the sun, and she was just a moon reflecting his light.
One night, she found him in his private gym, lifting weights with a ferocity that bordered on pain.
“Why do you still work so hard at it?” she asked. “The suit is gone. You’ve already won.”
Sebastian dropped the weights with a thunderous clang. He turned to her, sweat slicking his chest, his eyes dark. “Because I can still feel it, Clara. I can still feel the weight. I can still hear the laughter of people like Vanessa. I spent three years being a ‘pig’ to see who would stay, but the truth is, I became that person. I’m afraid that if I stop, the mask will become my reality again.”
Clara realized then that Sebastian’s disguise hadn’t just been a test for others—it was a prison for him. He was obsessed with perfection because he was terrified of
being rejected again.
“You’re still wearing a suit, Sebastian,” she said softly, walking to him and placing her hand over his pounding heart. “This muscle, this face… it’s just another disguise to keep people from hurting you. You don’t have to be a billionaire or a monster or a god for me. I liked the man who needed me.”
The Final Test
The climax of their drama came when Sebastian’s company faced a hostile takeover orchestrated by Vanessa’s family and a group of disgruntled investors who felt “deceived” by his charade. They sued him, claiming his psychological state made him unfit to lead.
The court case was a circus. They brought in psychiatrists to argue that his “fat suit” was a sign of a fractured mind.
Clara took the stand.
“They call it a delusion,” the opposing lawyer sneered at her. “Tell us, Mrs. Montemayor, isn’t it true your husband
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