I wake to the sound of small feet padding across the floor.
It's still early, the city barely lit beyond our curtains, but Sebi doesn't care about schedules.
He pushes the bedroom door open with the full authority of a five-year-old who knows he owns us.
"Mommy," he says, voice thick with sleep.
I'm barely awake, but i'm already smiling.
I lift the blankets in silent invitation.
He climbs in without hesitation, slotting himself between Raphael and me.
Raphael grumbles, not even opening his eyes.
His arm just reaches out automatically to pull Sebi closer, and Sebi giggles as if it's a game.
It hits me harder than i expect, how natural this is.
How easy.
How long i convinced myself we'd never have it.
I pull Sebi close, kissing the crown of his head.
I can't smell the shampoo, can't smell anything at all.
He snuggles into my chest and sighs, as if all is right in the world.
Raphael's voice is scratchy, amused. "You two are conspirators."
"Against what?" I murmur.
"Against me sleeping in peace."
I snort. "You? Sleeping in peace? That's new."
He cracks one eye open.
There's a flicker of that old exhaustion there, the kind that once seemed permanent. But it's dulled now.
Less menacing.
He used to have chronic insomnia so bad he'd stay up for days.
He confessed that in one of our worst fights.
Said he was afraid to dream. Afraid to be alone in the dark.
But here he is, half-asleep with Sebi tucked under one arm and me under the other.
He looks so normal like this.
So human.
So ours.
Sebi hums, not really awake, pressing his tiny palm to Raphael's cheek.
"Daddy. Sleep."
Raphael chuckles under his breath and closes his eyes.
I think he listens more to Sebi than to me.
Not that i mind.
I stroke Sebi's hair slowly, feeling the fine strands under my fingers.
This is our family.
No cameras.
No boardrooms.
No scripts or headlines or whatever.
Just us.
It took us too long to get here.
-
I rest my cheek on Sebi's head, eyes fluttering shut.
My name changed again.
Claudia Isabela Araneta Gutierrez.
I insisted on it when we remarried. I wanted the world to know.
Not a contract.
Not fake.
Not a performance.
Real.
I let myself remember the first time we signed those papers, the tension, the rehearsed lines, the ridiculous rules about no emotions, no attachments.
I'd fled that marriage.
I'd left him, left everything, vanished for five years with our son because i was terrified.
Terrified of being seen.
Of being vulnerable.
I swallow hard.
I was wrong to think running would keep keep Raphael's dream.
Or me.
Because even gone, I couldn't stop loving Raphael.
Even lost, I couldn't stop belonging to him.
He shifts, fingers brushing mine where they're tangled in Sebi's hair.
His thumb strokes my knuckles gently.
I open my eyes.
He's watching me now.
He doesn't smile, he rarely does when he's being honest.
He just looks at me like I'm the only thing in the room.
"You're thinking too much," he says quietly.
"Occupational hazard," I say dryly.
"Of being CEO?"
I lift my brows. "Of being your wife."
He huffs a laugh, but the corner of his mouth tilts up.
"Regrets?"he asks, voice lower, vulnerable in that way he only is when he thinks Sebi's asleep.
I shake my head immediately.
"No," I whisper. "Never."
His grip on my hand tightens.
I think about Lueur Empire.
About the dozens of meetings waiting for me.
The launch of a new scent i designed but can't even smell.
It's funny.
I sell desire in a bottle.
I sell memory and seduction and power and luxury in the form of something I can't experience myself.
It used to make me feel like a fraud.
Now?
Now it makes me work twice as hard.
Because i know what it means to want what you can't have.
I glance at Raphael.
He's half-asleep again, the lines on his face relaxed.
For all the years he couldn't rest, for all the nights he refused to close his eyes, this is how he sleeps.
Only when i'm here.
Because he knows i won't leave again.
Sebi stirs, pushing his foot into Raphael's ribs.
"Daddy, up,"he mumbles.
Raphael groans, half-laughing.
"I'm being assaulted."
"You deserve it," I tease.
He glares at me without heat. "I'll remember this."
"You're welcome."
Sebi giggles, proud of himself for being the reason we're both smiling.
-
We stay in bed longer than we should.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand, a reminder of all the work waiting.
I glance at it, but Raphael catches my hand before i can reach for it.
"Don't," he says.
"I have to—"
"No."
He shifts Sebi so the little boy is sprawled across both of us like a barrier.
"Today, you're not CEO," he says firmly.
I roll my eyes, but my heart is soft.
He used to be the one who couldn't stop working.
Now he's the one insisting i slow down.
Sebi looks between us with the solemnity only a five-year-old can muster.
"Family day?"he asks carefully.
My throat closes up.
Raphael doesn't even hesitate. "Yeah, kiddo. Family day."
He looks at me then, daring me to say no.
I can't.
God help me, I don't want to.
I press my lips together and nod.
"Family day."
Sebi beams, triumphant.
-
We get up eventually.
I take Sebi's hand and lead him to the kitchen, listening to his excited rambling about pancakes and cartoons and playgrounds.
Raphael lags behind, grabbing the coffee pot, pretending to scowl but already smiling at our son's demands.
It's messy and loud and absolutely not what i planned for my life.
But it's mine.
It's ours.
-
Later, as Sebi's playing on the floor and Raphael's reading a medical journal at the table, I stand at the window, arms folded.
The city glitters below.
My empire.
My life.
I still can't smell the perfumes i sell.
Raphael will always need me just to sleep.
We're both missing something.
But when i turn and see them both looking at me, Sebi grinning wide, Raphael's eyes warm and sure, I realize we have enough.
We're whole.
Even with all we don't have.
Because we have each other.
I lean back against the glass, smiling.
"Hey," Raphael says, glancing up. "You staying over there forever?"
I shake my head.
"I'm exactly where i'm supposed to be."
And i cross the room to them.
Because this is home.
This is us.
Where we belong.