The Billionaire in Disguise

Flicker of Something

დ Aidan დ

I felt like Elara needed to smile. Not the polite one she gave guests during wine tastings. Not the tight-lipped, tired one she flashed at Rowan after another supply mix-up or grape bin disaster. A real smile. The kind that tugged at her whole face and made her eyes crinkle. And I didn’t know how to fix everything that was broken around her, but I figured I could at least give her a night off. So, I did something stupid. Something a little impulsive. I planned a date with a woman who didn’t know I was a walking lie. It wasn’t exactly a date, but it was something personal. Something intimate. It took most of the afternoon to gather everything. I found a laptop in the old office closet. A projector that might have been ancient, but still worked. I took blankets from the laundry room, and half of them smelled like vineyard soap and sunshine. I even borrowed Rowan’s truck, which might have been my boldest move yet. I half-expected him to deck me when I asked. But he just stared at me for a long beat before grunting and tossing me the keys.

“I better get it back in one piece,”

“No promises,” I had smirked as I caught the keys. I drove down to the back meadow, the place where the vineyard thinned and the trees started to gather like quiet sentinels. The light dipped low and gold over the hills, and the sky was already blushing pink when I set everything up. Laptop perched on a crate. Bluetooth speaker rigged. Blankets layered in the bed of the truck. I even found some fairy lights in a box labeled Harvest Festival Stuff and strung them up. It looked like a page out of a life I never had. One that didn’t involve boardrooms, blackmail, and fake amnesia. And maybe that’s what scared me the most. Because I wanted to live inside this lie. Just for tonight. And then it was time to get her here. I took out the phone Elara had gifted me and sent her a quick text.

დ Aidan: Come outside and wear something warm. I have a surprise for you.

I made sure to explain where she needed to go, and five minutes later, I saw her walking across the field toward me. Her hair was loose, and she had on an oversized hoodie with leggings and boots. She looked like a dream I hadn’t earned. She paused when she saw the setup. Her mouth fell open, and I climbed out of the truck.

“Surprise!” I said, and she stared at me for a long time.

“Wait…you did all this…for me?”

“I mean, unless you have another secret romantic handyman on the payroll…” she laughed, and I swear my chest squeezed. It was the way she laughed. The way her head tilted back and the way her hand rested over her chest. It was the sound. Happy and free. I smiled.

“This is…amazing, Cole, thank you,”

“I mean, I know you have had a rough week, so I just thought…a nice evening spent relaxing was a good idea,”

“It’s perfect, thank you,” she said.

“Of course, come on, let’s get this night started,” I said before we then climbed into the truck bed and sank into the blankets. The sun dipped lower, and the first stars started to pop in the darkening sky. The vineyard as a silhouette behind us, and the laptop played some old rom-com she had once mentioned she loved. We snacked on popcorn and drank soda. But I didn’t watch anything but her. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. The way she had tucked her legs under herself. The way her fingers dipped into the large bowl of popcorn. And the way her eyes flickered to me when she thought I wasn’t looking. And I hated myself. Because none of this was real. She didn’t know my name. My past. That her enemy, her frustration, was sitting right next to her. And yet, I didn’t move. I didn’t say a word. I didn’t ruin the moment. Because this version of me, the one who hauled crates and watched sunsets and built movie nights out of nothing, he was the only version of me I actually liked. We were about halfway through the film when she spoke.

“I used to think Matthew was my forever,” she whispered. I turned my head and looked at her. “Trust me, I know that sounds pathetic. But when you are with someone for that long, it becomes routine. You stop questioning things. You just...exist,” she didn’t look at me. Her gaze stayed on the screen, but I knew she wasn’t really paying attention to it anymore. I didn’t say a word. I had a feeling she needed to get this out. “It got cold between us. We would go days without touching. Without talking about anything real. I thought maybe we were just in a rut. You know?” I nodded. I didn’t know, but I nodded anyway. She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “But now I know it wasn’t a rut. He was just...already gone,”

“People leave long before they walk out the door,” I said, and her breath caught.

“Yeah. That’s exactly it,” she said, and the movie played on. She took a long sip of her soda, and then I decided that silence wasn’t always a good thing.

“Rowan asked me if you were ok,” I said, and she gave a small, surprised laugh.

“Of course he did,”

“So...are you?” I asked. Elara hesitated, and then she shrugged.

“I’m...getting there. It’s hard. Trusting people again. Letting someone in. But I’m trying,”

“Do you want to trust again?” I asked. She looked at me then. Really looked. Her eyes searched mine, and something in her expression shifted.

“I want to,” she whispered, and then she surprised the hell out of me when she leaned in and kissed me. It was quick. Fierce. A breath of heat against the cold night. My heart slammed into my ribs, and before I could even react, she pulled back. Her eyes were wide and wild. Her cheeks were red. “Oh—”

“Elara—” but then she was moving, and she was out of the truck so quickly that I wasn’t even sure what the hell was going on anymore.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t…I don’t know why I did that,” she said, and I reached for her, but she took a step back.

“Elara—”

“No, it’s fine. Just…just forget it,” and then she turned and ran toward the house. The fairy lights flickered in her wake. The screen kept playing like nothing had happened. And I sat there, every part of me torn between chasing her and never speaking again. Because I wanted to kiss her back. I wanted to pull her into my arms and forget every lie between us. But I couldn’t. Because the truth was still mine. And if I told her now, I would lose everything.

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