Fiancée.
The word echoed in my head.
Again.
And again.
And again.
I stared at Ethan.
Waiting for him to deny it.
To laugh.
To explain.
To say it was some misunderstanding.
Instead, he looked like a man whose world had just collapsed.
"Ethan?" I asked quietly.
He closed his eyes.
"It's not what you think."
I laughed bitterly.
Because wasn't that exactly what people said when it was what you thought?
The voice on the phone was still talking.
Angrily.
Demanding to know where he was.
Ethan ended the call.
"I can explain."
I shook my head.
"No, you don't have to."
"Maya—"
"No."
The hurt surprised me.
I had known this man for only a few hours.
Yet somehow I felt betrayed.
Which made no sense.
We were strangers.
Weren't we?
"You should go," I said.
His jaw tightened.
"You think I'm a liar."
"Aren't you?"
The question hit him hard.
For a moment he looked away.
And that scared me more than anything.
Because guilty people look away.
Don't they?
Without another word, I turned and walked toward the taxi stand.
"Maya!"
I didn't stop.
"Maya, please!"
I climbed into a taxi.
The driver started the engine.
Just before the car pulled away, I looked back.
Ethan was standing alone under the streetlight.
The rain had started again.
And he looked heartbroken.
Good, I thought.
Let him be.
I blocked his number before I even got home.
---
Three days passed.
Then five.
Then seven.
I told myself I didn't care.
I told myself I had forgotten him.
I told myself a lot of lies.
The truth?
I couldn't stop thinking about him.
About his smile.
About the letter.
About the way he'd looked at me.
And most of all...
About the sadness in his eyes when I left.
One week later, I was walking to work when I noticed something unusual.
A crowd.
People standing around a newspaper stand.
Curious, I moved closer.
Then I saw the headline.
And my heart nearly stopped.
There was a photograph.
A familiar photograph.
Ethan.
The man from the café.
His picture covered almost half the page.
The headline read:
"Business Heir Refuses Billion-Dollar Marriage Arrangement."
I froze.
Marriage arrangement?
As I continued reading, my hands began to shake.
According to the article, Ethan wasn't engaged because he wanted to be.
His family had arranged the marriage years ago.
For business.
For money.
For power.
And just two nights ago...
He had publicly rejected it.
The same night he called me over thirty times.
The same thirty calls I never answered.
My stomach dropped.
Had I made a mistake?
Suddenly my phone vibrated.
Unknown Number.
I almost ignored it.
Almost.
Then a text message appeared.
One sentence.
Just one.
"I never lied to you, Maya. But I think I may have lost the only person I wanted to tell the truth to."
My heart began to race.
Because for the first time...
I wasn't sure Ethan was the villain in this story.
And before I could decide what to do—
Another message arrived.
This one wasn't from Ethan.
It was from a woman.
And attached to it was a photograph.
A photograph of Ethan.
Kissing her.

Do you think the photo is real?
Comment:
"REAL" or "FAKE"