Daniel looked away.
“Maya—”
“Who. Is. She?”
He sighed.
“Her name is Amara.”
“Why didn't you tell me about her?”
“Because there was nothing to tell.”
“Then why does she have her hand on you?”
Silence.
Maya felt the familiar ache returning.
“You told me you ended things because you were sick.”
“I did.”
“Then why was this picture taken before you broke up with me?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Because she was helping me.”
“With what?”
He didn't answer.
Maya stood.
“I am done finding out pieces of your life from strangers.”
Daniel finally looked at her.
“Amara is my sister.”
Maya froze.
“What?”
“My father's daughter. We didn't grow up together.”
She stared at him.
“And the accident?”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“She was in it.”
Maya slowly sat down.
“What accident?”
Daniel took a breath.
“Five months ago, Amara was driving me to the hospital after I collapsed. We were hit by a truck.”
Maya's eyes widened.
“I woke up three days later. That's when they told me about the cancer.”
He paused.
“Amara survived, but she hasn't been able to walk properly since.”
Maya looked at the photograph again.
“Who sent this to me?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel reached for his phone.
Then stopped.
A new message appeared in Maya's phone.
Unknown Number: You deserve to know what Daniel did after the accident.
Another photograph arrived.
Maya opened it.
This time, it wasn't Daniel with Amara.
It was Daniel standing outside a hospital room.
And beside him was Maya- her own photograph.
Taken from a distance.
Maya's blood ran cold.
“Daniel…”
He looked at the screen.
His face went pale.
“I don't understand.”
Then another message appeared.
“Ask him why he never told you he was there that night.”
Maya looked at Daniel.
“You were there?”
He didn't answer.
“Daniel.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
He swallowed.
“I came to see you.”
“When?”
“The night you almost died.”
Maya's heart stopped.
She remembered that night.
The accident. The hospital. The weeks of recovery she barely remembered.
And the person she'd always believed had been absent from the entire ordeal- Daniel.
Standing outside her hospital room.
Watching, Loving her and somehow deciding she was better off without him.
Maya whispered:
“You were there all along?”
Daniel nodded.
“I couldn't let you see me.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew if you saw me, you'd stay.”
Maya stared at him.
“And you didn't want me to?”
Daniel looked at her through tears.
“I wanted you to have a life that didn't revolve around hospitals.”
Maya shook her head.
“You keep calling it love.”
He looked at her.
“But sometimes, Daniel, making decisions for someone isn't love.”
She picked up her phone.
The unknown number sent one final message.
Maya stared at the message.
“You still don't know the worst part.”
She looked at Daniel.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel didn't answer.
“Whoever is sending these messages knows you. They know about the accident. They know about me.”
“I don't know who it is.”
“Then tell me what you're hiding.”
Daniel looked down.
“There was someone else in the car.
Maya looked at Daniel.
Maya's heart sank.
“Who?”
“My younger brother.
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