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Chapter 3: I Know You
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2025-07-19 19:32:21By morning, Sebastian was gone.
August sat up slowly, half expecting to find the other side of the room still claimed by some fever dream stranger but the duffel bag was there, the closet half-filled, and the faint scent of cedar lingered like it had seeped into the air.
The laptop was gone. So was the ID card.
It wasn’t a dream.
It was real.
And somehow, Sebastian Wolfe had made himself real, too wearing August’s name like it was his birthright.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and dragged himself to the bathroom. His stomach was sour, nerves fraying at the edges. He hadn’t come here to fight for his identity. He’d come here to vanish into quietness. But this was no fresh start anymore.
This was a war he hadn’t signed up for.
Orientation was held in the main auditorium, where first-years and transfers packed in beneath glass skylights and warm toned chandeliers. August sat near the back, hunched low, doing everything he could to keep his eyes from scanning the room for him.
But part of him searched anyway.
And when he found Sebastian leaning against a pillar like he owned it, chatting easily with two girls and a guy who laughed at everything he said his stomach coiled.
Sebastian wore a fitted black turtleneck and a thin gold chain. Confident. Effortless. Beautiful, in the kind of way that made you forget your own face.
He looked nothing like August but no one seemed to notice.
Because he smiled like he belonged.
And when his eyes flicked up across the room and landed on August, he didn’t look surprised.
He looked pleased.
As if he’d known he would be watched.
As if August couldn’t stop watching.
That night, August did something he hadn’t done in years.
He searched his old name online.
He started with his scholarship profile, then his old school blog, then deeper forums, writing communities, the remnants of high school competitions. He found an archived essay that had been shared by an old teacher. He found his favorite poem quoted on a dead T*****r account that hadn’t been his.
Then he found something worse.
A social media profile.
August Hale.
His face. His birthday.
But with different pictures.
Different captions.
Different posts. From dates when he hadn’t even owned a phone.
There were pictures of August smiling on beaches he’d never visited. Sitting in cafés he’d never been to. Wrapped around people he didn’t know. Living a life that was his but wasn’t.
And the account was active.
As if someone had been posting all along.
As if he had been living someone else’s life.
August’s fingers trembled as he clicked the messaging icon.
Who are you?
He didn’t expect a reply.
But it came.
Typing…
You already know the answer to that.
I’m what you left behind.
And I’m not going away this time.
The door creaked open minutes later.
Sebastian stepped inside, eyes shadowed by the dim desk lamp.
August stood from his bed, voice low, shaking. “You stole my entire life.”
Sebastian didn’t deny it.
He crossed the room, slow and deliberate, until he stood only inches away.
“I didn’t steal it,” he said softly. “I kept it alive.”
“You ruined it.”
“I saved it. You were going to disappear. Fade into nothing. I didn’t let that happen.”
August’s breath hitched. “You’re crazy.”
Sebastian leaned in, his voice a whisper. “You know what’s crazy? That even after all these years… you still remember me.”
August stiffened.
He hadn’t said anything about years.
He hadn’t said anything about remembering.
But the look in Sebastian’s eyes
That wasn’t a stranger’s gaze.
It was someone who’d seen him before.
Someone who’d known him before.
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His Name Was Never Mine Chapter 66: Echoes in the dark
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His Name Was Never Mine Chapter 62
The world outside blurred by in muted streaks of grey as the car sped down the nearly empty road. Rain tapped softly against the windshield, a steady rhythm that should’ve been calming, but instead felt like a ticking clock counting down to something neither of them wanted to face.August sat pressed against the passenger door, his arms folded tightly across his chest. His heartbeat hadn’t yet returned to normal after the chaos back at the café the fists, the shouting, Sebastian’s sudden appearance, and Ash’s glare burning through him.He swallowed, his voice quieter than he intended. “What were you doing there, Sebastian?Sebastian didn’t look away from the road. His jaw was locked, the sharp line of it tightening with every passing second. “I could ask you the same thing,he said, his tone clipped.“I told you,” August muttered, trying to keep the defensiveness from his voice. “I was just meeting a friend.Sebastian’s grip on the steering wheel flexed, leather creaking under his fin
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