chapter 37-check mate

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• Our love to hide   59- Homecoming

  The house looked smaller than Ethan remembered.Maybe it was because he wasn’t afraid of it anymore.The porch, once a place of whispered goodbyes and hidden glances, now basked in golden afternoon light. A new coat of paint. A flowering vine crawling up the side. The front door opened, as if waiting.Nathan stood beside him, keys in hand.“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked.Ethan smiled. “I think I’ve been ready since the day we left.”Nathan opened the door.The inside smelled like lemon oil and freshly baked bread.Vanessa had insisted on cooking. Isabelle brought wine. Sarah showed up with homemade cookies and a cooler full of overpriced sparkling water.They’d all arrived before Ethan and Nathan, insisting on setting up themselves.By the time Ethan walked into the kitchen, the table was full of food, candles flickering softly, and laughter already echoing through the halls.He stopped in the doorway, breath catching.This house, this place that had seen them at their

• Our love to hide   58-House of mirrors

  The studio lights were blinding.Ethan adjusted the mic clipped to his collar, his fingers trembling slightly despite the calming voice in his earpiece. “Five minutes, Mr. Hale. You live with Dr. Lillian from The Conversation and a rotating panel of voices. It's a roundtable, but you have the final word segment. Just be yourself.”Right. Himself.That used to be easy.Before “himself” became a trending topic.Nathan sat beside him, dressed simply in a navy shirt and blazer, his expression unreadable but calm. A kind of practiced stillness Ethan recognized an armor Nathan used when the world stared too long.The roundtable host, Dr. Lillian Monroe, a respected therapist-turned-commentator, gave them both a brief nod as she finished greeting the others.Three guests sat across the glossy table from them:A conservative family advocate with a stiff smile and a long history of “defending traditional values.”A queer historian with rainbow-rimmed glasses and a stack of notes.An ex-priest

• Our love to hide   chapter 57- Broken Men lie loudest

  The leak dropped at midnight.No warning. No hints.Just a sudden post on a tech ethics blog, barely known outside activist circles, titled:“The Mask of Elijah Greene: How a Tech Prince Became a Predator of Silence”At first, no one believed it. The screenshots looked too detailed. The email threads are too brutal.But within hours, it spread like wildfire.Not because it was sensational but because it was true.Sarah sat frozen on her bed, the screen lighting up her face, horror reflected in her wide, tear-rimmed eyes.There they were emails between Elijah and a silent investor. Plans to fabricate queer harassment accounts. Threads showing his team targeting LGBTQ+ influencers to "redirect attention" from his father's disgrace.Worse: names.Names she knew.Artists. Friends. Former classmates.Ethan’s name appeared, too. “Break his back online. Make it look organic. He can’t be the hero if no one’s watching.”The bile in her throat rose. She’d defended Elijah to people. Had introdu

• Our love to hide   chapter 56-No Longer Afraid

  It started with a whisper.A few shares. A handful of comments. A couple hundred views.Then, within hours, the dam broke.By morning, Ethan’s face was everywhere.His voice trembling but clear echoed across screens, timelines, and hearts. Not as a scandal. Not as a cautionary tale. But as something deeper. Braver.A man reclaiming his truth.Ethan sat curled up on the couch, a blanket around his shoulders, scrolling through the storm he’d just unleashed. “I’ve never cried over a stranger’s love before. This is what honesty looks like.”“He said what so many of us are too scared to admit. God, I wish I had his courage.”“To Ethan Hale, thank you for not erasing yourself to make others comfortable.”His post was trending under #StillILoveYou.Vanessa sat across from him, mouth half-open as she read her own feed. “This is... massive. You’ve hit three million views in less than twelve hours.”Ethan blinked. “What?”“Buzzfeed reposted it. So did Out Magazine. And GLAAD. A bunch of celebr

• Our love to hide   chapter 55-letter from the edge

  Chapter 55 – Letters from the EdgeNathan didn’t sleep.The house was still, but his mind raced. Every echo in the hallway sounded like a memory.He sat in the living room, staring at the wedding photo on the shelf. Ethan’s smile looked different now, full of hope, before the fractures. Before the weight of public scrutiny made love feel like a liability.He rubbed his eyes. Guilt chewed through his gut like rust on steel.Was Ethan right?Had he ruined his life?He was putting away laundry when he noticed the guest room door slightly ajar. A soft glow spilled out Ethan’s old laptop humming faintly atop a stack of notebooks.Nathan frowned.He stepped inside, careful not to disturb the fragile silence, and sat beside it. The screen showed a folder already open: “Private Letters.”Nathan hesitated.Then clicked.The first one opened in a simple text document. No formatting. No filters. “Dear Nathan. Today I heard Vanessa crying in the bathroom. I didn’t ask why. I knew. It’s because

• Our love to hide   chapter 54- smoke in the Glass

  Ethan stared at the email on his screen, the words blurring together like steam on glass.“In light of recent developments, we believe it is in everyone’s best interest to place you on indefinite leave while we reassess public impact.”His fingers hovered uselessly above the keyboard. His heart didn’t race, it sank. Quietly. Like something dropping into deep water.He didn’t even hear Nathan walk in.“Coffee?” Nathan asked, holding out a mug like a peace offering. He looked unsure, like he’d been debating whether to come in at all.Ethan took it automatically, eyes still locked on the screen. “I’ve been suspended.”Nathan’s hand froze midair. “What?”“My job,” Ethan said numbly. “PR nightmare, they called it. Not officially. But that’s what this is.”Nathan moved closer, lips parting like he was about to say something comforting but no words came.Ethan’s laugh was sharp, humorless. “They couched it all nicely. Said it’s not personal. Just... optics.”Nathan set his own mug down on th