---
### **1. Headlines and Heat**
Amara was no stranger to stares now.
She had learned to walk through places with Damian—gallery launches, charity events, elite luncheons—wearing designer gowns she didn't buy, smiling at people she didn't know, while their whispers wrapped around her like smoke.
> *"She's the student bride."*
> *"He must have lost a bet."*
> *"I give it three months."*
Damian, as always, remained untouchable.
He didn't hold her hand. He didn't correct them.
But he didn't let her fall either.
Every time she faltered, he was there—a perfectly timed word, a steadying glance, a rare nod of approval.
It wasn't affection.
But it was... something.
And that was what scared her.
---
### **2. Tabloids and Trouble**
On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, Zainab burst into Amara's wing unannounced.
> "We have a problem."
Amara lowered her cup of tea. "What kind?"
Zainab threw a tablet on the table.
A headline glared up at her:
> *"Professor Stone's Wife Caught in Secret Meeting With Ex-Boyfriend?"*
Amara blinked. "What the hell?"
A blurry photo showed her sitting beside Chuka, a fellow law student and distant friend, at a café near the university.
They had coffee. That was all.
Zainab's tone was sharp. "You cannot be seen like this. You are a public figure now. You're not just some poor girl fighting fees anymore. You're Mrs. Stone."
> "I didn't do anything wrong."
> "You don't have to. The public will twist it anyway."
Before she could reply, Damian himself appeared at the door.
His face was unreadable. Sharp. Closed off.
Zainab quickly excused herself.
Amara folded her arms. "It wasn't what it looked like."
> "It never is," he said quietly.
> "I don't like that tone."
> "And I don't like public embarrassment."
Her stomach twisted.
> "You think I'm cheating on you? In a marriage that isn't even real?"
He stepped closer, his jaw tight. "It may not be real to you, but my name is. My image is."
> "And what about mine?"
A pause.
Something flickered behind his eyes.
> "Your name wasn't known until you married me."
That hit like a slap.
> "Thank you for the reminder."
---
### **3. The Kiss**
That weekend, they attended a major fundraiser hosted by the Lagos Philanthropic Circle—an event covered live on TV and by dozens of blogs.
The tension between them was a ghost, clinging to every step, every word. They barely spoke in the car.
When they entered the venue, the energy was electric. Photographers swarmed. Damian posed, polite but distant.
Then someone shouted a question that cut through the noise:
> "Sir, people say your wife is only with you for your money. Any comment?"
Amara stiffened.
Another voice followed:
> "Did you really marry her just to fulfill a legal clause?"
The crowd's noise grew sharper.
Flashes. Laughter. Whispers.
She was shrinking under it.
And then it happened.
Damian reached out, cupped her face gently—but firmly—and kissed her.
Not on the cheek.
Not a brush of lips.
But a full, deliberate kiss.
The kind that made the cameras go silent.
The kind that made the room vanish.
Amara's heart stuttered.
For a moment, she forgot it was all fake.
And then he pulled back.
> "Let them question that," he murmured into her ear.
Her breath caught.
And when they returned to the car, they didn't speak.
The kiss lingered like a wound neither of them dared to touch.
---
### **4. Lines Crossed**
Back at the estate, Amara stormed into her wing and slammed the door.
Moments later, Damian followed her in, uninvited.
> "You kissed me."
> "You were being publicly humiliated."
> "You didn't do it for me."
> "I did it for the story. The image. Us."
She shook her head, trying to breathe.
> "You don't get to play with my emotions like that. Not when I've worked this hard to stay numb."
That silenced him.
> "You made it clear from the beginning—no feelings. No lines crossed. And then you kissed me in front of the whole country like it meant something."
> "It meant control," he replied.
She laughed bitterly. "Of course it did."
Then, softer: "You scare me, Damian."
He frowned.
> "Not because you're cold. But because you make me feel things I know I can't afford to."
Another long silence.
He took a slow step back. "It won't happen again."
> "Good."
But when he left…
She touched her lips.
And whispered a lie to herself: *"I didn't feel anything either."*
---
### **5. Meanwhile…**
Across town, in a high-rise office with dark wood floors and whiskey on the table, a man watched the kiss replayed on a loop on his screen.
His assistant spoke quietly beside him.
> "She's married, sir. To Damian Stone."
The man smiled.
> "That won't matter soon."
He raised a glass.
> "Let's dig deeper into our student bride. I want to know everything—her past, her family, her weaknesses. And start pressing the school board again. Stone can't keep everything buried forever."
The assistant hesitated. "And if she's clean?"
> "Then we dirty her."
Because what Damian didn't know yet…
Was that marrying Amara hadn't just complicated his public image.
It had reawakened enemies he thought he buried long ago.
---