Post by Blissful Stories (@Blissful)

BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE
EPISODE 9: THE NIGHT HE DISAPPEARED

Maya stared at Alexander, unable to forget his words. Someone had made him believe she would die if he stayed. It sounded impossible, yet the fear in his eyes was real.
“Who told you that?” she asked.
“I can't explain everything here.”
“Then explain something. You keep asking me to trust you, but every time I get close to the truth, you stop talking.”
“I know.”
“No, Alexander. You don't know what those five years were like. I called your friends, visited places we used to go, and waited for a message that never came. I invented a hundred reasons for your silence, and most of them made me believe I wasn't enough.”
His face crumpled. “You were always enough.”
“Then why did you make me feel so small?”
He took a slow breath. “Five years ago, I was supposed to meet you that evening. I was going to tell you my father had threatened to cut me off if I refused to do what he wanted. I didn't care. I had a job offer, some savings, and a place we could stay while we figured out our future. I thought we could start over together.”
Maya remembered wearing the blue dress he loved and waiting at their favourite café until the staff began stacking chairs. She had called him until her phone died. The next morning, she went to his apartment, but he was gone.
“You never came,” she whispered.
“I was on my way to you when Julian called.”
“Julian Cross?”
Alexander nodded.
“He told me there had been an accident. He said your name, and I thought…” He struggled to continue. “I thought I had lost you before I even got there.”
Maya felt cold. “What accident? Was I hurt?”
“Not physically. I went to the hospital and saw something that made me believe you were in danger. Then my father arrived. He said the only way to keep you safe was to leave and never contact you again.”
“And you believed him?”
“I was terrified.”
“So you decided for me. You decided I couldn't handle the truth, that I didn't deserve to know why the man I loved had vanished.”
“I thought they would come after you if I stayed.”
“Who are they?”
Before he could answer, his phone vibrated. A message from Julian appeared.
Do not tell her about the file. Not until you know who has it.
Maya saw it.
“What file?”
Alexander turned the screen away, but it was too late.
“It's complicated,” he said.
She gave a bitter laugh. “Of course it is. Everything becomes complicated when the truth gets close.”
“I'm trying to tell you.”
“Then tell me what was in the file.”
“I can't. Not yet.”
“Not yet?” Her voice shook. “You kissed me and told me you never stopped loving me. You said someone made you believe I would die if you stayed. Now there's a file connected to what happened, and you still expect me to wait while you decide what I'm allowed to know?”
“I'm trying to protect you.”
“Stop calling it protection when you won't let me choose what risks I'm willing to take.”
He reached for her, but she stepped away.
“I know I hurt you,” he said. “I thought leaving would keep you safe. I thought you would eventually hate me and move on.”
“I tried to. Ethan was there when I couldn't get out of bed, when I wondered what I had done wrong. He watched me rebuild a life you abandoned. Now I have to choose between the man who stayed and the man I still love, who won't even trust me with the truth.”
Alexander looked wounded, but he didn't defend himself.
“I don't want you to choose me because you remember who I was,” he said. “I want to be honest. I just need a little more time.”
“You have had five years.”
Maya placed the old letter on the table between them.
“I can't keep falling in love with someone who refuses to trust me with the truth.”
Alexander's eyes filled, but he didn't ask her to stay. Perhaps he finally understood that loving her did not give him the right to decide what she could bear.
At the door, Maya turned back. “If you ever loved me the way you claim, stop protecting the secret and start trusting me.”
Then she left.
Alexander stood alone when his phone rang. This time, he answered.
“You're running out of chances,” Julian said.
“She knows about the file.”
“Then find it before your father does.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The file isn't with me anymore.”
“Where is it?”
“Someone sent it to Maya this morning.”
Alexander went cold. “She would have told me.”
“Would she? Check your messages. And don't let her open the attachment alone.”
A notification from an unknown number appeared on Alexander's screen. It contained a photograph of Maya from five years ago, standing beside a crashed car, her face streaked with tears.
Beneath the photograph were six words:
ASK HER WHAT REALLY HAPPENED THAT NIGHT.

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