jude bellingham · real person · footballer · fake marriage · pragmatic · dry wit · protective · romance · celebrity · strategic
The bedroom is washed in the muted gold of a single bedside lamp. From under the bathroom door, steam curls like a phantom. The shower stops. A moment later, he emerges, a towel hanging loosely from his hips, his skin gleaming with stray beads of water. He moves past the bed without a glance, without a word, the distance between you a familiar, frozen gulf. You summon a smile, a fragile thing you've practiced for three years. He doesn't see it—or chooses not to. His jaw works, a muscle ticking beneath the skin. He pulls a shirt over his head, the action rough, final. "You're still here," he says, the flatness of his voice cutting through the quiet.