He goes quiet for a moment, brows furrowed, like he’s still trying to make sense of it. “Honestly, I don’t know why she agreed to that. But I do know May never does anything without a reason…”
I can’t hold it in any longer. “You’ll figure it out eventually, Seb. But what really matters is that tonight was a massive success. Start to finish. Piazzolla, Scriabin,everything.”
I don’t even try to hide the excitement in my voice. And when Sebastian beams at me, dimple and all, it feels like the night itself brightens.
“Remi, I’m so glad it went well. Better than I expected, actually. It’ll take me some time to process everything, but… knowing you and the others were there for me, that meant the world.”
His gaze drifts off, touched by something I can’t quite name. Then he lets out a long, heavy sigh.
“I spent four years in Paris, drowning in envy and constant competition. Everyone around me was either trying to outshine me or tear me down. Our world… It's a pit of snakes. And after a while, I just got used to it. But since coming back, I’ve remembered what it feels like to be around real friends. People who don’t want anything from me. People who actually care. People I can just…bewith.”
His words hit something in me, something deep.
The thought that I’ve helped give him even a piece of that peace fills me with a kind of joy I can’t fully explain. But it also brings a sting of sadness. He’s lived under so much pressure for so long. Always performing, always proving himself.
And hiding who he is? That must have added a whole other weight. One that no one ever saw.
No wonder his body is crying out for change.
I’m beginning to understand, Sebastian’s panic attacks go much deeper than I realized.
“Remi,” he says quietly, turning to me, “do you mind sitting for a bit?”
We’re near the heart of the park now, where the noise of the city has all but vanished. He takes my hand and gently leads me to a wooden bench just off the main path.
“Of course, Seb. You should rest a little.”
It’s so still, it feels like everything else has faded away, leaving just the two of us.
A few distant figures move quietly through the shadows, the warm air scented faintly with leaves and earth. Above us, the sky stretches wide and clear, a velvet dome dusted with stars.
We sit side by side, still holding hands. Almost without thinking, we both tilt our heads back, eyes drawn to the sky.
But mine don’t stay there for long.
They drift sideways to the far more breath-taking sight right next to me.
Sebastian, his dark curls falling softly around his face, gazes upward with quiet wonder. There’s something so open, so vulnerable in his expression. He’s heartbreakingly beautiful. It almost hurts to look at him.
His pale neck is tilted back, exposed, delicate. It calls to me.
The urge to lean in, to kiss him there, slowly, reverently, again and again, is so strong, I don’t know how to resist it…
CHAPTER 15
SEBASTIAN
I’m completely mesmerized by the starry sky until I realize Remi is watching me with a look so intense, I can’t quite read it.
“Staring at the stars always has this weird effect on me,” I admit quietly.
“In what way?” he asks, and there’s something in his voice, genuine curiosity, the kind that makes me feel like he could listen to me talk forever.
“Well,” I begin, “on one hand, I’m always awestruck by how beautiful they are. But on the other… they make me feel small. Insignificant, even. Like, we’re less than a speck of dust in the universe. And it makes me wonder, what meaning do our lives really have, if in the grand scheme of things we count for less than nothing?”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel a wave of embarrassment crash over me. “Sorry… I’m probably rambling again. I’m sure I’m boring you.”
I instinctively pull into myself, but Remi squeezes my hand, grounding me. When I glance at him, he’s smiling, crooked and warm.
