Chapter 153 Chapter 153

Chapter 153 Chapter 153
Evening settled over the house in a slow, comfortable way. The turkey had been a success. Mark had carved it with obvious pride, Laura had refused to let anyone leave the table until they had tried every side, and Sophia had declared the gravy “life-changing” at least three times. Now the four of them were in the living room, plates replaced by smaller bowls of leftover cobbler, the television playing some old action movie Mark had chosen. The volume was low enough that conversation could still happen over it.

Laura was tucked into her corner of the sofa with a blanket. Mark occupied his usual chair, commenting on the unrealistic fight choreography. Sophia sat cross-legged on the floor near the coffee table, occasionally stealing bites from Mia’s bowl. Mia was on the other end of the sofa, legs curled under her, half-watching the screen and half-listening to her parents talk.
It felt ordinary. Safe. The kind of evening she had been missing.
After a while she reached for her phone, more out of habit than interest. She unlocked it, opened social media, and scrolled without real purpose. A few messages from Victoria. A photo from one of the team accounts. Then the algorithm shifted and a trending video filled the screen.

The caption was already stacked with fire emojis and comments.
Kai Reynolds for Noir Essence. The full commercial drop. Mia’s thumb hovered. She should have kept scrolling. Instead she tapped play. The video opened on low golden lighting. Kai stood in what looked like a luxury hotel suite, wearing a white shirt completely unbuttoned, the fabric open enough to show the full line of his chest and stomach. A woman in a silk slip stood in front of him. He held a dark perfume bottle, sprayed it once along the side of her neck, then again lower. The woman smiled up at him, stepped closer, and placed both hands on his bare chest, rubbing slowly as if smoothing the scent into his skin. Kai’s hand settled at her waist, pulling her in until their bodies nearly touched. The camera lingered on the contact, on his jaw, on the way the woman’s fingers trailed downward before the screen cut to the bottle and the brand name. The video looped and Mia’s stomach dropped so hard she felt it in her hands. She stood up without saying anything. The bowl in her lap nearly tipped. Sophia looked up.
“Mia?”
She was already walking toward the hallway, phone clenched in her fist. She climbed the stairs two at a time, went straight into her room, and shut the door harder than necessary. The video call to Kai connected on the first try and rang multiple times when she called but there was no answer She hung up and called again immediately. Same result. The ringing tone felt personal.

