Chapter Text
By the time you arrived home, you felt nothing besides a buzzing in your mind, all previous emotions overwhelmed. Your hands shook slightly as you opened the door to your apartment. You took off your shoes and threw your purse and jacket on the couch before sitting down in the darkness.
It was strangely silent — no music, nothing playing on the TV to fill in the silence, the only sound haunting you was the leaking faucet you swore you fixed a month ago. You pressed your lips together, thoughts swarming your head like a hive of wasps.
Taking in a deep breath, you sharply stood up and started getting ready for bed. Nothing good would come out pondering over something you didn’t understand yet, maybe things would make more sense in the morning, and after a cup of coffee.
The alarm startled you awake, ringing loudly in your ears. You groaned and flipped your phone, disabling the alarm. You stared at the ceiling, strangely calm considering the storm that happened yesterday. As you sat up slowly in your bed, your phone buzzed as someone was messaging you.
Caleb Xia: Good morning
Caleb Xia: Do you need to be dropped off for work? The train station is closed down for repairs today
You rubbed your eyes slightly — he never messaged you freely like this, even less so in the morning just as you awoke, even more less so with such consideration. But if the station was really closed, you would be a fool to not accept.
By the time you had finished brewing a cup of coffee, Caleb messaged you again.
Caleb Xia: I’m outside, you done?
You flicked dust off your shoulder before narrowing your eyes at the message.
You: I don’t think I ever gave you my address
You: How are you already here? Where are you?
His text speech bubble hovered.
Caleb Xia: I have my connections
Suspicious at best, creepy at worst. Yet you didn’t have the energy to argue with him, you remembered how those ended in the past. Lots of yelling, lots of threats, and ultimately, you failing against his golden tongue and puppy eyes.
As you picked up your work purse again, your eyes fell back down on two papers. Ah. The contract and marriage certificate. You folded them neatly before tucking them back inside — they would probably be useful — and necessary.
You stepped out of the main entrance of your apartment to see Caleb leaning against a sleek, black car. He was dressed to the nines, as always, wearing the iconic Colonel uniform (including the hat). He was staring at his phone, eyes narrowing slightly at something he was reading. You walked over and tapped him on the shoulder gently. His eyes flew up, eyebrows raised slightly. “Good morning,” you greeted.
“Yes,” he smiled before taking off his hat and offering a small bow. “Good morning,” he returned as he opened the car door.
“Thank you,” you nodded before slipping instead.
Smooth leather greeted your skin, deliciously cool. You placed your purse on your legs as Caleb shut the door and joined you on the driver’s side, starting the engine. As you two started making your ways to the DAA, your eyes fell on him again. “Do you have important business today? What’s up with the uniform?” You asked.
He hummed in response as he switched lanes. “Yeah, an important meeting this morning.”
And that was that. You didn’t want to pry, and it seems like he couldn't disclose much either. You watched as the buildings of Sky Haven pass by — the sky was very clear today, perfect weather for flying.
“Did you think about it? At all?” Caleb suddenly asked.
You were reminded again how you went home and basically went to bed immediately, you didn’t even remove the papers from your purse. “I thought about it,” you lied.
Just as you finished, he pulled into the private parking garage of the DAA. He parked, and leaned over to look at you. You weren’t sure if it was the uniform, but your heart rate quickened slightly (if you could see why he could intimidate the senior officers). His eyes softened as he placed a hand on your shoulder. “Please, consider, for my sake,” he pleaded.
Sometimes, he reminded you of a wet dog. “I…” you began before taking his hand off. “I think I felt butterflies!” You laughed, trying to ease the tension. “I haven’t said anything yet, but you're playing the perfect husband already.”
His eyebrow twitched before he sighed. Caleb shook his head while chuckling lightly as he opened his door. As you unbuckled yourself, the car door on your side opened as he stuck his hand out, offering you to take it. “Such chivalry,” you murmured.
“I’m practicing,” he smiled.
His large hands enveloped yours, the smooth white gloves still warm from his body temperature. You missed how his eyes stared at you heavily.
