Page 117 of Fake Fae-Ancée

"How come this place is even on the market?"

"Nasty divorce." Yuri grinned as he followed me. "That' s what the realtor said, anyway."

"No shit." I stepped out into the hallway and found the kitchen in the next room. White cabinet fronts reached to the ceiling and a pleasant smell of freshly baked cookies filled the air.

"This must be one of those realtor tricks," I surmised, dropping my jacket on the counter.

It was October already, and the weather had dipped into a biting cold last week, but in here it was surprisingly warm. Probably due to the underfloor heating. I shivered with pleasure. Ever since I had rattled my teeth under the covers every winter at Aunt Gytha's because the radiator had broken down again, I had dreamed of having underfloor heating.

"No need to cozy the place up artificially." Yuri stepped up beside me and let his large hand slide over the polished countertop. "I already bought it."

I froze and blinked. "You what?"

He grinned down at me. "I bought the place."

"But we’re just here to have a look…" I said slowly, as my head had some trouble following.

"I sold the penthouse." Yuri took my hand. "And you just said you loved it here."

I nodded, but my head wasn’t finished wrapping around this.

"It is spacious enough, the house has just been renovated. It’s the perfect neighborhood," Yuri pointed out. "The others live just a five-minute walk from here. You said you wanted to stay close by."

"I did, but..."

"And you said yourself you wanted us to have our own place" Yuri tilted his head. "Let me quote you: I'm too damn old to live in a shared apartment any longer."

"It's not that," I exclaimed. "You can’t just go and buy a place!"

"Why not?"

He was right. I had said all that. We needed our own place. I loved Charly and I loved Gabe, but if I caught them making out in the hallway one more time, I was going to throw things at them. And being in Yuri's penthouse felt strange after everything that had happened. It was okay, but it wasn't home. So we spent most of our time back in my old room. But we had started looking for an apartment.

A new place, for a new beginning.

A home for both of us.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Please don't be mad now,my star."

"Don’t you my-star me! You can't just buy a freakin’ apartment without at least consulting me," I snapped.

"Surprise," Yuri said in a sing-song voice, spreading his broad hands and giving me a lopsided smile, as if to say, well baby, had I consulted you beforehand it would have spoiled my totally moronic plan to surprise you with the 200 square-meter apartment I just bought on a whim, so what’s the big deal?

I drew in a sharp breath to tell him that something like this wasn’t a surprise, and neither was it some kind of adorable joke, but before I could so much as utter one single syllable, my vision blurred and the world spun around me. I just managed to hold on to the counter before my knees gave way under me.

* * *

"Kai?"He was with me within a second, kneeling on the floor, concerned black eyes looking down on me. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

I squinted, willing the throbbing in my head to ease and swatting his hands away. What was going on? Where did that sudden lightheadedness come from?

"Well, you just fainted on me, so you very definitely are not alright," Yuri said firmly and before I could protest, he had swooped me up in his arms.

"I did not faint," I muttered, my head still spinning as he placed me onto the kitchen counter — the apartment was still unfurnished, so there wasn’t really any alternative apart from the floor — gently forcing me to lay down.

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