Chapter 124 Reflections
The night stretched endlessly outside Ava's tall windows, the city lights below shimmering like a cruel reminder of the evening she wished she could erase. Sleep was a stranger tonight. She had been restless ever since she got back, her mind replaying every moment from the fundraiser, the conversations, the laughter, the subtle glances that weren't meant for her.
The silence in her penthouse felt too loud, too sharp. She padded into the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, and leaned against the counter, staring at her reflection in the dark window. Her lipstick was gone, her mascara faintly smudged, yet she still looked composed. Beautiful. Controlled. She always was.
And yet, underneath that perfect surface, she was furious. Not just at Lena, but at herself, for letting the night get under her skin.
She'd told herself it was only a game, that she could play it better than anyone. Ethan Sinclair was a man worth the effort, worth the chase. When she finally had him, all the frustration, all the humiliating moments like this one, would mean nothing.
She took a long shower, letting the warm water calm her nerves, and then surrounded herself with paperwork at her desk. Contracts, endorsement letters, scripts, things that usually made her feel powerful again. Hours passed. The clock ticked past three before she finally gave in.
She slipped beneath the sheets, exhaustion tugging at her eyelids, and reached for her phone out of habit. Just a quick scroll before sleep, she told herself. But as the screen lit up, something on her feed made her freeze.
Her thumb stilled.
Right there on her screen was a photo, a raw, unfiltered shot posted by one of the photographers from the fundraiser. The woman had captioned it simply: "Sometimes the camera catches things words can't describe."
The image was striking , Ethan and Lena caught mid-conversation, their faces close, the golden lights from the chandeliers bathing them in a soft, almost intimate glow. Ethan wasn't smiling, but there was something in his gaze, a quiet softness that made the photo almost magnetic. Lena looked a little shy, almost unaware of how much attention that single moment would stir.
The photographer, a young woman with a modest following, had shared the picture close to midnight, not expecting much. But by the time Ava saw it, the post had exploded. Thousands of likes, hundreds of comments. Fans were gushing, not about the event, not about the décor, but about them.
"They look so good together. The chemistry is unreal!"
"The way he's looking at her... my heart can't take it "
"Someone said her name is Lena? She's stunning, I need details now!"
"You can't fake that kind of connection. Look at his eyes!"
"This looks like the beginning of a love story "
"Forget the fundraiser, this is the real headline"
Other photographers from the event quickly followed suit, uploading their own angles of Ethan and Lena, but none of their shots captured whatever magic that first picture had. That one image had already gone viral, reshared on gossip blogs and fan pages, dissected frame by frame.
Ava's chest tightened as she stared at the screen. Her jaw clenched, her perfectly manicured fingers gripping the phone a little too hard. That woman Lena, had somehow stolen the spotlight without even trying.
Another wave of irritation washed through her, burning hotter this time. It wasn't just the picture; it was what it implied. Ethan looked at her like she was the only person in the room.
And Ava hated that.
Ava was notorious for her jealousy wherever she went. She had a sharp tongue for anyone she considered more attractive or more talented, always ready to put someone down to make herself shine. Being the center of attention wasn't just a desire for her, it was a necessity. And yet, with Ethan, all her usual tactics had been useless. He had humbled her in a way no one ever had. No matter how much she tried to assert herself, he seemed entirely unaffected by her presence, indifferent even, and that wounded her pride more than she wanted to admit.
Ava had scrolled endlessly through the night, jumping from one blog to another. She studied the pictures as if she were Ethan's real wife and the photographers had caught him with a sidechick. Her chest burned with irritation. Some comments gushed over how beautiful Lena was, yet there wasn't a single post about her. A top model, Ava had graced a Sinclair party, and all anyone seemed to care about was Ethan and Lena. The unfairness of it stung sharply, gnawing at her pride with every new post she opened.
Eventually, exhaustion won. Ava's eyes grew heavy, her thumb finally still on the endless feed. She placed her phone beside her, letting herself sink into the pillows. For a brief moment, she gave herself permission to rest, to escape the swirl of jealousy, irritation, and longing that had consumed her all night. Tomorrow, she would face it all again, but for now, she let sleep take her, even if just for a few hours.
Lena woke up earlier than usual. She couldn't tell if it was because of the lingering excitement from the night before or simply because she wasn't in her own bed, but her eyes snapped open long before dawn. The clock on the nightstand read a few minutes past four.
For a while, she just lay there, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts scattered. Sleep wouldn't come back, so she reached for her phone and began scrolling through her feed.
That was when she saw it, a picture of herself and Ethan, taken as they were arriving at the fundraiser. The post was everywhere. At first, she blinked, thinking it might just be one of the event pages doing a recap, but then she realized it wasn't. It was them who had everyone talking.
Lena's heart sank. She wasn't thrilled to see herself trending; she knew what kind of attention this brought. The online world had a way of twisting things, and she wasn't ready to read whatever wild theories people were already making. She quickly scrolled past it, refusing to open the comments.
Trying to distract herself, she refreshed her feed, hoping to see something else, anything else, but the first post that appeared made her heart skip.
It was another picture. The one where Ethan stood close to her, his gaze locked on hers, the kind of look that could make anyone believe in something deeper.
Lena stared at the picture for a long time, her thumb hovering over the screen. She hadn't really looked at Ethan that closely during the fundraiser she'd been too shy, too aware of the crowd and the cameras flashing around them. But now, seeing the photo, she finally noticed what everyone else must have seen. The way he was looking at her... it didn't seem like polite attention or staged charm. There was warmth there, something quiet and unguarded, almost tender.
Her chest tightened. For a moment, she forgot about the blogs, the gossip, the endless noise of social media. All she could focus on was that look, as if she was the only one standing there. A small, foolish part of her dared to believe that maybe, just maybe, Ethan Sinclair felt something too.