Chapter 5: Ghosts from the past

Monday mornings on campus were always chaotic.

Students hurried to lectures with coffee in one hand and backpacks slung over the other. The sidewalks buzzed with conversations about quizzes, weekend plans, and professors who assigned far too much reading.

Pedro and Liyanna walked side by side toward the engineering building.

“You’re going to be late,” Liyanna teased.

“I’m five minutes early.”

“Exactly. That’s your version of late.”

Pedro smiled.

“I like being prepared.”

“I noticed.”

She nudged his shoulder playfully.

“And I like making fun of you for it.”

Before Pedro could respond, someone called his name.

“Pedro!”

He stopped.

A young woman with long dark hair hurried toward them, smiling brightly.

She was dressed in a fitted leather jacket despite the warm weather, and she walked with the confidence of someone who expected to be noticed.

“Emily?”

Pedro sounded genuinely surprised.

She stopped in front of him and smiled.

“I was beginning to think you’d forgotten me.”

“No, I just…”

He glanced at Liyanna.

“…didn’t know you were back.”

Liyanna stayed quiet, observing.

Emily’s eyes shifted toward the simple silver band on Pedro’s finger.

Then to Liyanna’s.

Her smile faded.

“…You’re married?”

Pedro nodded.

“I am.”

Emily laughed once.

Not because anything was funny.

Because she couldn’t believe it.

“Since when?”

“A few weeks.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“It happened quickly.”

Emily folded her arms.

“Clearly.”

She looked directly at Liyanna.

“So…”

She forced another smile.

“I’m Emily Carter.”

Liyanna extended her hand politely.

“Liyanna Anthony… Salvador.”

Saying Pedro’s surname out loud felt strange.

Emily noticed the hesitation.

“So you’re the wife.”

“I am.”

Emily shook her hand.

Her grip was firm.

Almost too firm.

“Nice to meet you.”

The words were polite.

Her tone wasn’t.

After Emily walked away, Liyanna turned toward Pedro.

“You didn’t mention Emily.”

Pedro sighed.

“I honestly didn’t think I’d ever see her again.”

“Who is she?”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“We dated.”

Liyanna blinked.

“Oh.”

“It ended almost two years ago.”

“What happened?”

Pedro looked ahead as they continued walking.

“She got accepted into a journalism program in New York.”

“And?”

“She wanted me to move.”

“You didn’t.”

“My dad had just passed away.”

His voice was quiet.

“My little sister needed stability. I couldn’t leave.”

“So she left.”

He nodded.

“Eventually we stopped calling each other.”

Liyanna didn’t say anything for a while.

Finally she smiled gently.

“Life happens.”

“It does.”

Unfortunately…

Life wasn’t finished happening.

By lunchtime, half the engineering department had somehow learned that Pedro’s ex-girlfriend had returned to campus.

Rumors spread quickly.

By dinner…

They’d spread even faster.

“Apparently,” Liyanna said while scrolling through her phone, “people think Emily came back to win you back.”

Pedro nearly choked on his pasta.

“What?”

She turned the phone around.

A student gossip account had posted:

👀 CAMPUS TEA

Engineering student Pedro Salvador spotted with former girlfriend just days after introducing his new wife.

Drama incoming?

Pedro groaned.

“I hate social media.”

“So do I.”

The next afternoon, Liyanna was leaving the journalism building when someone stepped into her path.

Emily.

“Can we talk?”

Liyanna hesitated.

“…Sure.”

They sat on a bench beneath an old oak tree.

Emily spoke first.

“I owe you an apology.”

Liyanna looked surprised.

“For what?”

“My attitude yesterday.”

She looked down at her hands.

“I wasn’t expecting to see Pedro married.”

Liyanna nodded.

“I understand.”

Emily gave a small laugh.

“No… you really don’t.”

She looked toward the fountain across campus.

“Pedro was my first love.”

Liyanna’s heart tightened.

“I thought we’d end up together.”

“But life changed.”

Emily smiled sadly.

“It did.”

Silence settled between them.

Finally Emily asked quietly,

“Is he happy?”

The question caught Liyanna off guard.

She thought about Pedro laughing in the kitchen.

About the way he always washed the dishes before she could.

About how he’d quietly placed a blanket over her shoulders when she’d fallen asleep studying two nights earlier.

Without thinking, she smiled.

“…Yes.”

Emily noticed.

“So are you.”

Liyanna blinked.

“What?”

“You smiled before you answered.”

Emily stood.

“I think that told me everything.”

She walked away before Liyanna could reply.

That evening, rain poured against the apartment windows.

Pedro sat at the kitchen table reviewing engineering notes while Liyanna stared blankly at her laptop.

“You’ve been reading the same paragraph for ten minutes,” Pedro said.

“I know.”

“You okay?”

She closed the laptop.

“I talked to Emily today.”

Pedro looked up.

“What happened?”

“She asked if you were happy.”

He waited.

“I told her yes.”

“And?”

Liyanna smiled faintly.

“I realized I wasn’t lying.”

Pedro looked at her for a long moment.

Neither spoke.

The rain filled the silence.

Finally he stood and walked to the kitchen.

“I made hot chocolate.”

She smiled.

“You remembered.”

“You always want hot chocolate when it rains.”

She laughed softly.

“We’ve only lived together for three weeks.”

“I notice things.”

She accepted the mug.

“So do I.”

Saturday afternoon brought another surprise.

Pedro’s phone rang.

The caller ID read:

Sofia ❤️

He answered immediately.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Liyanna smiled from across the room as she unpacked groceries.

She could hear Sofia’s excited voice through the speaker.

“Pedro! Aunt Rosa says I can visit you next weekend!”

Pedro’s face lit up.

“Really?”

“Yes!”

Then Sofia asked the question that froze both adults.

“Can I finally meet my new sister?”

Pedro looked at Liyanna.

Liyanna looked back.

Neither knew what to say.

Pedro swallowed.

“…Of course.”

Sofia squealed happily.

“I can’t wait!”

The call ended a minute later.

Pedro slowly lowered the phone.

Liyanna smiled nervously.

“So…”

“So.”

“We’re meeting your family.”

He nodded.

“My little sister is twelve.”

“Does she know?”

“No.”

“Will we tell her?”

Pedro looked out the window.

After a long silence, he shook his head.

“Not yet.”

Liyanna understood.

Sofia had already lost one parent.

Pedro didn’t want to give her another reason to question the stability in her life.

“Then,” Liyanna said gently, “I’ll do my best to be the sister she thinks she’s meeting.”

Pedro looked at her, gratitude evident in his eyes.

“Thank you.”

She shrugged with a smile.

“That’s what wives do.”

The words slipped out before she could stop them.

For a heartbeat, the room went completely still.

Neither corrected her.

Instead, Pedro smiled.

A small, genuine smile that reached his eyes.

“Yeah,” he said softly.

“I guess it is.”

Outside, the rain had finally stopped.

Sunlight broke through the clouds, spilling across the apartment floor.

Neither of them noticed how naturally they had begun to fit into each other’s lives.

But someone else had.

From across the courtyard, Mrs. Whitaker watched the couple laughing together through the apartment window.

She smiled to herself.

“They’re falling in love,” she whispered.

“The only question is… when will they realize it?”