Chapter 1:first kiss

The office had never been this quiet before.

At night the entire twenty-second floor of Light City Corporate Tower usually slept in darkness.

The steady hum of computers was replaced by the murmur of traffic far below. But tonight one small corner office still glowed with a pale white light.

Alex Carter sat behind his desk.

His shoulders were hunched forward.

His face was buried in his hands.

Outside the glass windows Light City stretched endlessly into the night.

Skyscrapers sparkled with thousands of lights.

Streets shimmered with streams of cars.

Giant digital billboards flickered with color.

From this height the city looked breathtaking.

It looked almost magical.

Alex barely saw it.

The office lights were too bright, the room was too large, and the emptiness was too loud.

Papers were scattered across his desk in piles.

There were reports, contracts and spreadsheets.

These were documents he had tried to review for the hour.

He had opened them with every intention of working.

He had hoped that numbers and deadlines might drown out the thoughts in his head, but the words had blurred together.

He hadn’t managed to finish a page.

His phone lay on the desk beside his elbow.

Its screen glowed softly in the office.

Alex had promised himself he would stop looking at it.

He had failed that promise least twenty times.

His fingers moved automatically as he picked it up again.

Then the screen lit up fully.

There it was.

The post.

Chris’s face smiled brightly from the photo.

His arm was wrapped around a woman with brown hair.

Their lips were pressed together in a kiss.

It was clearly and convincing enough for social media.

The caption sat beneath it like a knife. “Finally back to being normal.”

Alex’s throat tightened.

The comments below were even worse.

Some people had posted laughing emojis.

Others had written things like "About time, man!". Knew that phase wouldn’t last.”

A few of the commenters were people Alex recognized.

They were people from their friend group.

They were people who had once smiled at him across dinner tables.

They were people who had known about the two years he and Chris had spent together.

Two years.

Alex swallowed hard.

The pressure in his chest only grew.

He remembered the breakup three weeks ago like it had happened yesterday.

Chris had stood in Alex’s living room.

His arms were folded.

He refused to look Alex in the eye.

Chris had said he was tired of pretending.

Chris had said it had been a mistake from the beginning.

Alex had thought that moment was the pain he would feel.

Apparently he had been wrong.

Seeing this—seeing their relationship erased and mocked publicly—hurt in a different way.

His vision blurred.

A tear slipped down his cheek before he could stop it.

Alex quickly wiped it away.

Another followed almost immediately.

He leaned back in his chair.

He stared at the ceiling.

He blinked rapidly as he tried to steady his breathing.

“Get it together " he muttered quietly.

The words sounded weak even to him.

The memories came again.

They always did.

Chris wasn’t the only person who had broken him.

That realization hurt almost more than the post itself.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut.

Another face appeared in his mind.

Daniel.

The man Alex had dated three years ago.

Daniel had always insisted on restaurants far away from their neighborhood.

He refused to hold Alex’s hand in public.

He flinched whenever someone they knew walked too close.

“I just don’t want people to get the idea.” Daniel would say.

As if Alex himself was the idea.

Then there had been Marcus.

Marcus had been charming.

He was funny and affectionate.

He was everything Alex thought he needed.

Until Alex discovered the messages.

Three different people.

Three different affairs.

Marcus had laughed when Alex confronted him.

“Relax.” he had said.

“You knew this wasn’t serious. I would never seriously want a life with you.” Marcus had spat.

Alex could remember crumbling.

The memory made his chest ache.

And before Marcus, there had been Ethan.

Ethan had loved Alex’s generosity—his apartment, his willingness to pay for dinners, vacations, gifts.

Ethan had loved everything Alex could provide.

Except Alex himself.

Each memory stacked on top of the others.

They were heavy and suffocating.

Alex rubbed his face with both hands.

He tried to wipe the tears that kept forming.

His voice came out as a whisper.

“Maybe I’m just someone people use.”

The words echoed faintly in the office.

For a moment nothing moved.

The air conditioning hummed softly above him.

Outside a distant siren wailed somewhere in the city.

Alex stared down at his phone again.

Chris had already gotten hundreds of likes.

The number kept increasing.

He dropped the phone onto the desk like it had burned him.

His shoulders began shaking before he realized he was crying again.

He leaned forward.

His elbows were on the desk.

He pressed his palms against his eyes.

