My Husband Is An International Idol

Chapter 73: Five Years of Feelings

The conference hall remained silent. Not a single reporter interrupted. And not a single camera looked away.

Millions of viewers watched the livestream in complete silence, waiting to hear what Chris St. Claire would say next.

Chris looked down at the microphone before letting out a slow breath.

A gentle smile appeared on his face as he looked at Liliana.

"I think I should tell everyone something."

He paused, his blue eyes never leaving her.

"What Liliana just said isn’t the whole story."

Curious murmurs spread throughout the room.

Chris smiled faintly.

"Five years ago, she believed she was protecting my dream." He slowly shook his head. "But the truth is.. I was the one who couldn’t stop thinking about her."

Liliana looked at him in surprise.

"Chris..."

He smiled at her reassuringly before ng mturning back to the cameras.

"Everyone has been asking when I started becoming interested in Liliana."

He chuckled softly.

"Some people think it happened after she became a model."

He shook his head.

"It didn’t. It wasn’t last year. It wasn’t after she joined St. Claire Entertainment."

He looked toward the audience.

"It actually started way beyond five years ago. When we were in grade school. But my interest toward her grew five years ago."

Gasps echoed throughout the conference hall. Even the reporters stopped typing.

Chris continued calmly.

"The day she gave up her dream was the day I realized how extraordinary she was."

He looked at Liliana once more.

"She never asked me for anything. She never blamed me. She never made me feel guilty." He paused.

"Instead, she smiled and congratulated me."

His voice grew softer.

"Even though she was the one whose dream had just ended."

Liliana lowered her eyes, embarrassed by the attention.

Chris smiled.

"That day, I became more interested in her. I admired her. And as the years passed, my admiration slowly became something much deeper."

The room became so quiet that even the clicking of cameras stopped.

A reporter whispered,

"So... your feelings didn’t begin recently?"

Chris smiled.

"No."

"They began when we started being friends."

Another wave of astonishment swept across the room.

Another reporter stood.

"Miss Sterling, were you aware of Mr. St. Claire’s feelings?"

Liliana looked at Chris. Her face turned bright red.

"I-I wasn’t."

The answer surprised everyone.

Chris laughed quietly.

"I’m terrible at hiding my feelings. But I think she’s more dense by not knowing it."

The audience laughed with him, easing some of the tension.

Liliana giggled.

"Well, we’ve been friends since we were kids. Chris loves teasing me and is very protective at the same time so it’s hard for me to notice."

Chris rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I guess it was my fault."

The room filled with gentle laughter.

Another reporter immediately raised her hand.

"Mr. St. Claire..."

"If Miss Sterling stopped acting five years ago, did you two continue communicating afterward?"

Chris answered without hesitation.

"Yes."

Another wave of whispers spread through the room.

"We kept in touch. I called her whenever my schedule allowed. I texted her almost every day. I wanted to know if she’d eaten. If she was doing well. If Grandma Sterling was healthy."

His smile softened.

"And whenever Pulse held a world tour, I always brought something home for her. Because I wanted her to know that she was part of my success."

The reporters blinked.

"You mean... gifts?"

Chris nodded naturally.

"Every country." He smiled.

"If I found something that reminded me of Liliana, I bought it."

The giant screen behind the reporters immediately filled with surprised comments from the livestream.

HE’S BEEN BUYING HER GIFTS FOR FIVE YEARS?

THAT’S SO SWEET!

THIS MAN HAS BEEN DOWN BAD FOR YEARS!

A reporter laughed.

"What kinds of gifts?"

Chris thought for a moment.

"Snow globes, bookmarks, handmade scarves, music boxes, chocolate, or tea. Anything I thought she’d like."

He smiled fondly.

"Sometimes she’d tell me I was spending too much money."

Liliana laughed softly.

"Because he was. Before he returned home, I received twenty seven boxes of luxury items. Bags, shoes, dresses, jewelry. I had to organize them for hours.

Everyone in the room laughed.

Chris shrugged playfully.

"I ignored her."

The conference hall erupted with warm laughter.

Another reporter turned toward Liliana.

"And what about you, Miss Sterling? You’ve supported him all these years?"

Liliana nodded without hesitation.

"Of course."

She looked at Chris with quiet pride.

"I watched every concert livestream I could. I celebrated every album. I voted during music award season. When Pulse won, I celebrated from home." She smiled gently.

"When they lost, I reminded him there would always be another chance."

Her smile grew warmer.

"I’ve genuinely supported Chris for the past five years."

She paused before continuing.

"I wasn’t supporting him because he was an international idol, I supported him because he was Chris. He deserved everything."

The room fell silent once again.

Chris lowered his head, overcome with emotion. He had stood on countless stages around the world. He had accepted prestigious awards and performed before hundreds of thousands of fans.

Yet nothing compared to hearing those simple words from the woman who had quietly believed in him from the very beginning.

A reporter raised one final question.

"Mr. St. Claire, if you’ve cared about Miss Sterling for years, then why wait until now to tell everyone?"

Chris became quiet.

He looked at Liliana before answering.

"Because some feelings..." He smiled gently. "...are too precious to rush."

"And because protecting her happiness has always been more important to me than telling the world how I feel."

Those words echoed throughout the conference hall.

For the first time, the reporters no longer saw an international superstar and a famous model sitting before them.

They saw two people who had spent five years quietly protecting each other’s dreams, carrying their feelings in silence while cheering for one another from behind the scenes.

Across the country, millions of viewers wiped away tears.

The story they had expected to hear was a scandal.

Instead...

They had witnessed a story that had quietly begun decades earlier—one built on sacrifice, unwavering support, and feelings that neither time nor distance had been able to erase.