The next morning—
everything exploded.
Literally everywhere.
Business news channels.
Social media.
Articles.
Headlines.
Photographs.
The internet had completely lost its mind overnight.
Large pictures from the award ceremony covered every screen.
Stephan receiving the award.
Stephan holding Pixel's hand.
Stephan looking at her during the speech.
And worst of all—
the photographs from after the speech.
The way he looked at her.
Too soft.
Too obvious.
Too impossible to misunderstand.
Pixel stared at her phone in complete horror while sitting frozen on her bed.
One headline filled the screen:
"Best Businessman Stephan Finally Reveals The Woman Behind His Emotional Speech."
Another article:
"Who Is The Woman Beside Stephan?"
Another.
And another.
And another.
Photos.
Videos.
Slow-motion edits.
Even clips from the speech had already gone viral.
Pixel closed her eyes briefly.
"…Oh no."
Her phone continued vibrating nonstop.
Office group chats exploding.
Coworkers sending messages.
Unknown numbers.
Social media notifications.
And then—
one call appeared on her screen.
Home.
Her heartbeat stopped instantly.
Because suddenly—
reality hit properly.
Her family.
They saw everything.
The photographs.
The videos.
The hand holding.
The speech.
Boom.
Panic crashed into her chest immediately.
At the exact same time—
inside Stephan's mansion—
the atmosphere was equally chaotic.
Stevan entered the dining room dramatically holding his phone.
"BHAI."
Stephan calmly continued drinking coffee.
"What?"
"You're trending nationally."
"I usually trend after awards."
"No," Johan replied while walking in behind him. "Not like THIS."
Hill entered quieter than the others, already reading articles on his tablet.
The moment Stephan looked at the screen—
even he paused slightly.
Every article carried the same topic now.
Not the award.
Pixel.
Or more specifically—
the way Stephan looked at her.
One zoomed-in photo from the ceremony had already spread everywhere.
Stephan standing beside her after the speech.
Looking at her like nothing else in the room existed.
Stevan looked emotionally exhausted already.
"They caught the eye contact."
Johan nodded seriously.
"You were looking at her like a man returning from war."
Stephan stayed silent for a few moments while scrolling slowly through the articles.
Then his phone vibrated.
Pixel calling.
He answered immediately.
"Hm?"
The moment he heard her breathing—
he already knew something was wrong.
"…Pixel?"
Her voice came out smaller than usual.
"…My family saw everything."
Silence.
Heavy silence.
Stephan slowly stood from the dining table.
"Did they call you?"
"Yes."
"And?"
Another pause.
Then quietly—
"They want me to come home."
Stephan's expression changed instantly.
Not panic.
Concern.
Deep concern.
Because he knew exactly what she meant.
Not a casual family visit.
This was serious.
Questions.
Pressure.
Marriage.
Society.
Family reputation.
Everything.
Stevan and Johan both noticed the shift in Stephan's expression immediately.
"What happened?" Hill asked quietly.
Stephan didn't answer them yet.
His attention stayed completely on the call.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
Pixel laughed weakly.
"No."
That answer hurt him instantly.
Because she sounded genuinely scared.
On the other side, Pixel sat alone on her bed while tears quietly gathered in her eyes despite trying hard to stay calm.
She had known this moment would come eventually.
But not like this.
Not after national headlines.
Not after the entire country practically watched Stephan look at her like she was his whole world.
Her phone screen still showed missed calls from relatives now.
And that itself made her chest tighten.
Because she already knew what was coming.
Questions.
Judgment.
Pressure.
Caste.
Marriage.
Family expectations.
Everything she feared.
Stephan's voice softened further through the phone.
"Look at me."
"…What?"
"Video call."
"I look terrible."
"I don't care."
Her breathing shook slightly before finally switching the call.
The moment her face appeared on the screen—
Stephan's expression tightened immediately.
Because she genuinely looked overwhelmed.
Scared.
Like the happiness from last night had shattered overnight.
Stephan quietly walked away from the others toward the balcony while looking at her carefully.
"You're crying."
"I'm trying not to."
That sentence physically hurt his chest.
Pixel lowered her eyes briefly.
"…Everything was going so well."
Stephan stayed silent for one second.
Then softly—
"We'll handle this too."
"You don't understand Indian families."
"I understand enough."
"No," she whispered shakily. "You don't understand how big this is for them."
A pause.
"…The entire country saw us."
The fear in her voice finally made everything fully real to him too.
Because suddenly—
this wasn't only about love anymore.
This was about families.
Society.
Expectations.
And the possibility of losing peace again right after finding it.
Stephan's jaw tightened slightly.
Then quietly—
"I'm coming."
Pixel immediately looked up.
"What?"
"I'm coming to you."
"No."
That answer came instantly.
Stephan frowned.
"Why?"
"Because if you suddenly appear at my house right now, everyone will lose their minds."
Honestly—
she was probably right.
But still—
every instinct inside him wanted to go to her immediately.
Because she sounded frightened.
