eyes shifted to Elena, and he offered her a friendly smile.

“And you must be Elena.”

She nodded.

“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The man laughed softly.

“Finally, I get to meet you. I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

Elena glanced at Kaysen in surprise, but he continued speaking to the man calmly, as though there were nothing unusual about the remark.

Harris looked between them.

“You two seem to get along rather well. I haven’t seen you this relaxed in a long time, Kaysen.”

Kaysen replied with his familiar coolness.

“Perhaps because you haven’t spent enough time annoying me.”

The man laughed, then turned toward Elena.

“No wonder he chose you.”

His smile faltered for a moment.

“Pardon?”

But someone nearby had called out to Harris. He excused himself and walked away before she could ask anything else.

Elena remained looking at Kaysen.

“What did he mean by that?”

He lifted his glass to his lips.

“Harris talks too much.”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

“Do you need an explanation for every comment you hear tonight?”

She didn’t appreciate his evasion, but before she could pursue the matter, another man approached and invited Kaysen to join a group of businessmen.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Kaysen told her. “I’ll be back.”

She nodded and remained near one of the tables, taking in the crowd around her.

⸻

A few minutes later, a woman wearing a dark blue dress approached her. She appeared to be in her forties.

She smiled warmly.

“Elena, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Sylvia Graham. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Elena shook her hand politely.

“It’s lovely to meet you.”

Sylvia studied her face before saying with a smile,

“You’re even prettier than I expected.”

Elena laughed softly.

“Thank you.”

“And how are things with Kaysen? He can’t be easy to deal with.”

Elena almost laughed.

“I think you know him quite well.”

“I’ve known him for years. He’s always been very determined once he makes up his mind.”

Then she leaned a little closer, her tone playful.

“But it seems he’s become more flexible since you came into his life.”

Elena didn’t know how to respond.

“We work together.”

Sylvia raised her eyebrows before smiling.

“Of course, dear.”

There was something in her tone Elena couldn’t quite understand, but she didn’t want to appear nosy.

Before she could ask anything else, Kaysen returned.

“Sylvia.”

The woman turned toward him.

“Kaysen! I was just talking to Elena.”

“I noticed.”

Sylvia glanced at Elena, then back at Kaysen, and smiled.

“I won’t keep her any longer. Enjoy your evening.”

She walked away, leaving Elena looking after her in confusion.

“Does everyone here know my name?”

Kaysen placed a hand against her lower back, guiding her away from the waiters moving between the guests.

“Apparently.”

She turned toward him.

“And do you know why they’re speaking to me as though they’ve known me for years?”

He looked at her for a moment.

“Because they know me.”

“That explains nothing.”

“Not everything needs explaining.”

Then he gestured toward a nearby table.

“Come. You haven’t eaten anything since we arrived.”

She didn’t answer, but followed him.

⸻

Dinner had begun, and the guests had moved to their assigned tables.

Kaysen sat beside Elena, while a man and a woman she’d never met before took the seats opposite them.

Elena exchanged greetings with both before quietly beginning her meal.

A few minutes later, the man leaned toward her.

“I don’t believe I’ve congratulated you both yet.”

Elena raised her head.

“For what?”

The man smiled.

“For coming together tonight. You make a wonderful couple.”

She looked at him for a moment before offering a slightly nervous smile.

“Thank you.”

The man continued speaking to Kaysen, apparently unaware of her discomfort.

Kaysen, meanwhile, remained perfectly calm, as though he hadn’t found the remark worth addressing.

Elena leaned toward him and whispered,

“It seems everyone thinks we’re…”

He interrupted in a low voice.

“Let them think whatever they want.”

She looked at him.

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

He placed his glass on the table and turned toward her.

“Does it bother you?”

She didn’t answer immediately.

She wanted to say yes, but the word wouldn’t come. She didn’t even understand why the question made her feel so cornered.

Kaysen returned to his conversation with the man opposite them, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

⸻

After dinner, Kaysen stood to speak with one of the board members, while Elena remained near the table.

A young man holding a glass approached her with a smile.

“Good evening. I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.”

She shook his hand.

“Elena.”

“I know. I’m Julian.”

They exchanged a few words about the event before Julian asked whether she was enjoying the evening.

She answered with a polite smile, then noticed a woman standing a short distance away, watching her with interest.

After Julian walked away, the woman approached.

“Excuse me, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

The woman glanced around before lowering her voice.

“Is this the first event you’ve attended as Mr. Vance’s wife?”

Elena froze for a moment, but managed to maintain her smile.

It wouldn’t be appropriate to show her surprise in front of a woman she didn’t know, so she assumed the question referred to something else.

“This is the first time I’ve attended this particular event.”

The woman smiled.

“Then I hope you enjoy it. Your marriage has been the talk of everyone, even though Kaysen made sure to keep it out of the public eye.”

A chill spread through Elena’s limbs.

“Our marriage?”

She said it as calmly as she could, as though she were simply asking the woman to clarify something she’d misheard.

The woman nodded.

“Yes, of course. There wasn’t a large ceremony, was there? I believe he simply completed the formalities privately, away from the press. Kaysen doesn’t like his personal life becoming public discussion.”

Elena offered a small smile.

“That’s right.”

She had no idea where the answer had come from, but she didn’t want to give the woman a reason to become suspicious.

The woman continued talking for a little while before excusing herself when she spotted someone she knew.

Elena remained where she was.

She hadn’t understood everything the woman had said, but she couldn’t ignore the way she’d spoken about her marriage to Kaysen as though it were an established fact everyone knew.

She moved away from the table and took out her phone.

Then she typed both their names into the search engine.

Several results appeared, but one old article in a financial newspaper caught her attention.

Kaysen Vance Marries in Private Ceremony Away from Public Eye.

She opened it.

There were no wedding photographs, no details about a dress, guests, or ceremony. Just a brief report stating that the marriage had taken place, followed by a specific date and the bride’s name.

She read the name.

Elena Hayes.

Her eyes widened.

She leaned closer to the screen, as though afraid she might have read it incorrectly.

She read the full name again.

Then she moved to the date.

It was the same.

The very date she’d signed her employment contract.

Her breath stopped.

Her mind returned to that day: her anger, the papers Kaysen had pushed across his desk toward her. She remembered how her brother and his debts had been the only things occupying her thoughts, how desperate she’d been to settle everything by whatever means necessary. She remembered not reading every page and signing one after another in frustration while Kaysen watched her in silence.

At the time, she’d believed she’d signed only an employment contract.

But the date on the screen was telling her something else.

She closed the article, then opened it again, as though expecting the words to change.

They didn’t.

Her name stood beside Kaysen’s, with the exact date on which she’d started working for him.

She slowly raised her head.

Kaysen was standing on the other side of the ballroom, speaking to an elderly man. He looked perfectly calm, even offering a brief smile to another guest.

She watched him for a long moment.

Then she returned to her phone and opened the article one final time.

The employment contract hadn’t been the only document she’d signed that day.

Her fingers began to tremble.

It wasn’t a misunderstanding or some passing comment from guests who knew nothing about the situation.

There was a marriage registered in her name.

A marriage she couldn’t remember agreeing to, and one no one had ever told her existed.

And in that moment, the music faded, and the lights lost all meaning.

All she could think about was that day, those papers, and the man standing before her now as though her life hadn’t changed at the moment she’d signed them.

Elena Hayes had become Kaysen Vance’s wife on the very day she’d believed she’d signed an employment contract.