All Chapters of His Name Was Never Mine: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

66 Chapters

Chapter 31: Bruises you can’t see

The apartment still carried the scent of cinnamon from the tea Ash had made the night before. They’d stayed late, talked about nothing, and promised not to talk about Sebastian again.But promises didn’t stop ghosts from crawling out of the walls.When August unlocked his phone, the first thing he saw was an anonymous email no sender, no subject, just a single line:“You’re welcome for the silence.”He deleted it before reading it again. He didn’t want to give it weight. But the words burned anyway.Chris was gone when August entered the kitchen, probably out on a supply run. They’d been taking turns managing groceries and pretending life was normal.On the counter sat a white envelope with no name. August stared at it. It hadn’t been there last night.Slowly, he opened it.Inside was a printed photo. Grainy. Taken from a distance. It was him, sitting in the café two days ago, laughing with Ash.The timestamp was real.August’s stomach twisted.He dropped the envelope and backed away

Last Updated : 2025-07-26

Chapter 32: The knock that didn’t come

By morning, Chris returned with coffee and groceries and a half-hearted smile. “You look like you fought God and lost.”August forced a laugh. “Just didn’t sleep.”He debated telling him about the envelope. About the hallway. But something in his gut whispered not yet. Chris was loyal, but loyalty didn’t mean safety.He noticed how Chris’s eyes lingered on the locked door. “Everything okay?”“Yeah,” August lied. “Just feeling off.”Chris nodded, but his mouth twitched like he didn’t believe it.Later that day, August received a message from the university’s ethics board. His case against Sebastian was still under review. Still.The attached document listed new evidence: screenshots of Sebastian’s fake identity registration, verified by IP logs. A timeline of falsified academic submissions. Testimonies. Even Ash had added another statement.It felt like something was moving forward.But that same email also said Sebastian had requested an in person hearing.August’s chest tightened.“O

Last Updated : 2025-07-26

Chapter 33: A Key made of Trust

The silence after his outburst was sharp enough to cut.Chris stared at him for a long time, then slowly nodded. “Okay. Then prove it.”August blinked. “What?”Chris reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver key. “Here. The spare. Take it back.”August stared at it. The key glinted under the ceiling light.He took it.His hands were shaking.“I’ve never used it,” Chris said. “I wouldn’t even come in if you were asleep, and you know that.”August did know. Deep down, he did.But fear had a way of blurring lines between memory and paranoia.“I’m sorry,” he whispered.Chris nodded once. “I get it.”That night, Ash stayed over. They took turns staying awake, watching the door, the windows, the hallway.“I keep thinking it’s over,” August said softly around 3 a.m., curled under a blanket on the couch. “Then he finds a new way to crawl back.”Ash didn’t answer right away. He sat on the floor beside the couch, head resting against the armrest.“I don’t think he ever left,” Ash fi

Last Updated : 2025-07-26

Chapter 34: The Lake of Forgotten Names

Ash exhaled slowly. “Then we wait.”They did.The cold settled into their bones. Wind hissed across the water.Minutes passed.Then an hour.Ash paced. August sat on a half-buried log, heart thudding. It wasn’t just the fear of Sebastian that stirred in him now it was the overwhelming weight of memory. This was the place where he had once felt most alive. And now, it felt haunted.Just as he was about to stand, a voice echoed from the trees.“Always so punctual.”August’s breath caught.Ash turned, fists clenched.Sebastian stepped out of the woods as if the forest had opened its jaws and let him through. He wore black, always black, but he looked… different. Less polished. More raw.His eyes locked on August immediately. “I didn’t think you’d come.”“I didn’t think you’d crawl out of your grave,” August said quietly.Sebastian smiled. “Is that what this place is to you? A grave?”“It’s where I lost myself.”Sebastian walked forward, slow, deliberate. “No. This is where you were rebo

Last Updated : 2025-07-26

Chapter 35: The Monster you Know

August didn’t sleep that night.Even after he and Ash returned from the lake after Ash checked every lock and sat beside him in silence August lay awake, staring at the ceiling. The cold wasn’t coming from outside. It was coming from something inside him.He had confronted Sebastian.Screamed, pushed, cried.But it didn’t feel like closure.It felt like a door had opened instead.By morning, Ash was asleep on the couch, curled into himself, while August stood in the kitchen, his tea forgotten on the counter. His phone buzzed. One message. Unknown number.He froze.“You saw only one side of me. Let me show you the rest.”Attached was a photo an old one. August recognized it instantly. It was the rooftop of their old school building. He remembered that day Sebastian had taken him there to sketch in the sun. Before things got… twisted.August’s thumb hovered over the screen.“Don’t,” Ash said suddenly, now standing behind him. His voice was quiet, controlled.August turned. “You read it

