“That doesn’t help at all,” Dean groaned, making some of them laugh.
Ameri had said this week’s episode was a surprise. She’d had the men dress semi-formally, and that was about all the hint they’d been given before they were essentially confined to the sitting room of the bigger house, with explicit instructions not to go anywhere but the bathroom or kitchen.
Ameri and crew had then taken over the long veranda outside that connected the two houses, using the dining area outside for the filming. It was a beautiful spot, Ejiro had to admit, with the domed metal frame covering the space, along with the vines and flowers crawling through the covering. It almost felt like the greenhouse back in the mansion in Oxford.
The men were taken one by one to film with Sophia. Ejiro tried and failed to picture what the episode could be about. They’d all had one on one dates with the bachelorette at this point, so it couldn’t just be an ordinary date. Since they were all filming in the same location, that meant there had to be a specific theme to the “dates”.
“Any ideas?”
Ejiro nearly jumped at the sound of the voice in his ear. He glanced at Obiora, unable to help it, and felt his stomach do cartwheels when their eyes met.
“Nope. None at all,” he said, looking away quickly, grateful his dark skin hid the blush burning his cheeks.
Ever since the night of the canal, since he and Obiora had spent all night talking, something between them seemed to have shifted. There was the heady attraction, of course—which, to Ejiro’s dismay, seemed to be reciprocated—but there were other things even more dangerous, at least to Ejiro.
He found that afterward, whenever he met Obiora’s eyes, even when they were standing right next to each other as they were now, he felt this inexplicable need to be closer, to somehow merge their bodies so closely that he didn’t know where he began and Obiora ended. It was like Obiora was his centre of gravity, and Ejiro was exhausted from trying to resist the pull.
Sensual attraction, Obiora had called it. It led to him trying to avoid Obiora, and failing because he ultimately ended up missing him. Ejiro just didn’t share the same intimate, carefree rapport with any of the other men, which served to make his growing feelings for Obiora seem starker in contrast.
“Ejiro.” That was Ameri, her heels muffled on the carpeted floor as she walked into the room. There was a tiny smile on her lips. “You’re up.”
“Here we go,” Ejiro muttered under his breath.
His nerves must’ve shown, because Obiora reached out and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Ejiro was blushing again, unable to meet his eyes. “Right, thank you.” The part of his shoulder that Obiora touched burned—in fact, every inch of him burned, desperate to be within Obiora’s embrace.
“Come on, chop chop!” Ameri clapped her hands.
Ejiro couldn’t help but glance at Obiora as he made his way out, and found Obiora already watching him, something soft in his expression.
Oh.
Ejiro was in so much trouble.
TURNED OUT, THIS WEEK’S SURPRISE episode was a visit from Sasha Pierce, a famous celebrity counsellor slash therapist. She was known for “fixing” failing celebrity relationships, getting celebs into and out of rehab, and even handling the aftermath of the occasional celebrity divorce.
“Do you think the reason you don’t want to share anything more intimate with Sophia, is because of what Sam put you through?” Sasha had asked after she’d practically torn the story of Ejiro’s past relationship from his lips.
Even now, hearing the echo of her voice in his head made Ejiro feel like punching something. Sasha had apparently been filming with them right from the start, but she’d kind of blended into the background with the rest of the multitude of staff they normally had on set, so no one had noticed. She’d been following all their interactions with Sophia closely, so she could dissect them for this episode.
Ejiro didn’t know how to feel. On the one hand, he could understand why Ameri had wanted this to be a surprise—so the men wouldn’t mentally form shields or pretend during the filming or whatever when it came to their turn. On the other hand, he felt completely blindsided, and it left him feeling awful, like Sasha had violently ripped his skin back to see what was underneath.
It had helped only a little that Sasha didn’t focus entirely on him during the filming; she focused on Sophia as well, on how the bachelorette had handled the relationship between her and Ejiro so far, and what they could both do to make it better.
The whole thing left Ejiro feeling scraped raw. Which was why he’d disobeyed Ameri’s orders to stay in the big house after his filming, and had ended up in the garden instead. Noticing his discomfiture—and probably thinking it might look good for the cameras if some of the men disappeared—Ameri had let him go.
There was some seating underneath the roofed extension of the terrace from the house, held up with pretty baroque pillars, which was where Ejiro found himself.
Sasha hadn’t directly called him names, but she’d implied a lot of things. That Ejiro was still harbouring hurt from his last relationship, which was why he was reluctant to form anything more intimate with Sophia. That he wasn’t shy but insecure, and projecting a lot of his issues with Sam onto Sophia.
No, it’s because I’m demisexual, and I see Sophia as nothing but a friend.
He was still tentative about labelling himself out loud, but the words had rung, sure and true in his head.
He knew the second he came out, so to speak, Sophia would be sending him home. At this point in the competition, he wasn’t supposed to still be feeling platonically about her. They were literally three episodes away from the finale, and most of the other men seemed half in love—if not fully in love—with Sophia already.
But Ejiro had finally accepted it to himself that his feelings for her were always going to remain platonic.