You adjusted your clothing as his hand remained on yours — not yet interlaced, not yet close enough. His grip was strong as he guided you through the parking garage, as if one misstep would send you tumbling out of his grasp.
“Do you need me to drive you home?” He asked.
“That would be nice,” you nodded.
You walked to the elevators in silence. Caleb clicked his floor and you pressed your own before you stepped backwards to stand directly next to him. It was in this situation that you truly felt the presence of the Farspace Colonel — cold, brooding, sharp. Your hands automatically got slightly more sweaty, eyes darting from your shoes to the badges on his chest. Suddenly, the elevator halted as two personnel stepped inside. “Oh, Colonel Xia,” one of them greeted.
Caleb acknowledged him as well as the new additions in the elevator stood on Caleb’s right. As you stared at the tiles of the floor, you could feel the curious gaze of them on you. As you raised your stare toward them, they glanced at each other for a second before one of them gave the other a slight squint — sending telepathic words only they could understand, and leaving you out of it. You cleared your throat awkwardly and shuffled slightly, fixing your hair and straightening your blouse. There was movement to your right as Caleb stepped slightly forward and toward you, shielding you slightly. You would’ve given your thanks but his floor stopped him. As the other men and Caleb exited the elevator, you gave them both a slight bow and nodded at Caleb. He tilted his head downward and the elevator doors closed as they walked away.
Now left alone in the elevator again, you felt like you could finally breathe again. You exhaled quickly and fanned yourself, sweat you didn’t even notice slightly dotting your hairline. As the doors opened again, you were met with an influx of people ready to head to work at the office, flooding the cramped space. As you were suddenly pressed against the walls, a familiar voice broke through. “[Name]?”
You turned to see your coworker, Anna, her short, wavy blonde hair cut to a bob and deep blue eyes gleaming at you. She grinned before gently wading through the bodies to stand next to you. “What are you doing here? I thought you took the west elevators?” She asked.
“Oh, yeah, the train station is under construction, so I had someone give me a ride today.”
She nodded. “Makes sense.”
You eventually fell into small-talk chatter as the elevator doors opened again and you two left to walk to your respectable cubicles. You set down your purse and cracked some cricks in your neck before sitting down at your seat — the chair spinning around slightly. Time for work.
By lunch time, you were well engrossed in reviewing some new proposals for new implements for the Farspace officers and personnels — something about micro-bots located near the heart to better regulate blood diffusion and heart rate during high stress scenarios. Anna tapped your shoulder and smiled at you, breaking you out of your flow state. “Jess and I need to buy lunch, want to come along?” She asked.
Considering that you didn’t pack yourself a lunch, you accepted without much thought.
Your small group eventually made it down to a lunch spot attached to the DAA building, chattering and gossiping along the way. Yet something was off.
The hairs on the back of your neck raised slightly as another person’s eyes followed you until you fell out of their peripheral vision. You passed by another group of people, and two within it immediately broke out into whispers, eyes darting to you. Odd.
As you stood in line, while Jess and Anna were busy debating whether the acai or green smoothie was better, you could hear the hushed voices of two women behind you. What was worse, the accusatory finger pointing straight in your direction didn’t make things much better. You cleared your throat and stepped closer to them, wanting to put more distance between the gossipy women and you. Jess moved to the side to allow you into the middle. “[Name], you agree that the green smoothie here is better right? You can really taste the freshness of the produce-” Anna rambled.
“Guys, is there something off… with me?” You asked, looking down at your outfit in case you missed a comically large stain.
They looked at each other before glancing at you. “No…? Is this a thought experiment?” Jess asked.
You glanced backwards — one of the women immediately stopped talking as you met her eyes. “Not really, I just feel… paranoid,” you turned back toward Anna and Jess. “Like everyone is talking about me.”
“That’s ridiculous, what interesting thing is there to talk about?” Anna caffawed.
Nothing, apparently. But that is what made senseless gossip float around the building so easily — everyone was bored of their meaningless tasks and repetitive days and needed just something to get their mind right. Hell, even the Farspace personnel were much larger gossipers than people would’ve assumed.
Jess ordered and paid, and just as you were ready to pull out your own money to pay, the cashier squinted at you slightly. They stared as if they were trying to decipher something, eyes tracing over your face before your outfit. “Hello?”
