Chapter 6 I got married today, Auntie.
Chapter 6 I got married today, Auntie.
Aria's POV
"Yeah."
"Don't you 'yeah' me!" She was somewhere between furious and completely losing it. "Wait wait wait — the ring — that black diamond thing he always wears, what happened to—"
"It's on my hand."
Four full seconds of silence.
"Holy shit," Vivienne said, and there was something close to reverence underneath it.
I could picture her face exactly. If someone had told me yesterday I'd be walking out of City Hall today, I'd have made the same face.
She sucked in a breath and shifted gears, full war-room mode. "Okay. I've got Twitter. But Aria — are you actually okay? For real?"
I thought about it for a second.
"Better than yesterday."
"That's enough for me," she said. "Go wreck them."
I hung up, walked out of the bedroom, and found Orion on the couch scrolling his phone. He glanced up, said nothing, and turned the screen to show me.
Twitter trending, #1: #OrionVossIsMarried
#2: #AriaMistress
#3: #HeartCompassNewCast
That speed.
"The show's production team has a meeting this afternoon," he said. "You coming?"
"Yes." I sat down across from him. "And the orchestra — I need to figure out what to tell Margaret."
"You don't need to tell her anything," he said. "Ethan had lawyers over there this morning."
I blinked. "You already—"
"You think they were just sitting around?" He set his phone down, tone flat. "You're my legal wife. If the orchestra tries anything, we buy them out and restructure. Margaret's smart enough to do that math herself."
Legal wife.
The words landed differently coming out of his mouth. They had a weight I hadn't finished adjusting to yet.
I didn't respond. I looked down at my left hand instead. The black diamond ring was still there on my finger. I hadn't taken it off.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked.
"How bad Julian and Stella are going to look on that show," I said.
Orion looked at me for a beat. Then he actually laughed — not that cool, controlled almost-smile. A real one.
"They're going to look terrible," he said. "Don't worry."
Orion's POV
Three o'clock that afternoon. Serena Voss — President of Apex's Streaming Division — was already lounging with her coffee when I walked in, eyeing me with a smirk she hadn't bothered to hide.
She looked at the contract. Then at me.
"You're actually signing this."
Not a question. It never was with her.
"Problem?" I raised an eyebrow.
She set her mug down. "You've been impossible since you were a teenager. Too good for red carpets, too cool for press junkets. And now you're telling me you're going on a dating show." She shook her head. "Aria's got you hook, line, and sinker."
She had, actually.
I let my mouth curve. Just enough. The way I'd practiced in mirrors for years until it looked effortless.
"I got married today, Auntie, with her."
Serena stared at me.
That was the fifth time I'd said it in the last two hours. I could feel the exact moment she hit her limit.
"I KNOW. I HEARD YOU." She stood, clicked across the floor, grabbed me by the shoulder, and physically marched me toward the door. "Eight years. Not easy. You can go out now."
I stood in the hallway, the contract in one hand, the marriage certificate in the other. Looked down at them.
A sound escaped me. Almost a laugh.
Because here was the thing.
She was right. I had been impossible since I was a teenager. Too good for the red carpets. Too cool for the press junkets. Too damn proud to let anyone watch me do something they thought they understood.
Marriage did change a man.
It changed me into someone who'd sign away a year of his life to a reality show and then stand in a hallway photographing a piece of paper like it was a winning bid.
Her voice came through the door, muffled: "I can still hear you out there, Orion."
"Just taking a picture, Auntie."
"I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING."
"If you know, then you know it's already posted."
The door cracked open just enough for half her face.
"...You posted the marriage certificate?"
I held up my phone. The photograph was already up, the caption short at the bottom:
Just got married.
She stared at me for a long moment. Then she said something curious:
"You're happy."
I didn't answer that. I just looked down at the certificate again, at the name next to mine, and thought about the small shift in my chest that had been there since this morning — the one I'd been trying not to think about for the past two hours.
And I smiled the whole way down the corridor.
I watched the notifications come in.
Not in the panicked way. Not the way they did when a deal fell through or when some outlet ran a story they weren't supposed to run. This was different. This was —
Orion. ORION.
My college roommate. Three messages in under a minute.
Is this real.
Did you just POST A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE.
Who is she CALL ME.
I kept scrolling.
My mother. Of course my mother. A single voice message, forty-seven seconds long. I didn't play it. I already knew the exact pitch it would be in.
My cousin Marcus, who I hadn't spoken to since last New Year's: bro.
Just that. Bro.
My father: Call your mother.
My other cousin: ???
My university professor — I didn't even know he still followed me — Congratulations, Orion. She must be remarkable.
I stopped on that one for a second.
Then kept scrolling.
The comments were already in the hundreds. People I knew, people I didn't, people who had spent years watching me at industry events and deciding I was the kind of man who would never do something like this. Who was too composed. Too deliberate. Too careful.
Just got married.
Four words. Clean. No explanation.
I leaned against the wall in the empty hallway, the marriage certificate still in my hand, and watched the number in the corner of my screen climb.
Somewhere behind Serena's closed door, I heard her say something sharp and exasperated that I couldn't quite make out.
I looked down at the certificate. At her name next to mine.
Put my phone away.
Let them ask.
