Se-Ri's POV
We went straight to my place, as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist.
There was no time to pause — we missed each other too much. It wasn't about romance or drama; it was about gravity. We were pulled back into each other's orbit the moment we were close.
That day felt like a pause button in a life that had been on fast-forward too long:
Cooking together and failing miserably at pancakes — ending up with messy, delicious omelets. Reading side by side, our shoulders brushing. Laughing over memories and half-formed jokes only we understood. Leaning into each other while the outside world faded into a hum we didn't care to hear.
Nothing mattered but the quiet and the closeness.
The Morning After
Leo was still asleep when I woke — his arm resting across my waist, his face buried into the pillow like a boy lost in dreams.
I lay there for a while, eyes open, heart full.
Then my phone rang.
Rhea.
She rarely called this early.
I reached out and answered softly. "Hey."
Her voice was sharp. "Where were you all night? Have you seen the news?"
My stomach dropped.
I sat up carefully and unlocked my phone.
The headline was the first thing I saw:
"Private Son of Wu Caught in Surprise PDA with CEO of Serenité — Toronto in Shock!"
And beneath it —
A photograph of Leo kissing my forehead at the airport.
Soft. Intimate. Public.
Notifications were still pouring in:
Fifty missed calls — from family, reporters, board members, investors.
I was frozen in place.
Rhea's voice gentled. "You need to come to the Wu mansion. Now. Both of you."
As I hung up, Leo's phone started buzzing. Another call from his side.
He answered briefly, then looked at me.
"We're summoned," he said. His voice was unreadable.
I nodded. "We're doomed."
I threw on a scarf and sunglasses. Leo looked calm on the outside — but I knew better.
At the Mansion
The Wu mansion was swarming.
Black SUVs. Security. Nervous energy behind silk curtains.
Inside, both our families had already gathered.
Dadaji sat tall and still in the center of the drawing room.
Dadi, my uncle and aunty, Rhea and Amisha, Rajveer — even Mr. Wu — all sat in grim, silent attention.
Leo stood beside his father, quiet but steady.
I walked toward Dadaji and lowered my eyes. My voice wouldn't work at first.
Then he asked, sharp and direct:
"Are you both in a relationship?"
"I… I don't know," I said, voice cracking.
A beat of silence.
Then his voice rose. "Don't know? What does that mean?"
"You're all over the news — kissing at an airport, and you say you don't know?"
"Do you even understand what you've done?"
I tried to speak, but he didn't pause.
"We gave you freedom, education, a company — and this is how you treat the family name?"
"It's my name too," I said. My voice was shaking. "And my life. I built Serenité. I worked for it. Why should who I care about affect my business?"
"You've gone mad!" he snapped. "You don't even care about consequences anymore."
"Yes," I said, my throat tightening. "Maybe I have. I don't know what this is yet. I don't know if it's forever. But it's real. It's mine."
His hand raised.
Everything went still.
But before it reached me, Leo stepped in front. Calm. Unmoving.
Dadaji's hand fell — not on me, but on Leo.
The sound cracked the room.
Gasps. Silence.
Leo stood still, barely flinched.
Then — he spoke.
"I'm the one responsible," he said. His voice was steady. Low. "Not her."