“Shhh,” Ethan murmured, squeezing her hands. “It’s okay.”
He slid onto the stump beside her and wrapped her in his arms. Slowly, the woods worked their magic: the smell of pine andwildflowers, the soft rustle of leaves, sunlight filtering through the canopy of trees. Like a storm quieting, Priya’s body slowly unwound.
Ethan, however, wasn’t calm, his gaze stormy with emotions he couldn’t quite hide.
“Feeling any better?” he asked.
Priya nodded. “I think I’m good now.”
“I put you in danger today. Just like I did with my mother.”
“Ethan, no.” Priya reached for his hand. “Your mom’s accident wasn’t your fault. And today wasn’t your fault either. I knew what could happen the moment we stepped outside together. The world is obsessed with you—where you go, what you do. Anyone you’re with is a fair target, and that’s something I have to learn to deal with. You can’t shield me from everything. But that jump you pulled?” She chuckled. “My heart practically left my chest.”
Ethan’s lips lifted in a small, bittersweet smile. “Catch your breath, Pri,” he said. “We need to head out soon.”
Priya turned her face up to the sun, relieved to have survived the chaos of being spotted with Ethan. She had no idea, however, that this was only the beginning—the calm before a much greater storm.
Twenty-Four
Ethan stuck tothe back roads on the way to Moksha, following the hidden route along the deserted railway tracks. As they skirted past Knight Estates, Priya spotted photographers staked out near the entrance, expecting him to show up there. When they reached Moksha, Ethan stashed the bike behind the coach house, so no one driving by the front gate could spot it. Inside, they pulled off their helmets, relieved to have made it back in one piece.
Priya sank into Ethan’s arms, wishing she could freeze time right there. The stillness felt fragile, and sure enough, it dissolved as Ethan’s phone began to ring.
“Talk to me, Zach,” Ethan answered, stepping away to speak to his assistant.
Priya went to the window and pulled the curtains shut.
Ethan returned with a grim look. “That picture with Mr. Khan is what started this. His son posted it on the shop’s page, and it spread like wildfire. That’s how the press tracked us down.”
Before Priya could react, his phone buzzed again. He gave her an apologetic glance. “I need to handle this. My whole team’s trying to get a hold of me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Priya said, taking a seat at the dining table and unlocking her phone to reply to a backlog of work-related messages. Her thumbs hovered uselessly above the screen, her mind stuck on Ethan’s voice.
“What do you mean, damage control?” he asked, his steps slow as he crossed to the window and back. “I want to be proactive about this. We do whatever needs to be done. Across the board.”
Curiosity got better of Priya, and she opened her social media app. It was flooded with images of her and Ethan—initial shots where her face was visible, followed by flashes of chaos. The pursuit. Ethan’s confrontation with the paparazzi. Their daring escape into the woods. But the one photo that had taken over the internet was still. Quiet. Just the two of them by his bike on the verge of a kiss, unaware of anyone around them including the figure stalking them silently in the background.
There was something haunting about the image. Something beautiful. Like a frame pulled straight from a movie. Priya’s throat tightened, tears welling before she could blink them away. It felt like someone had reached inside her, dragged out something sacred, and turned it into a spectacle.
The possibility that Ethan could be in love was the hot topic stirring up reactions across his fan base. Opinions flew in from every corner. Priya’s emotions swung wildly as she read through the stream of comments.
“@Allycat Now we know who took that photo on his feed.”
“Damn, I want someone to look at me like that”
“Bruh, y’all really think this girl’s in it for love? She’s after that fame bag.”
“Guess he’s dating regular people now?”
“Really? A brown girl??”
“They look so in love!”
“Someone tag me with her name.”
Priya scrolled through the threads, struck by how deeply people were invested in their celebrity crush. It was as if buying into Ethan’s stardom gave them a stakeholder claim to his life, allowing them a vote in his personal choices. She was about to sign off when a notification popped up on her screen. Before she could check it, another one pinged. Then another, and another. She was gaining followers by the second—ten, thirty, two hundred.
Priya’s pulse quickened as her phone buzzed nonstop. Something was wrong. People were not only following and messaging her but also tagging her. She clicked on the first tagged post. Sure enough, there it was—the viral photo of her and Ethan. Underneath, the caption read “Meet Priya Solanki.”