He hated this.

He hated feeling weak.

He hated that one stupid post could reduce him to this. But this wasn’t just some post, it was humiliation.

Time passed—he didn’t know how long.

Minutes, maybe.

And suddenly —

The door opened.

The sound was quiet, but in the silent office it felt thunderous.

Alex jerked upright in his chair.

Panic rushed through him instantly.

Employees were not supposed to stay this late without permission.

He hurriedly wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt, to erase the evidence of his breakdown.

“Sorry I was just finishing—”

The words died in his throat as he looked up.

His entire body froze.

Standing in the doorway was Jamie Reed.

The CEO.

For a moment Alex wondered if he had somehow imagined him.

Jamie remained there.

He was tall and perfectly composed.

One hand still rested on the door handle.

Jamie Reed rarely came to this floor.

When he did the atmosphere of the entire office changed.

Meetings became tense and conversations became careful because Jamie Reed had a reputation.

He was cold.

He was distant.

He was terrifyingly perceptive.

Alex had only spoken to him twice since joining the company two years ago.

Both interactions had not lasted more than thirty seconds.

Now the powerful man in the company was standing in his office doorway at nearly eleven o’clock at night.

Alex’s face was still warm from crying.

Embarrassment flooded him.

Alex stood up quickly his chair rolled backward slightly.

“I—I’m sorry, sir " he said quickly.

“I was just finishing some reports.

“I’ll leave right away.”

Jamie didn’t respond.

He closed the door behind him with a click.

Then he began walking into the room.

Slowly.

His footsteps were quiet against the carpet.

Alex felt each one like a drumbeat in his chest.

Jamie stopped a feet away from the desk.

For a moment he simply looked at Alex.

Jamie’s eyes moved carefully across his face.

They then paused briefly on Alex’s eyes and on his swollen eyelids.

Alex’s hands trembled faintly at his sides.

The silence stretched.

Alex wished the floor would swallow him.

Finally Jamie spoke.

His voice calm and low. “Who hurt you?”

The question hit Alex like a blow.

He blinked in confusion.

“What?”

Jamie didn’t repeat himself.

He simply continued watching him.

Alex’s heart began racing.

“I’m fine." Alex said quickly. “Just tired from work.”

Even as the words left his mouth he knew they sounded unconvincing.

Jamie’s expression didn’t change.

He clearly didn’t believe him.

Jamie stepped closer.

Alex instinctively stepped back until the edge of the desk pressed against his thighs.

Jamie was taller than him by inches.

The closeness made Alex suddenly aware of how small the office felt.

Jamie stopped directly in front of him.

Alex could smell his cologne—exquisite, clean, and expensive.

Jamie studied his face again.

Then he lifted his hand.

Alex’s breath caught.

Jamie’s fingers gently touched his chin.

The gesture was firm but careful as Jamie tilted Alex’s face upward.

Their eyes met.

Alex felt exposed in a way he couldn’t explain.

Jamie’s gaze was intense.

It was sharp enough to make Alex feel like every thought and emotion inside him was visible.

Jamie noticed the tear Alex hadn’t managed to wipe

Something shifted in Jamie’s expression.

Just slightly.

The cold distance Alex had seen in meetings seemed to soften.

For a second neither of them moved.

Then something unexpected happened.

Jamie leaned forward and kissed him.

Alex’s brain stopped working.

The kiss was sudden but not rough.

Jamie’s hand remained lightly under Alex’s chin steadying him.

His other hand rested against the edge of the desk beside Alex.

The warmth of his lips was real.

Too real.

Alex’s entire body went rigid in shock.

His mind struggled to catch up with what was happening.

This couldn’t be real.

This was Jamie Reed.

The CEO.

The untouchable man in the company.

The kiss deepened slightly lingering long enough for Alex to feel the certainty behind it.

Then Jamie pulled back.

The room spun around him.

Alex stared at Jamie unable to say a word.

His heart beat fast and he was sure Jamie could hear it.

Jamies face looked calm. There was something different in his eyes now.

Something vulnerable.

He moved again and spoke in a quiet whisper. "I have wanted to do that for months."

Alexs heart stopped beating.

Months?

The word kept repeating in his mind.

Jamie Reed, the guy who always seemed cold and distant had just said he wanted to kiss him.

For months.