THE NAME I DON'T KNOW
1123 Words
Chapter Two
The Name I Didn't Know
There are moments in life when you know you should leave, even if you don't know exactly why.
That was one of them.
I lasted another eleven minutes.
Eleven minutes of sitting beside Sophie while the wedding carried on around us with the uncomfortable energy of a dinner party where someone had just broken a very expensive vase. Nobody was pretending nothing had happened. They were simply pretending not to stare.
I wasn't very good at pretending.
Neither was Sophie.
“Are you going to tell me what that was?” she asked quietly.
“I would if I knew.”
“You're telling me you've never met him?”
“I've never met him.”
“Not even once?”
“Sophie.”
“All right.”
She paused.
“But he called you Elena.”
“I heard him.”
“And then he said you looked different.”
“I heard that too.”
She looked at me carefully. “You don't find that strange?”
“Of course I find it strange.”
I turned the stem of my glass between my fingers.
“What I don't understand is why he looked so certain.”
That was the part I couldn't shake.
Mistaken identity was one thing. People had mistaken me for other women before. A similar hairstyle, similar height, similar features—it happened.
But Adrian hadn't looked confused when he'd seen me.
He'd looked like he'd found someone.
Someone he'd been waiting for.
The ceremony continued, although I couldn't tell you what was said. My attention kept drifting toward the altar, where Adrian stood beside a woman he had apparently intended to marry.
He looked perfectly composed now.
Almost.
If I hadn't been watching him so closely, I might have missed the way his fingers tightened around the edge of the podium.
Sophie nudged me.
“Don't look.”
“I'm not.”
“You are.”
“I’m looking past him.”
“At what?”
“The wall.”
She sighed.
I smiled despite myself.
A few minutes later, the bride disappeared through a side door.
That was when I decided I'd had enough.
I set my untouched glass on the table and stood.
Sophie followed immediately.
“Are we leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
We hadn't made it more than a few steps when someone called my name.
Not Lilian.
“Wait.”
I turned.
Adrian was standing several feet away.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
He had taken off his jacket, and his tie was slightly loosened. He looked nothing like the man who had walked toward me with the entire room watching.
He looked human.
That somehow made the situation worse.
Sophie glanced at me.
“I'll be outside.”
“You're leaving me?”
“You're the one who said you didn't know him.”
She smiled sweetly.
“Good luck.”
Then she disappeared.
Traitor.
I looked back at Adrian.
He had come closer.
“I owe you an apology.”
“That would be a good place to start.”
A faint, surprised expression crossed his face.
Perhaps he hadn't expected me to answer so bluntly.
“I shouldn't have approached you like that.”
“No, you shouldn't have.”
He nodded.
“I was wrong.”
I studied him.
“You seemed pretty certain.”
“I was.”
There was something strange about the way he said it.
Not defensive.
Not embarrassed.
Certain.
I folded my arms. “Then why are you apologizing?”
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at me again.
It was beginning to bother me how often he did that.
“What's your full name?”
I hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because I need to know.”
“That's not really an answer.”
“Lilian Brooks,” I said eventually.
His expression changed so slightly that another person might not have noticed.
I did.
“Where do you live?”
I laughed once.
“Are you interviewing me?”
“No.”
“It feels like an interview.”
“I just need to understand something.”
“What?”
He looked at me for a long moment.
“I don't know yet.”
That answer should have annoyed me.
Instead, it made me curious.
“You're a strange man, Adrian Vale.”
His mouth twitched.
“That's what I've been told.”
“By many people?”
“Most of them.”
For the first time since he'd approached me, the tension between us eased.
Just slightly.
Then he asked, “Have you ever lived in this city before?”
The question caught me off guard.
“No.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
He looked away.
Something about his expression changed again.
I couldn't tell whether it was disappointment or relief.
“I grew up elsewhere,” I continued. “I've only been here for work.”
“What kind of work?”
“Fashion.”
His eyes returned to me.
“I know.”
I frowned. “How?”
“I've seen your name.”
That surprised me.
I wasn't famous.
My work was known in certain circles, but I wasn't exactly a household name.
Before I could ask what he'd seen, a voice called from the other side of the room.
“Adrian.”
He looked over his shoulder.
A man in a dark suit was waiting for him.
Adrian looked back at me.
For a second, I thought he was going to say something else.
Instead, he simply said, “It was nice meeting you, Lilian.”
I smiled politely.
“You too.”
He started walking away.
Then stopped.
Without turning around, he asked, “You've never heard the name Elena before?”
I stared at him.
“No.”
He remained still for a moment.
Then he nodded once and walked away.
I watched him disappear into the crowd.
I should have forgotten about him the moment I stepped outside.
Instead, the name followed me.
Elena.
It wasn't familiar.
Not even slightly.
Yet as I climbed into Sophie's car, I found myself staring out the window, wondering why a stranger had looked at me like he'd spent five years waiting for someone who had never existed in my world.
And I couldn't explain the strange feeling that settled over me when I finally closed my eyes.
For the briefest moment, I thought I heard a woman's voice whispering somewhere far away.
Elena.
I opened my eyes.
Nothing.
Just the city moving past the window.
I shook my head and leaned back.
It was probably nothing.
It had to be.
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