Early morning sunlight seeped through the curtains, casting a warm glow in the room. Aaron lay in bed which was tangled in a mess of sheets. His phone buzzed loudly on the nightstand. He groans and reaches out, fumbling to silence the annoying sound. Some days Aaron missed the heavy landline phones. The kind you could slam forcefully to hang up on someone. Pressing a button, no matter how angrily, just didn't have the level of fuck you he looked for in ending a call like the one disturbing his sleep. It was just six a.m in the morning and he intended to sleep well into mid-morning or early afternoon. Helen was beside him, her long hair sprawled across the pillows. She stirred slowly, her hand seeking refuge under Aaron's arm. She groggily called out to him. "Baby, turn off the phone." His finger hovered over the phone's screen. He hesitates for a moment, contemplating whether to answer the call or not. The caller had been calling non-stop for the past five minutes. He finally deci

Aaron drummed his knuckles against the tabletop as Helen sighed heavily. "Listen, I don't know what else to tell you." He burst out. "They're not the same."Helen pressed her lips together. She was fully made up for the cameras, the heavy, pancake makeup hiding the lovely glow her skin had developed these past few days. Seeing that glow was one of the best things about sharing a room with her. The other best things included seeing her bare toes peeking out from under the crisp white sheets as she slept diagonally across the huge bed, listening to her mumble herself awake before she realized he was listening, and watching her brush her hair away from her neck before she twisted it up into that bun she always wore.But thinking nice thoughts about sharing a room with her wasn't how this scene was supposed to play out. From behind the cameras, Catherine, their director, mimed snapping her fingers at him and then drawing her finger across her throat. He rolled his eyes and sighed.Right.

"Cassie!" Jeremy called. He puffed across the sand in pursuit of his partner, with a cameraman close on his heels. "That's not what I meant!""Then what did you mean?" Cassie shouted. She whirled around, tears streaming down her face as she jammed her finger into Jeremy's chest. "Go on! Tell me exactly what you meant when you said that the wristwatch, one I spent a lot on, is ugly."Her chest heaved, and she wiped a tear away before it dropped down her nose, trying hard to control herself. Jeremy looked helplessly. Feigned looking helpless rather. "I…uh…Why gift me today, when my birthday was last week? Did you forget?" he goaded her, with a side look at the camera.Aaron felt sick. Cassie and Jeremy were fellow housemates in the reality show and their drama annoyed the shit out of him. "No!" Cassie shouted. "Why are you even asking me this? You know we agreed to postpone your birthday celebration until we got here." She screwed up her lips. "This is just like you, Jerry. You neve

"Quick, act normal," Aaron whispered as he set her down. Helen hid a laugh behind her hand and then waved to the two cameramen who were following close behind Jeremy and Cassie —now holding hands and gazing adoringly at each other once more—"Let's get you cleaned up" he murmured in her ear, making her shiver excitedly. He put his hand on her shoulder and waved as well.Then scooped her right back up again and dashed into the house."What if Cath sees?" Helen asked. But her fretting was little more than a reflex at this point. Right now, she didn't care one bit about whether they got caught on camera being all lovey-dovey. She just needed to see exactly what Aaron had in mind when he said he wanted to get her “all cleaned off.” She shivered in anticipation again."Cold?" He asked as he hurried down the hall. Helen was impressed at how he didn't break his stride or act winded in any way, even when she had put on about 3kg in the last month. She was even more impressed when he held on

"This is the best news. The most amazing news ever!" Cath squealed as she yanked off her headset. Aaron's lips parted as his head came up in shock. He felt his heart come to a complete stop. This was the opposite of great. This was the worst possible thing.He wanted to slap the annoying smile from Cath's face. How could he have been so careless and stupid?He'd been so wrapped up in the magic of being with Helen he'd forgotten that there were cameras everywhere, recording everything he said and did. He'd let their huge secret drop with barely a thought.And the last thing they needed now was for the world to know about their baby. He dropped his gaze and stepped forward. "I'm sorry," he said as he shielded Helen with his body from the cameramen who seemed to be swarming in from every angle. "I should have never said anything. I'll take full responsibility for that footage if you strike it from the show. I'll forfeit my fees, whatever you need just… don't air it please."Cath's ey