First message
I stood in the boutique, fingers tracing the edge of a jacket so fine it seemed almost unreal. The smell of new leather filled my lungs, a scent I told myself meant fresh starts and clean slates. I needed this—needed to believe that the life I’d built was real and mine alone.
Then, out of nowhere, I caught them—my ex Wife and two figures just beyond the crowd. My breath hitched. Their eyes—wide, searching—locked onto me. I knew those eyes. I shouldn’t have known them. Jade and Luca. My twins. The ones I left behind.
For a moment, the world stopped. Their faces burned into my mind, stirring memories I tried so hard to bury. The guilt, sharp and cold, sliced through me like a blade.
But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Not now. Not here. My heart screamed for them, but my pride strangled the sound.
I turned sharply on my heel, fighting the urge to run or scream or collapse. I walked away, swallowed by the city’s noise, leaving behind the children I refused to face — the past I dared not own.