Chapter 3: Questions Without Answers
466 Words
Camille couldn’t sleep that night.
She lay in bed staring at the ceiling, replaying John’s words over and over in her mind.
“That child isn’t mine.”
For five years, she had believed the exact opposite.
She remembered the photos.
The woman.
The baby.
The message that had shattered her heart.
Everything had seemed so real.
So convincing.
Yet a small voice inside her kept asking the same question.
What if John was telling the truth?
Her phone vibrated on the nightstand.
It was another message from him.
John: I know you don’t believe me.
Camille hesitated before replying.
Camille: Then tell me what really happened.
The response came after several minutes.
John: Can we meet instead? Some things are difficult to explain through messages.
Camille immediately shook her head.
Even though he couldn’t see her.
Meeting him was the last thing she wanted.
Or at least that’s what she kept telling herself.
Camille: No.
The typing indicator appeared.
John: Please.
Camille: Why now, John? Why after five years?
This time, his answer took longer.
When it finally arrived, her heart skipped a beat.
John: Because I never stopped loving you.
Camille froze.
The words blurred before her eyes.
Five years.
Five years of silence.
And now he was saying this?
She wanted to ignore him.
She wanted to block his number and move on.
But she couldn’t.
Not without answers.
Not after everything.
The next morning, Camille arrived at work exhausted.
As a senior accountant, she was expected to focus on numbers and reports.
But all she could think about was John.
Her best friend and coworker, Sarah, immediately noticed.
“You look terrible,” Sarah said as she sat beside her.
“Thanks.”
“I’m serious. What happened?”
Camille hesitated.
She hadn’t spoken John’s name in years.
Yet somehow, the words slipped out.
“John contacted me.”
Sarah nearly dropped her coffee.
“What?!”
Camille nodded.
“Last night.”
Sarah stared at her.
“The John?”
“There is only one John.”
The office suddenly felt too small.
Too warm.
Too suffocating.
Sarah leaned closer.
“What does he want?”
Camille looked at the message still displayed on her phone.
The one she couldn’t stop reading.
“Because I never stopped loving you.”
Slowly, she looked up.
“I think he wants me back.”
Across town, John sat alone in his engineering office, staring at an old photograph hidden inside his desk drawer.
A photograph of him and Camille during their college days.
Back when everything was simple.
Back before one lie destroyed their future.
He closed his eyes.
Soon, Camille would learn the truth.
The truth that someone had worked very hard to keep hidden.
And when she did, everything would change.
- Writer
