𝐱𝐢𝐯.

Chris and Faith sat in the office of Chris' publicist Hayden, going over a list they'd compiled of all the people they'd shared the news about their relationship with. As was explained over the phone, it was a short one—and Faith hated to think that someone they trusted explicitly could possibly be behind the leak.

"You're sure this is the full list of names?" Hayden said, eyebrows knitted together as he scanned over the notepaper.

"Positive," Chris answered with a light nod. "We went back over everyone again this morning on the way here."

"Okay, and from least likely to most likely, who do you think is the leak?"

Chris exchanged a glance with Faith, who looked as worried as he felt. "I hadn't really narrowed it down like that just yet."

Hayden's gaze fell on Faith, silently repeating the question.

She heaved a sigh, smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt. "I don't know...a couple of days ago, I thought it maybe could be my friend Cass. But that's just because I automatically ruled out my immediate family."

"How long have you known her?"

"We've been best friends as long as I can remember," She responded with a shrug.

Hayden nodded along. "I completely understand that. As hard as it may seem, though, don't rule out any family members from either side. I know most of us hate to think our loved ones could ever be capable, especially privacy breaches, but in Hollywood anything's possible. Trust me."

Chris saw the worry in Faith's expression at that notion and reached across the armrest of his chair to give her hand a comforting squeeze. She flashed him a smile in appreciation. "What should our next steps be?"

"Well, seeing as our objective is to reveal the identity of the leaker, then we really have only two options. Either we go one by one and flat out ask them...or we could do things with a little more subtlety and float out a fake leak and see who takes the bait."

"How would a fake leak work?" Faith asked.

"I'd have you both each choose your most likely suspect and tell them something that's got absolutely zero chance of being true—at least at this stage in your relationship—and the minute the story breaks with the press, then we'll know."

Chris followed up with, "The fake leak sounds like a better idea. A bit easier to control."

"Mhm," She agreed. "Babe, who do you have as your most likely?"

He heaved a sigh. "Honestly, I have my money on Carly."

Faith raised her eyebrows. "Really? But she was so nice at Christmas."

"I know. But no matter what anyone says, Scott wouldn't do anything like this. And Mom's always been able to keep secrets over the years. If I had to choose, it'd be Carly."

"So, your younger sister and Faith's best friend," Hayden jotted a couple things down on the notepad in front of him. "Okay, let's work on the rumor then. We don't want it to be too outlandish. You guys are still in the early stages of your relationship, so we need it to be something that's believable for both potential leakers."

"But how will we know who's the leak if we're telling them the same thing?" Faith asked. "Wouldn't it be better to do two different ones for each person?"

Hayden seemed impressed. "I didn't think about that. Okay, two rumors. Any ideas?"

Chris looked at Faith, both of them silently trying to determine what rumors could fit the criteria. His heart rate ticked up a couple notches as he suggested, "The first thing that came to my mind was telling Carly that I'm thinking about a proposal."

Judging by his reaction, Hayden thought it was a great idea. Chris found it somewhat harder to read Faith's body language—although she didn't necessarily seem put off by the notion.

Even saying the words made him nervous on the inside. And it was decidedly too early to think of it outside of the context they now were discussing it in. But he'd be lying if he didn't say that Faith being the one and only Mrs. Evans somewhere down the line didn't sound incredible.

"That's not too outlandish, is it?" He added just to be safe.

"No, I don't think so. People thought you two were together from the moment you first became friends, and if anybody's still on that timeline then a proposal would be a logical conclusion. Faith, what about you?"

She hesitated a moment, then said, "I feel like maybe pregnancy would be too much, wouldn't it? Though if I approached it with an angle of me just wondering if I am, Cass might buy it easier."

Geez, if the idea of a proposal kicked his heart rate up a bit, that sent it galloping off to the races. Anyone who knew him knew that one of his biggest goals was to have kids—and he'd thought one too many times about starting one with Faith. He wondered if she'd ever thought the same.

"If you think you can swing it, then it should work," Hayden replied.

