#this all could've been avoided if fazal were into watches ok

[realjessicareyes]

GIFT: BULGARI SERPENTI VIPER RING. FOR FAZAL KHAN. FT. @darkromeo.

Late at night on the ninth of April, Jessica slips free of her security detail to visit Fazal’s penthouse, where he makes dinner and she gives him a gift she’d bought for him a few days earlier: a Bulgari Serpenti Viper ring in 18kt white gold. Meant to be a discreet gift, the serpent-inspired ring is subtle and sophisticated, with Fazal’s initials, FK, and the date they met in Monte Carlo delicately engraved on the inside of the snake’s coils. She also bought a matching one, set with demi pavé diamonds, for herself.

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APRIL 9TH, FRIDAY, LATE EVENING. FAZAL’S KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE. TRIGGER WARNING: age gap relationship

FAZAL’S FACE IS UNREADABLE, AS ALWAYS. He’s always been the quieter of the two of them, but there’s something nerve-wracking about his silence as he looks down at the gift box in his hands. The gift box in which a slim white gold ring is nestled.  

She doesn’t know what she was thinking, giving this to Fazal as her first gift to him. But when she saw the ring in the store earlier that week, its serpentine form striking yet discreet, she’d thought of him immediately. Sure, perhaps she should have given him a watch instead, or cuff links, but she knew what he liked wearing. His ring size. The designs he preferred. The problem with rings was, well... 

The obvious.

She sees Fazal’s gaze dart up to her face, dark eyes meeting hers for a moment. Then he looks down to see the matching ring on her finger, the glint of diamonds, and something about that settles it; he slips the ring onto his finger, white gold on brown skin, and says, simply, “I’m sure I can get you something with more diamonds in due time.”

When he puts the ring on, Jessica lets out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, and it comes out as a laugh, light, relieved. “I want to give you diamonds,” she teases; she has so many, and he doesn’t wear enough. She reaches across the table to take his hand in hers, lips widening into a smile as she gazes down at their entwined hands. “Do you like it?”

Fazal’s thumb brushes over her ring as he takes closer note. “I like it.” Brief, simple, rough. He takes her same hand and guides it onto the nape of his neck so she can wrap her arms around him, then says, his voice low, “Is this your way of telling me you want to be my wife, Miss Jessica Reyes?”

Jessica glances up at him, startled—but then she sees the smirk breaking the cold expression he usually has on, the playful but mild tone in his voice, and she laughs. “Alright, hold your horses, I just wanted to give my boyfriend something nice,” she teases, reaching up to kiss him, still smiling when she pulls away. “But if you wouldn’t mind being Mr. Fazal Reyes,” she adds, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes, “we can talk about it sometime.”

That gets a reaction. “Mr. Fazal Reyes?” He kisses her again, not allowing her loose. Breath ghosting over her lips, “What about Jessica Khan?”

Jessica Khan does sound hot—it’s not like she hasn’t thought about it before—but she’s enjoying the banter too much to stop. “How about a compromise? Fazal Khan Reyes?” She’s grinning now. “You need to take the Reyes surname if you’re marrying into the family, it’s the law.”

He can definitely tell she's teasing, so he continues musing, enabling her all the more. “That goes both ways: How about a compromise—” He takes her chin, eyes skipping down to her lips when he talks, “Jessica Reyes Khan?”

Jessica knows that they’re both just having fun, that this is all just a joke, a moment of lightness amidst everything around them—but when he looks at her like that, she almost believes it. Her gaze is playful but warm, too. “Jessica Reyes Khan,” she muses, a laugh caught in her throat. “Y’know what? I think I can live with that.” And she pulls him down to kiss him again.

END.

NOTE: This was supposed to be a HC’ed conversation to be referenced in this graphic post, but I had so much fun reading it again that I edited it into a one-shot of sorts! This doesn’t count as a thread; everything you need to know is in the blurb above the read more. ty ❤️