Zack spent most of the next day holed up in the guest room, pacing back and forth as he tried to make sense of the previous night.
Kieran's words echoed in his mind, over and over:
"It means I'm tired of pretending this doesn't matter to me. That you don't matter to me."
He sat down on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.
"It's not supposed to be real," Zack muttered to himself. "None of this is supposed to be real."
But it felt real. That was the problem. Every time Kieran looked at him, every time he smiled, every time he said something that made Zack's heart race, it felt real.
How did we get here? This was supposed to be a simple arrangement. A job.
Now it's turning into… what? Something more?
And the worst part is, I don't even know how I feel about it.
By the time Zack finally left his room, the sun was already starting to set. He wandered into the kitchen, half-expecting Kieran to be out or busy, but instead, he found him sitting at the dining table, scrolling through his phone with a cup of coffee in hand.
Kieran looked up when Zack entered, his expression unreadable. "Hey."
"Hey," Zack replied, hesitating before sitting down across from him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The silence was heavy, but not unbearable.
"How are you feeling?" Kieran asked finally, his voice soft.
Zack shrugged, avoiding his gaze. "Honestly? Confused."
Kieran nodded, as if he'd expected the answer. "Fair enough."
Another pause. Zack opened his mouth to say something, but Kieran beat him to it.
"I didn't mean to put you in an uncomfortable position," Kieran said quietly. "I just… I couldn't keep pretending like it didn't matter. Like you didn't matter."
Zack's heart ached at the vulnerability in Kieran's voice.
He looked up, meeting Kieran's gaze for the first time since sitting down.
"It's not that I don't care," Zack said slowly. "I just… I didn't expect this. Any of it."
Why does he have to look at me like that? Like I'm the only person in the world.
This isn't supposed to happen. But it is.
And I don't know how to stop it.
Kieran leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly against the side of his mug. "Do you want to know why I agreed to this whole fake-dating thing in the first place?"
Zack frowned, caught off guard by the sudden change in topic.
"Isn't it obvious? To protect your image, right?"
Kieran smiled faintly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "That's what Alicia said. But for me, it was more than that."
He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "The truth is, I was tired of being alone.
Tired of people looking at me and only seeing the actor, the celebrity.
I wanted to be around someone who didn't expect me to be perfect all the time."
Zack stared at him, his chest tightening.
"And then you came along,"
Kieran continued, his voice softer now.
"You didn't care about any of that. You treated me like a normal person. It was… refreshing."
Zack swallowed hard, unsure of how to respond. He'd always assumed Kieran thrived in the spotlight, but now he was seeing a side of him he hadn't expected—a side that was raw and real and achingly human.
He's lonely.
For all the fame and attention, he's just… lonely.
I thought I was the one struggling with all of this, but maybe he's been struggling, too.
The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken words.
Zack could feel the weight of Kieran's confession pressing down on him, and he wanted to say something—anything—to ease the tension.
"You're not as perfect as you pretend to be, are you?" Zack said finally, his voice quiet but tinged with a hint of teasing.
Kieran let out a soft laugh, his expression relaxing. "Not even close."
Zack smiled, the tension in his chest easing slightly. "Good. I don't think I could handle perfect."
Kieran's gaze softened, and for a moment, Zack felt like they were the only two people in the world.
Later that evening, they found themselves on the couch, a movie playing in the background as they talked.
The conversation was light at first—stories about Zack's awkward high school years, Kieran's disastrous attempts at cooking—but eventually, it shifted back to deeper territory.
"Do you ever wish you could just… disappear?" Zack asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"All the time," Kieran admitted. "But then I think about what I'd be leaving behind, and it doesn't seem so bad."
Zack frowned. "What do you mean?"
Kieran hesitated, then shrugged. "The fame, the attention—it's exhausting.
But it's also given me opportunities I never would've had otherwise.
I try to focus on the good parts, even when the bad parts feel overwhelming."
Zack nodded slowly, his respect for Kieran growing.
Despite everything, he'd managed to find a way to keep going.
"Do you ever feel like you're losing yourself in all of it?" Zack asked.
Kieran looked at him, his gaze steady. "Not when I'm with you."
There it is again. That feeling in my chest, like my heart's about to burst.
Why does he have to say things like that?
And why do I keep wanting to believe him?
Zack didn't know how to respond, so he didn't.
Instead, he leaned back against the couch, letting the weight of Kieran's words settle over him.
The line between fake and real had vanished completely, and Zack wasn't sure if he wanted to rebuild it.