Music drifts through the ballroom doors as Ryan pulls me onto the quiet garden terrace.

Inside, my parents are waiting for their devoted daughter and her perfect boyfriend.

Outside, Ryan looks nothing like the man who can charm an entire room without effort.

His hands are in his pockets. His tie is crooked. For once, he seems uncertain.

“If this is another rehearsal, we are late,” I say.

“It is not,” he replies.

He steps closer.

“I volunteered because it sounded entertaining,” he continues. “One dinner. A ridiculous lie. A chance to watch you glare at me outside the office.”

“That is very flattering,” I say dryly.

“I am trying to confess something,” he says.

My heart begins to race.

Ryan looks toward the glowing ballroom windows.

“Then I started waiting for your messages,” he admits. “I remembered things because they mattered to you. I kept inventing reasons to extend the arrangement, and every time you talked about ending it, I hated how easily you could say the words.”

“They were never easy,” I tell him.

His eyes return to mine.

“We can walk inside and finish the lie for your mother,” he says. “I will smile, hold your hand, and be exactly who she expects.”

He removes one hand from his pocket and offers it to me.

“But when we leave, I want to take you somewhere terrible,” he adds. “No flowers, no research document, no carefully rehearsed history. Just a real first date where I earn the right to know what happens next.”

I stare at his hand.

“What about work?” I ask.

“I have already arranged for Maya to become your official reporting lead,” he says. “Nothing changes unless you choose it.”

The care behind his answer breaks through the last of my resistance.

“So this is real?” I ask softly.

“As real as I know how to make it,” Ryan replies.

I kiss him before he can say anything else, meaning it this time.

Then I take his hand, and we walk back into the ballroom for our last fake date—and the beginning of something real.

Ryan finally stopped pretending and asked Sophie for something real! Did their terrace confession make you swoon? Tell us your favorite moment below! 👇 Hit ❤️ to celebrate their last fake date becoming their first real love story!