chapter 7

CHAPTER 7: THE CRACK IN THE RULE

At home, Mia removed her shoes. Her legs were hurting. She had stood too long at the party, smiling, pretending to be strong, pretending not to care.

Adrian brought water for her. He sat on the floor, like a child. He helped her remove her earrings, gently, one by one. He was careful not to hurt her.

Mia looked at him. "What are you doing? You are a billionaire. You are not supposed to do this kind of thing. You have people who can do it for you."

Adrian laughed. "A billionaire's legs hurt too. And a billionaire gets tired too. And a billionaire can help his wife remove her earrings. It is not a crime."

They both laughed. The laughter felt easy. It felt natural. It did not feel like acting.

Then silence came. A comfortable silence. Not the awkward silence of strangers, but the quiet of two people who had survived a battle together.

Mia asked, "Adrian, that thing you said at the party... that you would buy Daniel's company. Was it true? Or was it acting?"

Adrian kept quiet for a moment. He looked at the floor, then back at her. "It was true and it was acting. In this marriage, everything is both. That is what makes it dangerous."

Mia nodded. She understood. She felt the same confusion.

Adrian looked at her again. "Mia, I want to ask you something. For real. Not for the contract. Not for the cameras. Just you and me."

"Ask me."

"That day in the rain, why did you not cry for me? Why did you not beg me to help you? You just followed me into the car. Why did you trust me? You did not even know me."

Mia thought for a while. She looked at her hands. "Because... you were the only person who did not pity me that day. Everybody pitied me. They looked at me like I was broken. You... you looked at me like I could fight. You looked at me like I was still strong. I liked that. I needed that."

Adrian's eyes softened. They were different. Not the cold billionaire's eyes. Another kind of eyes. Eyes that had also been hurt before. Eyes that understood pain.

He moved a little closer to her. Too close. Rule 3 was shouting in his head. No touching unless it is for the cameras. But there was no camera here now. There was only Mia. Only the quiet room. Only his heart.

Mia's heart was beating fast. She did not move back. She did not move forward. She just looked at him. She could feel his breath. She could see the small scar near his eyebrow she had never noticed before.

Adrian's hand went up, he wanted to touch her hair. Just to move one strand away from her face. But his phone rang. Loud. Sharp. It broke the moment.

It was his lawyer. A work call. About the company. About the contract.

Adrian stood up quickly. He cleared his throat. He tried to look normal again. "I... I will take this call. Excuse me."

He went to the balcony and closed the door.

Mia sat there, her hand on her chest. Her heart was still beating. Her face was hot.

Rule 1: No love.

But why did it feel like Rule 1 was already breaking little by little? Why did she want him to touch her hair? Why did she feel disappointed when the phone rang?

On the balcony, Adrian was talking on the phone, but he was looking at Mia through the glass. He could not concentrate. The lawyer was talking about money, about shares, about meetings, but Adrian was not hearing any of it.

He thought in his mind: "This girl will kill me. This contract will kill me. I made these rules to protect myself, but now the rules are killing me."

In the room, Mia thought in her mind: "This man will kill me. This marriage will kill me. I came here for revenge, but why do I feel something else?"

Both of them did not know they were thinking the same thing.

Outside, the rain started again. Soft, quiet rain. But inside the house, something warm had started. Something neither of them planned. Something neither of them could stop.

And nobody could stop it.