Faith locked eyes with Chris as though trying to gauge his thoughts about her suggestion. He gave her a nod and a reassuring smile.

He just hoped it would work.

• • • •

Steph Curry had just sent the game into a second overtime with a three—much to Faith's chagrin because she was dead tired and ready to go back to her hotel—when she got a text from Chris. Two words that managed to pull her focus away from her surroundings entirely and onto what had been plaguing them both for far too long.

Chris 🤩

10:30pm

It's Carly.

He followed up the message with a link to an article that detailed the proposal leak, right down to every minute detail. While she was relieved that the culprit wasn't Cass, Faith's heart also broke for the fact that Chris' own sibling violated their trust. Now she supposed they both were left to wonder why.

Faith 💜

10:32pm

You okay? :(

Chris 🤩

10:33pm

Yeah I'll be fine. It definitely sucks, but at least we know for sure now.

10:34pm

I'm actually gonna call her tonight and get the conversation over with. Do you want to be in on it?

Faith 💜

10:35pm

I'd love to but the game just went into 2OT and I don't know how long it'll last. But lmk how it goes, you have my support babe 🥺

Chris 🤩

10:37pm

You're the best 💙

About twenty minutes later after he'd finished walking Dodger, Chris sat at the dining room table and dialed Carly's number. He hadn't really let on as much when he was texting Faith earlier, but his baby sister turning out to be the leaker hurt more than he thought it would. If you couldn't trust your family, who could you trust?

And now it forced he and Faith to move up their planned statement on announcing their relationship to social media. It was going to be a mess no matter which way you sliced it.

Carly picked up on the third ring, and he could hear his nephews in the background—their chatter normally brought a grin to his lips, but not tonight. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey—do you have a minute? We need to talk."

"Um, I was just about to put the kids to bed. What's going on? Is everything okay with you and Faith?"

Ironic. "Yeah, actually that's what I wanted to talk about. I'm sure you saw the articles a few weeks ago about Faith and I making our relationship official—problem is, we had a whole announcement planned for social media. Somehow the word got out." When she didn't say anything right away, he continued, "Look, you don't have to waste any time trying to play it off. TMZ published the proposal rumor earlier today. I just want to know why, Carly. Why would you do something like this?"

Carly heaved a sigh. "Hold on, let me go into the other room..." After a second or two, the other voices in the background faded away and Chris heard a door close. "Okay, you have to believe me when I say it's not what you think."

"That's the hill you want to die on? Because from where I'm sitting, I think you saw an opportunity to make some easy cash at the expense of your brother and his girlfriend."

"It wasn't just about the money. I did it for your own good."

"My own good?" He repeated, letting out a scoff. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, Chris...I know better than anyone how you are with relationships. Faith is a beautiful woman—but she's not right for you. At least with Jenny, she understood what it was like to be with someone like you because she's an actress as well. But Faith's a fish out of water, and I feel like she's not going to be able to handle everything that comes with the territory."

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I don't care about what you 'feel', Carly. This isn't your relationship, so it's not anything for you to worry about. And absolutely none of that gave you the right to go to the press."

"You guys just don't go together. It may not be what you want to hear, but you deserve someone that's on equal footing."

"You know, the more you talk, the more I think you have a problem with Faith. Would you be this concerned if she were a ditzy blonde?"

"Oh, come on. You're not actually accusing me of being racist, are you?"

"If the shoe fits, wear it," He snapped back. "You know what? Please just stay away from both of us. You can't be trusted anymore."

Too upset to say anything else, Chris hung up without giving her another opportunity to respond. He took several deep breaths, willing himself to calm down.

His iPhone lit up with a notification, allowing to see his lock screen—the selfie of he and Faith in New York. It made him smile as usual, bringing him the last measure of calm he needed.

Things weren't going to be easy from here on out, that much he knew—but he knew by now that Faith was worth fighting for a hundred times over. And he wasn't going to even think about giving up now.

• • • •

i know y'all had theories about the leak, but i knew ana would be too obvious of a culprit lol

either way, things are resolved—for  now, at least  👀

thanks for your patience! hope you enjoyed <3