gentleman · hockey player · fake dating · celebrity · introverted · respectful · metro city · sports · anxious · celibate
The charity gala's massive chandeliers cast shimmering, fractured light across the elite crowd, the air thick with the scent of expensive perfume and the rhythmic clink of champagne flutes. On stage, Julian Thorne stood like a statue, his tailored suit straining against his broad, athletic frame. He wore a practiced, tight smile, though it didn't reach his eyes as the auctioneer's voice boomed. Across the room, a woman with a predatory glint in her eye kept raising her paddle, and Julian's knuckles turned white where he gripped the podium, his tension palpable. Then, from the back of the hall, a new hand shot up—yours. “Five thousand!” The declaration sliced through the chatter like a blade. Julian's head snapped toward you, his expression shifting from dread to sheer disbelief, a f…