chapter 26

Ava and Julian now face the sharp end of judgment in public, then retreat into each other's arms in private, giving us one of the most emotionally intense and intimately fulfilling chapters so far.

📖 Chapter 26 – Stage and Sanctuary

POV: Ava & Julian | Word Count: ~3,000

Themes: Public reckoning, emotional exposure, quiet intimacy, healing through love

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PART 1: STAGE – THE PANEL EVENT (POV: Ava)

The hall was packed.

Bright lights. Microphones clipped to our collars. Rows of strangers with notebooks, opinions, and questions shaped like traps.

A moderator with a tight smile welcomed us to the panel:

"Truth, Taboo, and Young Love."

> The irony wasn't lost on me — that Julian and I had become case studies instead of simply people.

First Question – The Attack

A silver-haired professor raised his hand.

"Do you worry your relationship glamorizes inappropriate dynamics? That young people might use your story to justify morally dubious behavior?"

I froze.

Julian's hand found mine under the table.

I looked straight at the man.

"I worry that shame kills more love stories than truth ever will."

He opened his mouth again, but I leaned forward.

"What scares people isn't that we loved each other. It's that we survived the fallout without begging for forgiveness."

The audience was silent for a beat.

Then applause broke like thunder.

Second Question – From a Student

"I'm in love with someone society says I shouldn't be," a girl whispered into the mic.

"How did you know it wasn't just rebellion?"

Julian spoke for the first time.

"Because even when the thrill faded, the fire stayed."

> "And because she's not a rebellion. She's a reason."

AFTER THE PANEL

As we stepped off stage, reporters swarmed. Cameras flashed.

Someone shouted, "Will you marry him, Ava?!"

Another: "Julian, do your parents support you now?"

I pulled Julian into the side hallway and kissed him hard — the kind of kiss that made time stutter.

> "Let's get out of here," I breathed.

PART 2: SANCTUARY – PRIVATE GETAWAY (POV: Julian)

We drove to the coast that night. No press. No phones. Just wind, salt, and sky.

The Airbnb was a cottage overlooking the cliffs, all stone and glass and silence.

Ava threw off her heels the second we stepped inside.

Her hair was wind-wrecked. Her lipstick smeared. Her eyes on fire.

"Undress me."

It wasn't a plea. It was a demand.

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STEAMY INTIMACY SCENE

I peeled her out of her black dress, slow. Reverent.

> I kissed every inch of skin like it had saved my life.

Because it had.

She pushed me back onto the bed and climbed on top, eyes locked to mine.

"I want to feel real," she whispered.

"Not judged. Not dissected. Just... wanted."

I traced my fingers down her spine.

"You are the realest thing I've ever known."

> She rode me slow, rolling her hips in time with the ocean outside — waves crashing in sync with the storm between us.

> I let her take control. Let her write the next chapter with her body. No edits. No erasure.

And when she finally shattered above me, gasping my name, I pulled her down and held her like a heartbeat.

AFTERGLOW – RAW TRUTH

In the dim light, tangled in sheets, she whispered:

"Would you do it all over again? Even knowing how much we'd bleed?"

I turned to her, brushed her hair behind her ear.

"In a second."

Then I kissed the scar on her shoulder — the one no one could see but me.

> "Some people survive their wounds," I said.

"But you turned yours into words."

🔥 Chapter 26 Ends With:

Ava logs into her email the next morning.

An offer from Netflix.

> "We'd love to discuss adapting Beneath the Same Roof into a limited series."

She looks at Julian.

And all she says is:

> "Ready for the world to see what they tried to bury?"

He smiles.

> "Let's make them watch."