“Uh, sorry, you just, um,” they shook their head slightly. “Nothing, what would you like?” Their customer-service face was put back on, smiling.
You raised your eyebrow suspiciously but continued on like nothing happened. As you were handed your order number, you quickly made your way to Anna and Jess. “Did you see that?” You whispered, guiding them to a small table near the back. “They were just staring at me.”
“Maybe they are in awe of your beauty,” Anna teased, gently pushed on your shoulder.
“Well, you smell weirder today,” Jess mumbled off handily.
“Weird..?”
The omega nodded. “You haven’t been spending any extra time with… a loved one, have you?”
“No! I don’t even have- oh.”
Realization hits you like a truck. Your irritation swells slightly. “‘Just practicing’, my ass,” you grumbled.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Caleb Xia, you sly son of a dog.
Lunch was eaten in tense silence, as you stewed in your own thoughts. A gloomy storm cloud followed you back toward your floor — you tried to ignore the off glance stares people threw your way before they started whispering in soft voices to each other, just out of your earshot.
Your office floor was strangely quiet, not unlike the chatter that would go around as people were finishing their lunch and trying to get their daily recommended social interactions. Just as your foot stepped out of the confines of the elevator, it’s like everyone’s heads turned toward you.
Suddenly, you’re staring at 50 pairs of eyeballs. Shuffling awkwardly to the side, you allowed for the others behind you to exit, as you watched as everyone kept their eyes locked on you.
Anna and Jess stepped in front of you, with Jess giving you a sideways glance before continuing onwards. Some eyes watched as she moved forward before settling back onto you. As you walked in between the cubicles before you felt someone tap on your shoulder.
“Can I ask you something?” They asked, brown eyes almost sparkling.
“Huh?”
They looked around, making eye contact with a few others in the office space before settling back over to yours. “Are you… dating anybody?”
You paused. “Um, no?” You raised your eyebrows.
Who even was this person, clearly not someone you interact with regularly.
“Oh, right, that’s a dumb question,” they chuckled to themselves, seemingly picking up the pieces in their mind. “Are you married?”
Your stomach dropped. Were they playing a game on you? There was no way they knew about that conversation with Caleb (even if you were yelling quite loudly), and there was no way someone would just ask a question like that.
But no matter how you answered, it seems like it would bite you in your ass. If you said no, it would completely destroy the whole entire ploy Caleb was trying to build that you weren’t even sure you were on board with — but you couldn’t just ruin something like that when he looked at you with such desperation. If you said yes, you were basically confirming a rumor you had no idea about, but your gut told you the worse.
Glancing around the office, you realized that everyone had stopped breathing, listening intently to the conversation even though they were feigning nonchalance.
“What is going on? Everyone back to their office spaces, go! Now! Lunch is over!” Your manager commanded, clapping his hands together, urging everyone to get back to work.
The crowd quickly dispersed, some masking their disappointment well, others not so much. The coworker who pulled you aside simply sighed to themselves before raking their eyes over your figure, as if silently promising to revisit this topic another time.
You scurried to your own desk, tugging your bag closer to yourself, suddenly self conscious and anxious, mind running a mile a minute. You kept your expression steeled as your manager approached you, not letting him figure out something is amiss.
He glanced at you up and down, expression stuck between nonchalance and subtle curiosity. “Keep your private business out of work, please,” he nodded before leaving.
You breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed like the whole world was breathing down your neck for your response to Caleb, even if you didn’t know how to answer.
The empty spreadsheet stared back at you — it was supposed to be filled with personnel details and compatibility with a new chip in development, but all on the page was a cursor flickering. Testing, prodding, mocking. You shook your head slightly. Your mind was elsewhere, stuck at the contract still nestled in your bag.
Your fingers absent-mindedly tapped some keys before you quickly hit the backspace. Your eyes drifted to the small clock in the corner of your screen, watching as the minutes ticked by.
