Let's Pretend We Don't Exist Novels & Stories

If only fictional people existed in real life :( \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

Everyone envied us, calling us a true match made in heaven. As for Jason, he neglected his company until it went bankrupt. His buddies who once followed him went their separate ways. One by one, those same people's lives fell apart. But Jason? He vanished completely. Some said he drank himself to death, while some said Marcella, bitter with resentment, had him locked away. The rumors varied until one day, a video was sent to me from an unknown account. In it, a frail, withered man crawled forward step by step, bowing his head to the ground again and again, begging for a chance to reunite with a woman he could never see again in this life.

Most of the company's contracts were even retracted. My name and photos were used by others to slander me hurtfully. Just as the internet got heated with this discussion, Ivana suddenly appeared teary-faced. She shared a video that declared her real identity. "I'm Summer Lang's best friend. My name is… Summer Lang said she didn't want her husband and son anymore, so she approached me." Ivana paused, her eyes growing even redder. She covered her face while sobbing. "She threatened me with her parents' money and paid me a hundred thousand dollars to seduce her husband! Summer pretended to be blind in order to successfully catch her husband cheating…"

I felt a mixture of shame about what I said. "You were right, Eliza. Let's promise ourselves starting today that we will pretend that she doesn't exist anymore," I said and I agreed with her. "Yeah, you two are right. Chloe doesn't exist anymore. We're only three, right?" Anna said. Eliza speaks, "Yes. We're only three friends and nothing else." Then the three of us nodded and smiled at each other. Two days later...

He pulled two fingers up on each of his hands and made the quotation gesture as he continued to say, “Real world.” Liv laughs under his throat and I hate how they are not taking this any serious. “Let’s look it up.” William adds. I groan, “I told you I tried numerous times but there’s no result.” “Maybe it’s on the dark web?” Liv chimes a very unhelpful idea. “No, hundred percent not.” I answered instantly. William pulls out his finger, “I won’t believe that it doesn’t exist not unless I do it and I see it.”

And more than tha, we were engaged. The thought still felt strange when I framed it like that, even though I had been the one to accept it, even though I understood exactly why it existed and what it was meant to achieve. It wasn’t real, not in the way people believed, but appearances didn’t care about reality. Even tho it wasn't real, it was real to everyone else and we needed to keep up with that appearance. I exhaled slowly, typing out a response without overthinking it. Me: Where?

- Okay, calm down, let go of me first and then I'll let them go. Riffen shook his head, he's not stupid, after all these years, could he be tricked by this petty game?

“Because I shouldn’t have said it in the first place.” “That doesn’t answer the question.” He exhaled slowly and finally stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Not fully. Just enough to dull the hallway light. The air shifted. “I meant,” he said carefully, “that sometimes it doesn’t feel like pretending because you make it easy.” “Easy?” “Yes.” His eyes held hers. Steady. Searching. “You don’t act. You don’t cling. You don’t try to impress anyone. You just exist. And somehow that makes the performance feel… real.”

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘺𝘮, 𝘳u𝘯, 𝘥𝘰 𝘗𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. 18- 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵, 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦. 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵.

Tomorrow I walk into the lion’s den. Tomorrow everything changes. But tonight— Tonight we hold each other. And pretend the world outside this bed doesn’t exist.