Chapter 5

Ella pulled away from Claire's hand and stared at her in confusion.

She was too young to understand the situation, but even she could sense something was wrong when she saw Julian alone with Claire.

She pointed at Claire and demanded, "Dad, who is she? Why are you with her?"

Julian gave an awkward laugh. "She's a friend of mine."

"Have you been with her this whole time?" Ella asked. "Do you really have to stay with a friend for that long?"

Julian had no answer.

Claire managed two unsteady steps before pausing to catch her breath. "Julian, maybe you should take Ella home first. Diana needs someone with her, too."

Ella was too young to catch the implication in Claire's words.

She quickly grabbed Julian's hand. "Dad, come home with me. You need to see Mom. Mom..."

Before she could finish, Julian pulled his hand free. "I can't, Ella. My friend still needs me. Go home by yourself.

"I'll give you some money. You can buy your favorite ice cream and some snacks, okay?"

As he had so many times before, Julian pulled some cash from his wallet and held it out to her, hoping that would make her leave.

Ella stared at the bills. "Dad, I thought we didn't have any money."

Julian's hand froze.

Ella looked at him as though she no longer recognized him and slowly backed away.

Perhaps it was only then that she noticed how different he looked.

For months, Julian had dressed more and more simply to keep up the lie. Now he stood before her in an expensive designer suit, polished and perfect.

He was holding Claire upright. A thick wedding photography portfolio lay on the bench beside them.

"Dad, don't you love Mom and me anymore?" It took Ella a long moment to force out the question.

Julian fell silent.

He opened his mouth as if to answer, but Ella seemed to understand anyway. Tears spilled down her cheeks.

Then she turned and ran, as though she was too afraid to hear the answer.

Julian instinctively started after her, but Claire grabbed his wrist. "Don't worry, Julian. She's still young. You can explain everything later, and she'll understand."

Julian pressed his lips together. When he saw how unsteady Claire was, he stayed behind.

Perhaps he was afraid Ella would tell me what she'd seen. Back at the hospital, Julian tried calling me several times.

Every call went unanswered.

He frowned and began typing a message.

Julian: [Ella must have told you what happened, but it isn't what you think. Pick up. We need to talk.]

I had no idea what he wanted to say to me.

Perhaps he didn't know either.

After typing out the message, he erased it without sending it.

He sat in silence for a long time before returning to Claire's suite.

"I'm going home tomorrow," he told her. "You should stay here and rest."

Claire nodded. "I'll come with you. I should explain everything to her myself."

Julian looked ready to refuse, but Claire continued. "Diana doesn't know I'm the one who received her kidney. I want to thank her."

After a few seconds, Julian nodded.

That night, I watched him check his phone again and again. He kept opening our message thread and scrolling through our old conversations.

When I realized he was waiting for me to contact him, I was surprised.

In all our years together, Julian had always been distant. I was the clingy one.

Whenever I texted him about my day, he either didn't reply or sent back a flat "Okay."