Lahat ng Kabanata ng HIS ONE NIGHT, MY FOREVER : Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Alina’s POVIn my own room, I changed into proper pajamas and slipped under the covers, but sleep wouldn’t come. My mind kept replaying the conversation, picking apart every word, every gesture.He’d agreed so easily. Too easily, maybe. And the way he’d looked at me when he promised to handle it… there had been something genuine there, something warm that I had never seen. He always had a guarded and untrusting look towards me, but tonight, there was none of that.‘He was different ‘, I thought, staring up at the ceiling. ‘ A little Softer, somehow.’Sebastian never tells me if he was going to a gala without me, I just watch him go. And when he wants me to go, he commands it. But he told me when he was leaving for the party, even though he left with someone else. He even promised to replaced the plant, even though his words were harsh as usual,his tone wasn’t.And tonight, the way he’d immediately prioritized Leo’s schooling, promising to handle it personally rather than leaving

Sebastian’s POVI barely registered the congratulatory handshakes from the foreign executives as they filed out of the conference room, their satisfied murmurs about the merger terms fading into background noise. “I'm looking forward to working with you, Mr Blackwell” The company's representative was grinning from ear to ear for finally securing a contract with my company. “Me too” I muttered dismissively.I had just secured a deal worth three hundred million, the kind of victory that would have once demanded celebration, champagne, the works. Now, I felt nothing but the familiar hollow satisfaction of another acquisition completed, another box checked.My phone buzzed against the mahogany table drawing my attention away from the file I was skimming through. Alina Hayes.The name on the screen sent an unfamiliar jolt through my chest. In three months of marriage, if our arrangement could even be referred to as one, she’d never called me during business hours. She knew better than

Sebastian’s POVThe drive back home was silent except for Leo’s occasional sniffles. I kept my arm around him in the backseat, unable to let go, unwilling to put even an inch of space between us. My supposedly cold heart was hammering in my chest, beating out a rhythm that sounded suspiciously like ‘ safe, safe, safe’.Alina met us at the door.I’d seen Alina maintain perfect composure under pressure placed on her ever since we got married. But now she looked shattered, eyes red-rimmed, red nose and swollen, face pale, her carefully maintained mask completely gone.The moment she saw Leo, she made a sound I’d never heard before, something between a sob and a prayer and pure, undiluted relief.“My baby… oh God, my Leo…”Leo launched himself from my arms into hers, and Alina sank to the floor right there in the foyer, clutching our son like she could absorb him back into herself. She was crying, he was crying, and I stood there feeling oddly detached from my own body, watching this di

Alina’s POVI lay beside Leo in the dim light of his bedroom, watching the rise and fall of his small chest as sleep finally claimed him. His stuffed tiger was clutched tightly in his arms, a shield against nightmares that shouldn’t exist in a child’s world.But my mind wouldn’t rest.“I want to be with you, Alina. No facades.”Sebastian’s words echoed in my head, mixing with the sensation of his lips on mine, that kiss that had shattered every wall I’d carefully built between us. My fingers touched my lips unconsciously, remembering a little too much. That night months ago. The heat. The passion. And five years later when I had to come running to him to save Leo… the result of that night. He had said it was a mistake.Except now he was saying it wasn’t.What did he really want? Was this genuine, or was it just… convenience? I was here, in his house, as his wife for one year and maybe I was just… available. The thought made my stomach twist.And what about Leo? God, what about Leo

Sebastian’s PovI woke up feeling something on my chest, it took me a moment to realize it was Alina’s arm. She laid beside me sleeping rather peacefully. Her dark hair was splayed across the pillow, one hand tucked beneath her cheek like a child. Three weeks had passed since I’d made my decision, since I’d stopped pretending this was just a contract, just an arrangement.I was falling deeper in love with Alina. A knife could cut through the tension between us whenever we were alone. We a had kiss last night that left me awake most of the night. The realization still sent a thrill through me, even now. The one-year agreement we’d signed felt like an history, a document from another lifetime when I’d been foolish enough to think I could keep my heart locked away.“You’re staring again,” Alina murmured without opening her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips.“Can’t help it.” I held back a chuckle.She opened one eye, regarding me with that mixture of amusement and uncertainty that had