Page 54 of Siren's Heart

"And I was the meanest of them all," I assure her with a chuckle. "I begged my parents to let me join an acting class. They were very hesitant, but when I started to do my version of acting day in and day out, they deemed official lessons the lesser evil. When I got older, I begged them to let me audition. I did a few commercials here and there and a few minor roles in movies and series, until I landed 'Fall from Grace.' That was my breakthrough."

"And do you still love it?" she wonders, looking somewhere into the distance, reflections of the sunlight in the water letting shadows and lights dance over her face. "Even with everything surrounding it?"

"Yeah, I do." I nod slowly. "Then again, for me, it's only a minor part of the job. When my movies release, I have to sit through a few interviews and TV tapings for promotions. But most of the time, when I'm on set, the media leaves me alone, unless I turn into a meme in an interview that releases way after taping it."

"Lucky you," Millie giggles. "Sometimes I wish my job had a bigger part away from the spotlight. But we can’t exactly play in empty stadiums or stop posting updates for our fans just because we don’t want to deal with social media."

The sigh she lets out breaks my damned heart. I can tell she adores her job and her fans. I can also tell that the whole media involvement exhausts her deeply.

"Then again, your job seems a lot more fun," I point out another good side. "You get to meet your fans all over the world. You don't have to repeat the same sentence thirty times or wake up in the middle of the night because you’ll need four hours to get into special effects makeup." I grimace, but it’s worth it when I feel Millie shake with laughter. "Trust me, despite not dealing with media that much, acting isn’t always fun."

"You're right. I mean, deep down, I love my job, even if it doesn't sound like it often," she assures me intently. "I love writing songs. I love sharing them with my fans. Having them shout along to my lyrics and dance to our songs is the absolute best feeling in the world. I just wish it weren't to the detriment of my private life, you know?" She sighs, tightening her hold around my hip. "I might just be a little anxious about this whole thing." She gestures between me and her, not meeting my eyes.

"Why?" I stop her at the side of the path and step in front of her so I can lift her chin until she looks at me, cupping her face when she does. "I'm not one of your exes. Contrary to them, I'm already dealing with paparazzi. I'm not running for the hills, Millie."

"It's just–" she starts, then stops herself. "It's irrational. I know that. But I'd rather think pessimistic and be surprised than get my hopes up and have my heart broken again," she whispers, her quiet voice breaking towards the end.

"Hey," I whisper, stroking her cheek with my thumb, and pulling her closer. "It's fine. I'll prove to you that you're worth the trouble, Sunshine. Alright? It’s okay if that takes some time. I’ll assure you as often as I need to that I won’t run."

She bites her lip, looking at me through her thick eyelashes, until she finally gives me the tiniest nod. Good. I leave my palm at the side of her face, brushing my lips against hers quickly.

"We'll be alright," I assure her and snake my arm around her shoulder again as we resume walking. A few moments later, I see something move from the corner of my eyes.

"Hey, Millie? 11 o'clock, in case you want to strike a pose." Only a moment later, we hear a shutter, and a flash blinds us for a moment.

There it is.

Millie

Messages started trickling in only half an hour after Luca's and my walk through that park. Naroa knew what was coming and was on top of it and hired more security for me, so there was no need for me to do anything. But that somehow makes it worse. With past boyfriends, the absolute minimum was releasing my own statement or a social media post, some kind of reaction from me.

I’m not giving them that this time. Not yet, at least.

On one hand, I’ve been itching to scream it from the rooftops. ‘Luca Sheppard is my boyfriend!’

On the other hand, I hoped that the news would never break and we’d be able to enjoy our relationship in peace. Now, I can’t go anywhere without my security team again.

The plan was to release a picture confirming our relationship, but Van and Naroa paddled back, told us to wait, and let everything play out before we give them any reaction.

I think they’re hoping that Kayla and Asher will simply overshadow the news of their best friends dating and that everyone will forget it. We'll see how that works out, but I’m not very positive about that plan.

It's the next day already, and I shot my parents a quick message before turning my phone off and putting it into a dark corner of my flat to withstand the temptation of having a look at what people are saying. I’ve already told them about Luca, so they could expect the media shitstorm that will hit them as well, without a doubt.

Because it always goes the same, every single time. I'll be hopeful my fans will be excited for me and welcome my new boyfriend to the fandom; only to be starkly reminded that hate is so much louder than love when it comes to social media.

But as Kayla always says, hate is just jealousy with extra steps. And I'll have to convince myself that's what I'm dealing with here. Jealousy. Be hateful all you want, bitches and dickheads. You're just mad that I'm the lucky woman who gets to be with Luca.

And having him spend the night definitely helped with ignoring my phone as well.

Luca, though? He's as relaxed as he can be, cool as a cucumber, but he's also the furthest thing from a social media person. Like, he doesn’t use it at all. Apparently, he doesn't even let management post on social media for him.

If I were as offline as him, I probably wouldn't give a fuck either. But I can't just log off and give it up. We owe our success to social media and the fans who discovered us on those platforms and cheered us on, all the way to the top. I can't just up and leave, those fans be damned. It would be so unfair to them.

Today is the first day that Luca and I arrive at work together. Now that we're about to step into the backstage labyrinth, I feel his muscles tense beside me, his hand squeezing mine when we arrive.

Whispers follow our every footstep at the stadium. When Luca and I walk inside, me clinging onto his hand, his teammates are already waiting for us. Both of us freeze for a moment, startled by the silent welcome.

“Fucking finally,” someone shouts, and suddenly, everyone starts cheering, huddling around us and clapping Luca’s shoulders and back as they congratulate the two of us. And Luca never lets go of my hand.

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