By the third attempt her hands were shaking. She paced the small length of the room, the image of the woman’s hands on his chest replaying every time she blinked. When the call failed again she nearly threw the phone onto the bed. The door opened and Sophia slipped in, eyes wide.
“What happened? You went white downstairs.”
Mia turned the screen toward her without speaking. The commercial started playing again. Sophia watched in silence for several seconds.
“Okay,” Sophia said carefully. “That’s… a lot of chest.”
“She was touching him.” Mia’s voice came out sharp. “Rubbing his chest and he was holding her it’s trending. Everyone is watching it.”
“It’s an ad.”
“It’s his hands on her waist and her hands on his skin while he’s half-dressed.” Mia tried the call again, still nothing. “He’s not answering. Why is he not answering?”
Sophia closed the door fully and leaned against it. “Maybe he’s driving. Or in the shower or asleep. Don’t spiral yet.”
“I’m not spiraling.”
“You’re pacing like you’re about to climb through the phone.” Sophia watched her make another failed call. “Mia. Sit down.”
“I don’t want to sit down. I want him to pick up and explain why I had to find out from a trending page that he’s shooting perfume ads where women put their hands all over him.”
“You’re getting loud.”
“I don’t care.”
Sophia crossed the room and gently took the phone out of her hand before the next redial. “Five minutes. Give him five minutes before you decide he’s done something unforgivable. It’s a commercial and brands do this. They hire attractive people and make them stand close.”
Mia dragged both hands through her hair. “You didn’t see the way he looked at her.”
“I saw a camera and lighting and a director telling them where to stand.” Sophia held the phone out of reach. “Breathe.”
Mia sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on her knees, trying to force air into her lungs. The anger sat hot and tight under her ribs. The quiet of the house downstairs felt very far away. Two minutes later the phone lit up in Sophia’s hand with an incoming video call.
Sophia tossed it back to her. “There. Answer before you combust.”
Mia accepted the call. Kai’s face filled the screen. His hair was damp, pushed back like he had just run a towel through it. He was in a plain black T-shirt, the background a familiar stretch of the mansion hallway.
He looked like he had just walked in the door.
“Hey,” he said. “I missed a few calls. I just got back few minutes ago.”
Mia’s voice came out flat and hard. “From where?”
Kai’s eyebrows lifted slightly at her tone. “Track late session. Then Victoria needed me to sign off on something at the office. Why?”
“Where did you just get back from, Kai?”
He studied her face through the screen, and then the corner of his mouth curved.
“You’re mad.”
“Answer the question.”
“I did, I said the office and home.” He tilted his head, the smirk becoming clearer. “You’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous. I’m asking where you were while a video of you half-naked with another woman’s hands on your chest is trending everywhere.”
Kai’s expression shifted into recognition, then mild amusement. “The perfume ad.”
“Yes the perfume ad. The one where your shirt is wide open and she’s rubbing your chest while you hold her waist.”
He leaned against the wall behind him, completely unbothered. “It was a professional shoot, Mia. Scheduled weeks ago. Brand deal. Cameras, crew, lighting, a director telling us exactly where to stand and how long to hold the pose. Nothing else.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
“It’s supposed to look like something. That’s the point of the ad.” He watched her carefully. “You’re freaked out over a commercial.”
“I’m freaked out that I had to find out about it from social media while I’m sitting in my parents’ living room.”
Kai’s voice stayed calm, almost lazy. “Victoria cleared it, the legal team cleared it. It’s a standard campaign and the model is contracted by the brand, not by me. We shot it in one afternoon and I left. That’s all it was.”
Mia stared at him, still breathing too fast. The rational part of her brain registered the words. The rest of her was still stuck on the image of the woman’s hands moving over his skin.
“You could have told me,” she said, quieter now.
“I didn’t think it needed a warning. It’s an ad, not a date.” He paused, then the smirk returned. “But I like that you’re jealous.”
“Stop saying that.”
“It’s true.” He shifted the phone, getting more comfortable. “You’re sitting there ready to fight me through the screen over a perfume commercial. That’s jealousy.”
Mia pressed her lips together. The worst of the anger was starting to drain, leaving behind a restless, embarrassed heat. She exhaled slowly.
“Fine It bothered me. Are you happy?”
“A little.” His expression softened. “It’s nothing, I promise it was something professional and not worth the spike in your blood pressure.”
She nodded once, still frowning, but the fight had gone out of her shoulders. “Okay.”
Kai yawned, not bothering to hide it. “I’m wiped. The track was long and the office thing ran late. I’m going to sleep.”
Mia’s frown deepened immediately. “Don’t hang up yet.”
“Mia.”
“I mean it. Don’t turn the video off.” She settled back against the headboard, phone propped on her knee. “Just… stay on for a minute.”
He looked at her for a second, then smiled a small, tired smile. “You’re not going to watch me sleep.”
“I might.”
“That’s strange.”
“You’re the one who made me watch a stranger rub perfume into your chest. You can deal with strange.”
Kai laughed under his breath, the sound low and short. He moved through the frame the camera shifted as he walked into his bedroom, set the phone against something on the nightstand, and dropped onto the bed. He pulled the shirt over his head in one motion, leaving him in just sleep pants, then settled on his side facing the camera.
“Happy?” he asked, already half-muffled by the pillow.
“Don’t turn it off.”
“I won’t.” His eyes were already closing.
“Night, Mia.”
“Goodnight.”
She stayed quiet after that, watching the screen. His breathing evened out within a couple of minutes. The tension in his face smoothed away. He looked younger when he slept, less guarded. Mia sat there in her childhood bedroom, phone balanced on her knee, frowning at the peaceful version of him while the leftover jealousy slowly cooled into something softer and more complicated. She told herself she would hang up in another minute. Then her eyes drifted lower on the screen. There, on the side of his neck, just above the line of his collarbone, was a small, distinct smudge of color. Lipstick it was dark enough to show against his skin even in the low light of the bedroom. Mia’s whole body went still and her hand moved on pure instinct. The call ended with a sharp tap of her thumb.
She stared at the now-black screen, the image of the stain burned behind her eyes. A short, disbelieving sound left her throat. She immediately hit redial but it rang but the was no answer. She tried again but same result. The third attempt went straight to the same unanswered ringing. He was asleep. The phone was probably still propped on the nightstand, screen dark, the lipstick mark still on his skin where she had seen it. Mia sat frozen on the edge of the bed, phone clenched in both hands, the quiet of her parents’ house pressing in around her. Sophia’s voice floated faintly up the stairs, still talking to her parents over the movie none of them knew. She looked at the dark screen again, the memory of the commercial and the lipstick stain colliding into one sharp, ugly picture.

He had said it was nothing, he had smirked and called her jealous and told her to breathe. And then he had fallen asleep with another woman’s lipstick on his neck. Mia’s hands were no longer steady. She set the phone down carefully, like it might break, and stared at the wall of her childhood bedroom while the evening continued downstairs without her.