"I think they're sitting behind us."
Vanessa's voice was barely above a whisper.
My heart pounded so hard I could hear it.
Ethan slowly turned his head.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
Fear glued me to my chair.
The café suddenly felt smaller.
Colder.
Every laugh.
Every conversation.
Every movement around us felt suspicious.
Then Ethan's eyes narrowed.
He was staring at someone.
Someone behind me.
Vanessa was too.
"What do you see?" I whispered.
Neither answered.
That terrified me more than anything.
Finally, Ethan spoke.
"Don't panic."
Wrong thing to say.
Whenever someone says don't panic...
You immediately panic.
I gripped the edge of the table.
"Ethan."
His eyes remained fixed behind me.
"Maya."
"What?"
"Stand up slowly."
I hated how serious he sounded.
Very slowly, I rose from my chair.
Vanessa followed.
The moment I stood up, Ethan reached for my hand.
Instinctively.
Protectively.
And for some reason that made me even more nervous.
We began moving toward the café exit.
Then a chair scraped loudly behind us.
Everyone froze.
The sound echoed through the room.
My stomach dropped.
Someone was standing.
I couldn't stop myself.
I turned.
A man in his late fifties stood beside a table.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
Calm expression.
Not threatening.
Not dangerous-looking.
Just... ordinary.
Too ordinary.
His eyes met mine.
And then he smiled.
Like he knew me.
Like we'd met before.
My blood ran cold.
Because I had never seen him in my life.
Or so I thought.
Then a memory surfaced.
A bus stop.
Months ago.
A rainy afternoon.
A man reading a newspaper nearby.
The same man.
Another memory.
A bookstore.
The same face.
Another.
A street corner.
The same man.
My legs weakened.
He had been there.
Everywhere.
For months.
Watching.
The man slowly reached into his coat pocket.
Ethan immediately stepped in front of me.
Vanessa did the same.
The entire café went silent.
Then the man pulled out...
A photograph.
Nothing more.
Just a photograph.
He placed it carefully on a nearby table.
Then I walked away.
No threats.
No words.
No explanation.
Just left.
The bell above the café door rang.
And he was gone.
Everyone stared.
Especially us.
Ethan picked up the photograph.
The moment he saw it, his face turned white.
Vanessa gasped.
"What?" I demanded.
Neither answered.
"Ethan!"
Slowly, he handed it to me.
The photograph slipped from my fingers.
Because it wasn't a picture of me.
It wasn't a picture of Ethan.
It wasn't even a picture of Vanessa.
It was a photograph of three children.
Two girls.
One boy.
Taken nearly twenty years ago.
And written across the back were six words.
**"You have finally found each other."**
My hands trembled.
Because one of the children...
It was me.
Who do you think the other two children are?
A. Ethan and Vanessa
B. Ethan and the mysterious sender
C. Complete strangers
D. Something even more shocking