The clock struck 5’o clock and suddenly everyone was standing up sharply, ready to head out for the day. You sat upwards in your seat, looking around. Jess stopped by your desk, an empathic smile on her face. “I’m so sorry if what I said earlier was… inappropriate, it seems like you didn’t want to talk about it,” she nodded.
“It’s okay, I took no offense,” you smiled.
She patted your shoulder before leaving, shrugging her purse higher onto her shoulder. You stood up slowly and before carefully collecting your belongings — the work day weighing heavily on your shoulders even though you did less than usual. You quickly shoved your work laptop into your bag and headed for the elevators, you still had an entire day's worth of work needed to be done.
You stood in front of the elevators in a daze, eyes drooping slightly as you stifled back a yawn — maybe you should’ve picked up a little extra caffeine during lunch today, given yourself enough energy for your inevitable overtime tonight.
When you finally made your way into the elevator, you were pressed awkwardly to one of the elevator’s walls — the person standing next to you glancing at you before turning away. You clutched your bag tighter, staring at the tiles on the floor. As the doors opened, you quickly walked out. Your footsteps seemed to echo through the giant building, every move felt like it was being hyper analyzed. Some people you walked past whispered amongst themselves, others giving you curious glances. You were so caught up in your thoughts that you didn’t even notice the person barreling straight toward you.
There was a crash. The papers in their hands fluttering into the air and the things in your bag falling onto the floor. A cup of coffee spilling onto your blouse, staining and seeping through the white cloth. You fell to the floor in a comical manner, knees scraping against smooth marble. And then suddenly, it was quiet.
You could hear a pin drop as you stared at the person who ran into you. Their head pointed down as they quickly picked up their papers. “I-I’m sorry…?” Was the best you could stutter as you also reached for your own belongings.
You then realized very quickly where their hands were reaching. Not toward their own papers, but to the two pieces of paper that you forgot that you conveniently brought with yourself that day. Your hand shot forward and quickly grabbed them back, the material crumpling underneath your fingertips, but you didn’t care.
They seemed to pause for a moment before going back to collecting their own papers, not saying a single word, not making one second of eye contact. Why were they headed into the main building inside of planning on exiting?
You picked up the lip balm that was rolling along the floor and your laptop — which was sadly now dented in the lower right corner. The world unfroze as people started to talk again, moving quickly to the exit doors. You stood up on shaky legs, like a newborn deer, before stumbling back slightly. Your back met a hard surface.
Turning around sharply, familiar violet eyes met yours again. “Caleb-?” He quickly cut you off.
“Are you okay?”
Stares flew to your way, surprise and disbelief washing over the crowd — what was the Colonel doing here? Your words failed you, instead you stared at him like a fish. His eyes narrowed slightly before he placed a hand on your shoulder and guided you away from the scene.
Before you knew it, your back was hitting the leather seats of Caleb's car. Your eyes stared at him as he closed the door and got into the driver’s side. He started the engine but stayed in park. “What happened?” He asked, turning toward you.
“I don’t know, I just,” you tried to find the right words, the right things to say, how could you explain everything? “I just walked out, getting ready to leave and then this person ran into me.” You pasued. “I think they knew.”
“They knew?” He questioned again.
“They dropped all their papers, but I saw as they deliberately tried to sneak the contract into their own hands. If I wasn’t in the right mind, I probably would’ve missed it.”
Caleb grew quiet. You stared at the empty parking garage and then back at Caleb, who was currently tapping his finger rhythmically on the steering wheel.
You continued. “Earlier today, I was getting lunch, and it felt like everyone already knew. I had someone ask me if I was married-”
“What did you say?” He suddenly cut you off.
His eyes slightly narrowed, and it felt like you were being dissected for a science project. “I said nothing. My manager cut the conversation short before I could say anything.”
“Good.”
He sighed before taking off his hat and rubbing his temples in annoyance, like his brain was trying to find a way out of the situation. His gaze was empty as he adjusted slightly in his seat. The silence was deafening. He broke the silence first. “Buckle.”
With nothing to say on your end, you did as you were told as Caleb backed out of the parking garage, quickly and efficiently. The two of you made it to the main road while still staying completely quiet.
“... Now what,” you asked.
“Nothing. It’s your decision what to do.”
