After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law-Chapter 172: Gaslighting Myself Into Reading About My Own Husband

Chapter 172: Gaslighting Myself Into Reading About My Own Husband

Kai Vane, the city’s most notorious playboy, let out a heavy, defeated sigh.

He dropped his gaze to the floor, looking entirely out of his depth. He slowly stood up from the chair and moved over to the hospital bed, sinking onto the edge of the mattress where Aria had patted.

"There’s this girl," Kai started, rubbing the back of his neck.

Aria was already shaking with excitement, her inner gossip-hound completely awakened. "Go on."

"She’s... stubborn," Kai said, a small, involuntary smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "She’s loud. She’s insanely dramatic. And she has absolutely zero self-preservation instincts."

"Sounds like a handful," Aria nodded sagely, fully engrossed.

"She is," Kai chuckled softly. "But the problem is, she’s hard to read. The second things get real, or the second I try to actually talk to her, she bolts. Like, literally sprints in the opposite direction."

Aria let out a dry laugh. She was completely, entirely oblivious to the fact that Kai was talking about her best friend. In Aria’s mind, Kai was probably talking about some elusive socialite or a fiercely independent model he had cornered at a gala.

"Well, can you blame her?" Aria asked, crossing her arms. "Kai, look at your track record. You are the final boss of fuckboys. You treat casual flings like a competitive sport. If this girl has even half a brain cell, she should run."

Kai winced. "I’m retiring from the sport. I just want her."

"Then you have to prove it," Aria said. "You can’t just flash that expensive smile and expect her to actually take you serious. You have to drop the ego, Kai. She’s running because she thinks you’re just playing another game, and she doesn’t want to be the punchline."

Kai looked at her, his face serious as he processed the advice.

"So, what do I do?" he asked quietly.

"You grovel," Aria stated simply. "You lay all your cards on the table. You show her that you’re actually serious. Be vulnerable. It’s terrifying, but it’s the only way a girl like that is going to stop running."

Kai stared at the wall for a long moment. Slowly, the dark cloud of rejection lifted from his features, replaced by a sharp, determined clarity.

"Grovel," Kai murmured, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Drop the ego. Right. I can do that."

He stood up from the bed, looking significantly lighter.

"You give surprisingly good advice for someone who married a certified psychopath," Kai said, shooting her a wink.

"I have my moments," Aria smiled, picking her iPad back up from the mattress. "Now go. Go get your girl. The therapist of the heart wants to return to her literature."

Kai stretched his arms above his head, letting out a satisfied groan. He glanced down at the glowing screen of her iPad.

He paused. He squinted at the text.

A loud, obnoxious snort escaped his lips.

"Are you seriously reading a toxic CEO romance?" Kai mocked, a delighted grin splitting his face. "Is that what you do all day? Read about fake billionaires pushing girls against floor-to-ceiling windows?"

Aria’s face flushed a violent shade of pink. She hastily pulled the iPad to her chest, shielding the screen.

"It is a complex character study!" Aria defended. "It’s literature! Don’t judge my coping mechanisms!"

"I’m not judging," Kai laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. "I’m just confused. Why are you reading trash about a fake billionaire when there is literally an entire internet subculture writing slow-burn erotica about your actual husband?"

Aria froze.

Her jaw literally dropped. "What?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Oh, you didn’t know?" Kai’s grin turned absolutely wicked. "The #DemonKing tag has been trending on AO3 and Wattpad since forever. There are hundreds of them, Sister-in-law. People are very, very inspired."

Aria stared at him in pure, unadulterated horror. "People are writing fanfiction... about Damien?"

"Yep," Kai nodded cheerfully. "Mostly ’Enemies to Lovers’ and ’Mafia Boss claims his innocent Bride’ tropes. You know, the classics."

Aria let out a loud, dismissive scoff, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

"That is ridiculous," she declared, waving a hand. "And entirely unnecessary. I am married to him, Kai. I literally see the man naked. Why on earth would I need to read what some delusional teenager thinks he acts like in bed?"

"Suit yourself," Kai shrugged, walking backward toward the glass door. He paused, his hand on the handle, and flashed her one last smirk. "But I’m just saying, his fans have some highly specific, incredibly wild fantasies. You might want to borrow a few ideas to keep him on his toes. Just for inspiration."

He pulled the door open.

"Thanks for the advice, Ari! See you later!"

The heavy glass door clicked shut behind him, plunging the ICU room back into total silence.

Aria sat in her hospital bed.

She looked at her iPad. Then, she looked at the gold-ribboned box of Dubai chocolate sitting on her nightstand.

She set the iPad down. She reached into the box, grabbed a thick chunk of the pistachio-knafeh chocolate, and snapped it in half. The crunch echoed loudly in the quiet room.

She popped a piece into her mouth, chewing aggressively.

"Fanfiction," Aria muttered to herself, shaking her head. "It’s weird. It’s creepy."

She swallowed the chocolate.

"I’ve literally had sex with the man," she informed the empty room. "I know exactly what he sounds like when he loses control. What could the internet possibly teach me that I haven’t already experienced firsthand?"

She took another bite of chocolate.

Thirty seconds passed.

Aria stared blankly at the wall. The silence was deafening.

"It’s just... weird," she whispered.

Another thirty seconds passed.

Aria’s eyes slowly drifted back to the iPad lying face-down on her lap. Her foot started to bounce against the mattress. The curiosity was a living, breathing creature clawing at the inside of her skull.

’Wild fantasies,’ Kai had said.

Aria groaned, throwing her head back against the pillows.

"I will not read smut about my own husband," she argued out loud. "It’s stupid!"

She ate another piece of chocolate.

Two full minutes ticked by.

Aria let out a sharp, frustrated sigh. She snatched the iPad up from her lap and aggressively woke the screen.

"It’s market research," Aria justified to herself, her voice pitching up slightly. "I am a stakeholder in Sinclair Corp. It is my fiduciary duty to monitor his public relations image. I am simply checking the digital footprint to ensure brand safety."

She opened the Safari browser.

She immediately closed all her tabs and opened a new, dark-grey Private Browsing window. Just in case Damien ever borrowed her iPad.

"I’m just going to see how many there are," Aria lied to herself. "I’m not actually going to click on any of them. Obviously."

Her thumbs hovered over the digital keyboard. With a rapidly beating heart, she typed out the fateful query.

Damien Sinclair 18+ Fanfiction.

She took a deep breath, and hit search.