Last Updated : 2025-07-28

Chapter 36: The First Lie Back

It started with a time and location.No name. No “please.”Just a message:Tonight. 9PM. The greenhouse behind the old conservatory.August stared at it all day.He didn’t tell Ash.Didn’t respond either.But when the hour came, he found himself walking through the dark, his hoodie pulled over his head, hands buried deep in his pockets. His footsteps felt louder than they should have, echoing through the abandoned paths that used to lead to student dorms and now just led to memory.He reached the greenhouse.The door creaked open with a hesitant push. It smelled like damp leaves and dust. Moonlight spilled in through the dirty glass panels above.And then he saw him.Sebastian.Leaning against a rusted table, arms folded, eyes already on August like he’d been waiting a lifetime. He hadn’t changed. Same tousled black hair. Same dark sweater. Same unnerving, magnetic pull.“You came,” Sebastian said, voice low.“I shouldn’t have.”“And yet…”August looked away. “You always did know how

Last Updated : 2025-07-28

Chapter 37: Beneath All the Quiet

August didn’t sleep that night.The confrontation in the greenhouse played on repeat behind his eyes Ash’s voice cracking, Sebastian’s smirk, the guilt burning in his chest like fire. He kept hearing the words: I think you already know.It was morning now.The dorm was quiet. Ash hadn’t come back.August sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor, fingers laced together too tightly.He thought about the way Ash always made him feel like he was safe without trying to change him. The warmth in their silences. The way Ash never demanded anything but gave more than anyone else ever had.And yet, it was Sebastian’s message that made his heart skip.He hated that.He hated himself for it.A knock on the door startled him.He stood, half expecting Ash but it was Chris, their RA, holding a folded note.“Someone left this for you downstairs,” he said, handing it over with a raised brow. “It didn’t have a name.”August opened it slowly. Just two lines:You have to choose now.Before it’s

Last Updated : 2025-07-28

Chapter 38: The Echo in the Voice

When he knocked, the door opened almost instantly.Sebastian stood there shirtless, hair damp like he’d just come from the shower. The scent of him musk and mint hit August hard.“You came,” Sebastian said, voice low, amused.August swallowed hard. “I shouldn’t have.”“But you did.”He stepped aside, letting him in.The moment August crossed the threshold, something shifted. Like a lock clicking into place behind him.“I got your note,” August murmured.Sebastian didn’t answer. He moved behind him slowly, like a predator circling prey.“I missed you,” he said.August turned to face him. “Stop.”“Stop what?”“This. this thing you do. You say the right words. You smile the right way. You make it sound like you’re the only one who understands me.” His voice cracked. “But you don’t. You just”Sebastian’s hand cupped his face.“I do understand you. That’s why it scares you.”August froze.“You’re lonely,” Sebastian whispered. “You keep pretending you’ve moved on. But no one else sees you t

Last Updated : 2025-07-28

Chapter 39: Things that Don’t let Go

Ash finally sat beside him, but left space. Not much, but enough for the tension to rest between them like a third presence in the room.“I’ve been trying to be the calm one,” Ash said after a moment. “The steady one. I thought if I gave you room, you’d see that I’m not trying to control you.”August looked down. “I know.”“I let you go to him,” Ash continued, his voice trembling now, “because I didn’t want to be another man who cornered you. I didn’t want to act like Sebastian. But”His voice broke.August turned to look at him, and for the first time, he saw how deeply this was hurting Ash.“I’m scared,” Ash whispered. “Because no matter how much he hurt you… you still go back.”August’s hands clenched around the coffee cup.“He makes me feel like I owe him something,” he said. “Like I was nothing before him, and nothing after.”“But you’re not.”August met Ash’s eyes. “Then why do I feel like a fraud without him?”Ash shook his head. “Because he made you believe it. He stole your n

Last Updated : 2025-07-28

Chapter 40: Returning To The Mirror

August stood frozen on the cracked pavement outside Sebastian’s old townhouse hands shoved deep into his pockets, rain skittering over his coat. His chest felt tight, as if he were trying to squeeze the betrayal out of his lungs. He’d just left Ash’s apartment for the last time, the image of that blurry photograph burned into his mind: Ash laughing in the street with someone whose face was hidden by shadows. Ash’s desperate plea, “I am the safe one,” had died on his lips the moment that photo emerged.He raised a trembling hand and knocked.The door swung open on its own a silent welcome. Inside, Sebastian stood under a single overhead bulb, as pale and still as a marble statue. His eyes flickered with something unreadable.“August,” he said, as if he’d been waiting. His voice was low, cautious. “I wondered when you’d come.”August swallowed the lump in his throat. The silence cracked between them, heavy with everything unsaid. Finally, he forced out the words he couldn’t keep insid

Last Updated : 2025-07-28

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