And Stephan had already learned one dangerous truth about himself now:
he could tolerate pressure on himself.
But not on her.
The call disconnected suddenly.
At first Stephan thought the network failed.
But when he called again—
"Switched off."
His expression immediately hardened.
Again.
He called again.
And again.
Same response.
Not reachable.
Something cold settled heavily inside his chest instantly.
Because Pixel never turned her phone off around him.
Never.
Inside the mansion dining area, Johan noticed Stephan standing completely still near the balcony.
That alone felt wrong.
Because Stephan was never still when stressed.
He became colder.
Sharper.
More controlled.
And right now—
that exact silence had returned to him again.
Dangerous silence.
Hill stood up quietly.
"What happened?"
Stephan lowered the phone slowly from his ear.
"…Her phone is off."
Stevan immediately frowned.
"What?"
"She went home."
Silence fell instantly across the room.
Because everyone understood what that meant.
Family pressure.
Questions.
Restrictions.
And suddenly—
all the happiness from last night felt painfully far away.
Johan tried speaking carefully for once.
"Maybe they just took her phone."
Stephan's jaw tightened slightly.
"I know."
"But that doesn't mean something bad happened."
No response.
Which honestly worried them more.
Because Stephan looked exactly like the version of himself from three years ago right now.
Cold.
Unreadable.
The version that stopped sleeping and started destroying himself quietly.
Hill noticed immediately.
And softly—
"Stephan."
His eyes lifted slowly.
"She told you not to come suddenly."
A long silence followed.
Then quietly—
"…I know."
But the problem was—
knowing something logically and emotionally accepting it were completely different things.
Meanwhile—
far away from the city—
Pixel sat silently inside her family home.
The atmosphere felt unbearably heavy.
Her phone rested switched off on the table nearby after endless calls from relatives and media people somehow getting her number.
The television downstairs still played news channels discussing Stephan's award ceremony.
And every few minutes—
another photo appeared.
Another headline.
Another clip of Stephan looking at her during his speech.
It felt suffocating.
Pixel sat on the edge of her childhood bed staring blankly at the floor while voices from downstairs continued faintly.
Her relatives had already started arriving.
Too quickly.
Questions everywhere.
"What is all this?"
"Since when?"
"Does he want marriage?"
"Do you understand how famous this became?"
"And his family?"
"And our society?"
"And caste?"
That word alone kept echoing in her head.
Caste.
The same fear she warned Stephan about before.
The same thing standing quietly between happiness and reality now.
A soft knock came on her room door.
Then her mother entered slowly.
Pixel immediately straightened slightly.
Her mother looked tired.
Emotionally tired.
Not angry.
Which somehow hurt even more.
For a few moments neither spoke.
Then quietly—
"You should eat something."
Pixel lowered her eyes.
"I'm not hungry."
Her mother sat beside her slowly.
Silence filled the room softly.
Then finally—
"…Do you love him?"
The question made Pixel's chest tighten instantly.
Because suddenly—
everything became simple.
Beyond society.
Beyond pressure.
Beyond fear.
There was only truth left.
And the truth was painfully clear.
"Yes."
Her voice shook slightly while answering.
"…Very much."
Her mother became quiet after hearing that.
No anger.
No dramatic reaction.
Just silence.
Then softly—
"The whole country saw the way he looked at you."
Pixel's eyes slowly filled again.
Because honestly—
she remembered it too clearly.
That look.
That impossible softness in Stephan's eyes during the speech.
Her mother looked at her carefully for a moment.
"…He really loves you."
This time a tear escaped despite Pixel trying hard to stop it.
Because hearing someone else say it aloud suddenly made everything feel more real.
More fragile too.
Then quietly—
"But things are not easy."
And there it was again.
Reality.
Her mother sighed softly.
"Your father is very disturbed."
Pixel's breathing became uneven slightly.
Because her father's opinion mattered deeply to her.
Always had.
"He thinks the media attention crossed limits."
Silence.
"…And relatives are already talking."
Pixel closed her eyes briefly.
Emotional pain hurt much more than physical pain.
And right now—
she could physically feel her heart hurting.
Because for the first time since finding happiness again—
fear had entered it too.
Back in the city—
Stephan still stood near the balcony hours later.
Phone in his hand.
Unread articles still flooding the internet.
Pixel unreachable.
The award trophy rested abandoned on the table nearby now.
Meaningless.
Completely meaningless.
Stevan quietly walked toward him after everyone else left the room.
For once—
even he wasn't joking.
"…Bhai."
No response.
Stevan looked at him carefully.
"You're scaring me."
Stephan's voice came out low.
"…I can handle business problems."
A pause.
"…But not this."
That sentence hurt Stevan deeply.
Because he knew.
No matter how powerful Stephan looked to the world—
when it came to Pixel—
he became terrifyingly vulnerable.
Stevan quietly stood beside him.
Then softly—
"She loves you too much to leave without fighting."
Stephan finally closed his eyes briefly after hearing that.
Because honestly—
that was the only thing stopping him from driving straight to her house right now.
