Chapter 82

Elena’s POV Was this real? I felt frozen in place, like my body had forgotten how to function. For several seconds, I couldn’t even breathe. What he had just said—on live television—kept echoing in my head. He hadn’t hinted. He hadn’t danced around it. He had claimed me. As his girlfriend. That single word carried weight. It meant intention. It meant exclusivity. It meant a line had been crossed and there was no stepping back from it. And the most terrifying part? He’d said it so calmly. So decisively. As if it had already been settled between us, whether I was ready or not. The studio fell into a strange, heavy silence. No one spoke. No one even breathed properly. I could see it from the corner of my eye; wide eyes, frozen smiles, mouths hanging open like someone had just dropped a bomb in the room. The host was the first to recover, blinking rapidly as if rebooting. “Well… this is unexpected,” she said with an awkward laugh. “Alpha Eric, I believe this is the first time you’ve ever s