You furrowed your eyebrows. “What am I supposed to do?”
He hummed lightly as he made a turn, as if he was carefully choosing his next words. “You can pretend nothing happened. You don’t sign the contract, you forget yesterday happened, you pretend that you were never with me, I pretend I was never with you.”
“Or…?”
“Or! You can feed into the rumors,” he glanced at you with a new spark in his eye. “Actually, this is the perfect setup I didn’t ask for. The secret relationship of the Colonel slowly falls apart at the seams. There’s nothing more powerful than the curiosity of the public, that would surely make them leave me alone.”
“Leave who alone.”
“I’m just saying,” he quickly changed the subject. “Once this ‘secret’ gets out by itself, wouldn’t it spread like wildfire? And we don’t even have to do anything grand, just pretend that we’re more close than we actually are, just a little husband and wife acting while we’re in public.”
With Caleb’s natural charisma, he really should’ve studied to be a business man, even you were getting convinced. You sat lower in your seat.
What if you really did pretend nothing happened, what if you said no. It’s not like you would have to back track on any statements, and you could easily spin any speculation as people reading too deep into a situation. Who said that an unmarried man and woman can’t be friends? Besides, being “married” to someone of such high standing would be a lot of pressure, wouldn’t it?
You glanced at Caleb, his hands steady as he focused on driving. He looked so… normal like this. Would it really be fair to leave him to fight against whatever situation he was in? No matter how much nonchalance he pretended to exude, you noticed his left legging shaking lightly.
Was there really no other choice besides a fake marriage? What was Caleb trying to hide? Or who was he hiding from?
You sighed and reached into your purse, pulling out the marriage contract. It was wrinkled, and there was a small coffee stain on the corner. You gave it another look over.
There truly was nothing inherently wrong with it, nothing that raised the alarm bells in your brain. Matter of fact, there was a part of your mind nagging you about the importance of marriage, not only just to Caleb.
More paid time off, priority of promotions, better insurance rates, no old relatives breathing down your spine asking about a boyfriend. “Are you still thinking about it?” Caleb asked as he pulled near your apartment.
You sat in the leather seat for a second before gripping the contract tighter. “I’ll do it,” your own voice surprised you — strong, confident. “I’ll marry you,” you turned to face him.
For once, there was an uncharacteristic expression of surprise. His eyes locked open and mouth dangling slightly. “What?”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” You shrugged as you unbuckled. “I’ll marry you. But I’m tired, so I’m going home now-”
Caleb grabbed your arm and wrapped his arms around you. The air was knocked out of your lungs at the sudden hug. “Thank you,” he whispered into your ear. “You really don’t know what this means.”
You hummed as you rolled your eyes playfully. “Mhm, sure.”
With a back pat, Caleb pulled back with the boyish grin on his face again — not the cold persona of the Colonel, but the person you knew from high school. You smiled back and stepped out of the car.
As you started walking to the doors of your apartment, Caleb called your name again. “[Name]!”
You turned around to see him running up to you. He grabbed your hand. “About your blouse, just drop it off tomorrow, I’ll pay for dry cleaning, I promise, since this was kinda my fault. And you can drop it off with the contract. And the certificate. And, and whatever else you need,” he stumbled across his words endearingly. “I can replace all the things that were damaged in the run-in.”
“How am I supposed to reach you at work,” you joked. “You’re awfully hard to reach, Colonel-”
Warm lips pressed against your temple. Your eyes widened as Caleb laughed as he ran away.
“Don’t worry about it!” He smiled.
He jumped into the car and slammed the door before speeding off, almost like he was running away from any responsibility of what just occurred. As his car drove away, you stood dumbfounded in front of your apartment building — still in your dirty shirt for all of Skyhaven to see. Your fingers slowly reached up to touch the side of your face where he kissed you, heat rising to your face.
How unexpected.
All you could do was let out a breathless chuckle as you turned around to enter your apartment. You paused as your eyes met the gaze of the security guard standing right outside the doors, who watched the entire ordeal. He scoffed before shaking his head as you quickly (awkwardly) walked past him. “Young love,” he sighed under his breath.
Right. Young love.