Epilogue
Sky
Two and a half months later
I place my suitcase in the hallway and knock on Kjell's office door before entering. "Are you ready to go?"
His hair is tousled as he looks up from his desk. Amid the newspapers, documents, pens, and pictures, he looks a bit like a distracted professor. "What time is it?" he asks with a hint of panic in his voice.
"I'm early, don't worry," I say with a grin as I walk over to him. I circumnavigate the desk and stand right in front of Kjell, who turns his chair toward me.
Immediately, I'm reminded of the dinner surprise I prepared for him at the beginning of the year, when I straddled him. It was the start of our first night together. The memory of that moment elicits a contented sigh from me. Just like back then, I glide onto his thighs and entwine my hands at the nape of his neck.
"First of all, hello," I say with a soft voice, kissing him with all the love I feel for him.
We sink into our kiss for minutes, so deeply that I forget where we are. "Hello to you too," Kjell murmurs against my lips, then he puts some distance between us. "So?" he asks curiously.
As much as I'd love to mislead him, I can't control the corners of my mouth, which curl upward. "I got the job."
Wow. Saying it out loud feels incredible. Completely insane. Surreal.
"Sky Blohm, designer." His eyes gleam with pride. "That's fantastic."
It is and much more. I'd applied unsuccessfully for weeks, but now the young label Nordik Vogue is giving me a chance. I’ll initially be the right hand of the head designer, but more can develop from that. I'll stand on my own two feet, which is just right, despite my father taking a step toward me three weeks ago.
We had coffee in the heart of Stockholm, in front of the world. And for the first time, we talked to each other like a father and his adult daughter should—without power games, but with an honest attempt to understand each other. Much remains unsaid, and some things are still uncertain. Yet it was a beginning, at least I hope so.
I kiss Kjell passionately once more because I owe it all to him. If we hadn't met, I would still be chasing the biggest lie of my life.
Reluctantly, I pull away from him, but we have something important ahead of us that we can't lose sight of. I've been looking forward to Aurora's wedding for months, and the day after tomorrow is finally the day. "If we don't want to miss our flight, we should..." I nod toward the door.
"Off to Tuscany," he responds with a grin. "Give me five minutes to send off the story about the prioritization center."
"Of course," I say with a smile as I rise from his lap. While he finalizes the article that has been so close to his heart for so long, I stroll over to the opposite wall. There, I find the two publications that I had framed for Kjell.
The two stories that not only changed my life but also gave a fresh start to Sanningens ?gonblick .
The first one is the interview I gave to Kjell after the show. It was the final step in my liberation. Everything came to light, and the thing I had been so terrified of for years suddenly had no power over me.
The scandal my father had prophesied never materialized. Sweden talked about me for just a few days, then the press quickly lost interest. Touch av lyx didn't suffer any damage. On the contrary, after Chloe Morrigan walked the red carpet in the label's dress, its business skyrocketed. So my father had no leverage over me, but from our meeting, I learned that he wouldn't have followed through with his threat either way.
I was finally free, just as I had wanted to be my whole life.
I pause at the second article and run my fingers over the thin frame. It's the piece that reached me in one of the most difficult moments of my life, giving me strength.
The headline reads From the Glitter of Our Stars.
Like so many times in the past few weeks, I read the opening lines of the article.
Sometimes we look up at the night sky and want nothing more than to pick one of the stars from the starry sky. Because we hope it will guide us with its radiance. Because we believe we need it to shine. And because we haven't yet understood that we shine brighter than all the stars in the world just by being who we are.
Today, I feel just as I did back then, just minutes before the big show. I feel the power of those words. They made me strong, gave me the courage to go all in and step onto the runway.
Sometimes we make the wrong decisions for the right reasons. Because we lack the courage. Because we're afraid of losing something. Or simply because we want to protect someone.
At that moment, I knew. I knew why he had kept his true identity from me. And I knew that with this article, he was trying to tell me exactly that.
Sometimes we think we know the truth and refuse to dig deeper. Because we're afraid of the why that could upend our world. Because we all sense that our stories aren't just made up of black letters on white paper. And because we fear what lies between the lines.
I can't help but smile as the text before my eyes begins to blur.
But we are who we are. Our mistakes are part of us, just like our strengths. That's what we must never forget. Not for ourselves, and certainly not for the people who love us, I manage to read before tears cloud my vision.
Suddenly, I feel Kjell's arms wrapping around me from behind. His warmth envelops me.
"It's so beautiful," I say with a trembling voice. Every time, this article touches the depths of my heart.
He presses his cheek against mine and gently rocks me back and forth. "I wrote every single word for you."
Yet they reached all of Sweden. Who knows how many people found each other because of his article? How many embraced each other for the first time in a long time? And how many, along with me, gathered the courage to fill their world, which someone else had exclusively painted in black and white, with colors? Kjell and his parents certainly did. They talked about everything, and even though he already suspected that his parents' lies were only a desperate attempt to protect him and their vision of a happy family, this conversation finally healed his wounds.
I slowly turn to face him and kiss him in gratitude for what he has done in my life and the lives of so many others.
Single tears roll down my cheeks. I imagine that they look a bit like stars in the light of the newsroom's hanging lamp. How they leave shiny trails on my skin and drop into the unknown from my jaw.
I let them go.
Just like the idea that has haunted me from the beginning: the notion of having to capture a star that makes me shine.
Our love is that star I was chasing. Today, it shines brighter than ever, and deep inside, I feel that our light will never fade.