The Man Who Doesn't Leave
854 Words
He was exactly where he said he’d be.
Like… exactly. Same spot, same posture. Hands in his coat pockets like time just paused for him or something. Like the last twenty minutes didn’t happen. Like this was a leisure moment for him. Like I didn’t just sit in a bathroom and—
God.
But he wasn’t alone.
There was a man next to him in a clean and expensive suit, the kind that makes you feel poor without actually saying anything. He looked at me once, quick, then at Alexander, and stepped back like he already understood this was about to get messy.
Which yeah.
That was the first wrong thing.
Or maybe not the first. Just the first I noticed.
---
I walked straight up to him.
Didn’t think about it at all. If I thought about it I probably would’ve..no, I wouldn’t have left. I would’ve still come, I think.
“What is wrong with you?”
No hello. No anything.
His eyes were already on me. Like he’d been waiting for that exact sentence.
“I owed you an explanation.”
I laughed. It came out weird. Not even a real laugh.
“You owed me that three weeks ago.”
His jaw moved, just a tiny controlled bit. Everything about him is controlled, it’s actually—annoying. Makes me wonder if everything he does and says is planned and controlled too.
“I didn’t know three weeks ago.”
“How long?” I snapped. “Don’t..don’t do that thing where you clean it up after. Just answer me. How long did you know?”
He didn’t answer.
Of course he didn’t.
Not immediately.
Something shifted in his face though.
My stomach dropped.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, don’t do that. Don’t stand there and think about it. Just answer me.”
A pause.
Then he nodded. Once.
“Ask.”
I hated that. I don’t know why. I just—
“Jason is your brother.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t know who I was that night.”
“No.”
“But you found out after.”
“Yes.”
Too easy.
Too clean.
Like ticking boxes. Like this was… manageable.
“When?”
There was Silence this time .
He was carefully choosing what to say. I could see it. I could literally see him deciding what version of the truth I was allowed to hear and that made something in me twist in a way I didn’t—
“When, Alexander.”
“After I saw you again.”
I just stared at him.
“That’s not—that’s not an answer.”
“It’s what I can tell you right now.”
Right now.
Something about that—
“What you can tell me?” I repeated. “What does that even—what does that mean?”
He didn’t say anything.
Of course.
“You knew,” I said. It came out quieter. “You knew before today.”
He didn’t deny it.
He didn’t even try.
That was—
“Oh my God.”
I stepped back.
“You knew,” I said again, louder now because if I didn’t get louder I might just stop talking entirely. “You knew and you just stood there? You let me walk into that room like you were some stranger, like none of this had already happened—”
“I needed to be sure.”
I stopped.
Like actually stopped. Mid-breath.
“Sure?” I repeated. I laughed again. It sounded worse this time. “You needed to be sure?”
His face tightened a little.
“Sure of what?” I pushed. “That I was the same girl your brother humiliated? That I was worth, what, telling the truth to? What exactly were you waiting for?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then say it,” I snapped. “Just say it properly.”
He didn’t.
He just looked at me.
And the silence—
God, it wasn’t empty. It felt like something sitting on my chest. Like he knew things. Like he had already decided things. Like I was late to my own life or something stupid like that and I hate that I even thought that—
“Stay away from me,” I said.
My voice wasn’t loud.
But it didn’t shake. I don’t think it did.
“I mean it. Stay away from me.”
“I can’t do that.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“I can’t.”
Just like that.
Like it was obvious.
Like I was the one being unreasonable.
“I’m not asking,” I said. “I’m telling you.”
“I understand that.”
“Then what are you doing?” My voice cracked and I hated it immediately. “What is this? What are you doing?”
“I’m not leaving this situation, Nora.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“It involves me.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to stay.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
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