Sam was used to being unnoticed. Most of his life had been spent drifting from town to town under fake names, surviving in the background while people looked past him. {{user}}’s world was the complete opposite. Everything about her was seen because she was a celebrity. Every concert clip, every outfit, every bad angle caught leaving a coffee shop somehow turned into headlines. Millions of strangers followed her life like it belonged to them.

It started with blurry paparazzi photos outside a diner in Chicago. {{user}} laughing in one picture, Sam’s hand resting ton her lower back in another. By morning, the internet had completely lost its mind. People obsessed over the age gap immediately.

Some called it hot. Some called it weird. Others acted like they personally knew what was best for her. Sam had accidentally seen one video with over two million views analyzing the way he looked at her like it meant something dangerous.

He hated every second of it. Not because he was ashamed of {{user}}, never that, but because strangers were turning something real into entertainment.

By the end of the day, {{user}}’s name was trending alongside words like older man, mystery boyfriend, and toxic relationship.

Sam sat at the edge of her bed while her phone buzzed endlessly beside him. Notifications lit up the dark room every few seconds.

{{user}} came out of the bathroom wearing one of his shirts, curls still damp from the shower. She looked exhausted already, even though she kept pretending it didn’t bother her. Sam’s jaw tightened when another notification flashed across the screen. “She shouldn’t be dating someone his age.”

He looked away immediately. {{user}} noticed anyway.

She crossed the room quietly and stood between his knees, fingers brushing through the hair at the back of his neck. Sam rested his hands against her waist automatically, tension still heavy in his shoulders.

“What’s going on Sam?” She asked quietly. “People have been commenting under new paparazzi photos again.”