By midnight—
the internet suddenly changed.
News articles disappeared one by one.
Videos stopped loading.
Photos vanished from social media.
Trending hashtags disappeared completely.
Entertainment pages quietly deleted their posts.
Even business news portals replaced headlines within hours.
People online became confused instantly.
"Wait—where did everything go?"
"Wasn't Stephan trending?"
"All the videos disappeared."
"How powerful is this man??"
The answer was simple.
Very powerful.
Because one call from Stephan was enough.
One call—
and the digital world quietly erased itself.
Inside Stephan's mansion study room, the atmosphere felt cold.
Not loud.
Not chaotic.
Cold.
Stephan stood near the dark glass windows while another call continued in his hand.
"I said every unauthorized post disappears tonight."
The man on the other side sounded nervous immediately.
"Yes sir. Most platforms already complied."
"Most?"
Silence.
Then Stephan's voice lowered dangerously.
"Everything disappears."
"…Yes sir."
The call ended.
Another immediately started afterward.
And another.
And another.
Stevan stood near the doorway watching silently.
Honestly—
it was terrifying.
Because Stephan rarely used his power personally.
But tonight—
he was using every bit of it.
Not for business.
Not for reputation.
For her.
Hill quietly entered the room afterward.
"How much got removed?"
Stevan answered softly before Stephan could.
"Almost everything."
Hill looked toward Stephan carefully.
"And tomorrow?"
That was the real problem.
Because even if the internet forgot—
people wouldn't.
The photographs had already spread.
The award speech had already happened.
And society remembered things like this very well.
Stephan finally lowered the phone slowly.
"…Too late to stop everyone from knowing."
The frustration in his voice felt heavier because it was controlled.
Not loud anger.
The dangerous kind.
The kind that stayed silent.
Meanwhile—
inside Pixel's family home—
everyone slowly noticed something strange.
By late night, relatives kept refreshing phones repeatedly in confusion.
One uncle frowned deeply at his screen.
"Where did all the articles go?"
Another relative opened social media again.
"…Even the videos disappeared."
Her mother looked surprised.
"How is everything getting removed so fast?"
One relative answered quietly—
"…Because he's Stephan."
Silence followed immediately after that.
Because suddenly—
everyone understood the level of power they were dealing with.
Not normal influence.
Not ordinary wealth.
The kind of power where one decision could erase the internet overnight.
And honestly—
that realization made the atmosphere even heavier somehow.
Pixel sat quietly on the couch while listening silently.
Her chest tightened painfully.
Because even now—
while she was stuck here helplessly—
Stephan was still trying to protect her.
In every way he could.
Then softly her father finally spoke for the first time in a long while.
"…This is not a small family."
That sentence alone carried weight.
Pressure.
Reality.
Fear.
Everything.
The next morning—
the internet looked almost clean.
No viral clips.
No trending posts.
No videos.
Almost nothing remained.
As if the entire night never happened.
But despite that—
the damage was already done.
People had already seen.
Families had already talked.
Society had already started whispering.
And worst of all—
the newspapers still existed physically inside homes across the country.
Large printed photographs rested silently on tables everywhere.
One image especially refused to disappear.
Stephan standing on stage holding the award—
looking directly at Pixel with unmistakable softness in his eyes.
That photograph alone said everything.
Inside Pixel's house, the atmosphere became stricter by morning.
Her phone continued vibrating endlessly from unknown calls and messages.
Finally—
her father quietly held his hand out toward her.
"Give me the phone."
Pixel's breathing paused slightly.
"…Papa—"
"For now."
Silence.
Her fingers slowly tightened around the device.
Because suddenly—
this felt real in the most painful way.
Distance.
Restrictions.
Control.
The same fear she always carried inside herself.
Her mother looked away quietly.
Relatives remained silent.
And slowly—
Pixel placed her phone into her father's hand.
The screen still glowed with Stephan's missed calls.
Her father noticed the name briefly.
Then the phone screen went dark.
And somehow—
that tiny moment hurt more than expected.
Because for the first time since Stephan returned into her life—
she couldn't reach him anymore.
Back in the city—
Stephan sat inside his office surrounded by silence.
The award trophy rested untouched nearby.
Meaningless now.
His phone still showed unanswered calls to Pixel.
Again.
And again.
Then finally—
"Not reachable."
Something cold settled inside him immediately.
Not anger.
Worse.
Helplessness.
Johan entered quietly without his usual dramatic energy this time.
Hill followed behind him.
Even Stevan looked unusually serious.
Stephan lowered the phone slowly.
And honestly—
the room suddenly felt painfully similar to three years ago again.
Heavy.
Empty.
Dangerously quiet.
Hill looked at him carefully.
"She'll find a way."
No response.
Stevan spoke softly afterward.
"Bhai…"
Stephan finally looked up slowly.
And the exhaustion in his eyes hurt all three of them immediately.
Because despite all his power—
despite being able to erase the internet overnight—
he still couldn't do the one thing he wanted most right now.
Reach her.