PART 2 — THE BOY WHO KNEW HER NAME
The ballroom exploded.
"What did he say?"
"Missing for fifteen years?"
Security rushed toward the entrance.
An elderly man stumbled inside.
His suit was wrinkled.
His breathing uneven.
The moment he saw the boy...
He froze.
"There you are..."
His voice cracked.
"I've been looking for you."
The boy didn't even turn around.
He kept holding the woman's hand.
Tears streamed down his dirty face.
"Please..."
"Don't let go."
The woman couldn't.
She didn't know why.
But the warmth of his tiny fingers felt...
Familiar.
Painfully familiar.
The man beside her stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The old man answered without taking his eyes off the child.
"I'm his grandfather."
The room fell silent.
"My daughter disappeared fifteen years ago."
"So did my grandson."
He pointed at the boy.
"That's him."
The boy slowly shook his head.
"No."
"My grandpa died."
The old man's face crumpled.
"They told you that?"
The boy nodded.
"The people who raised me said everyone abandoned me."
A gasp swept across the ballroom.
The woman suddenly pressed both hands against her temples.
Another flash.
A rainy highway.
A crying baby.
A woman screaming,
"Take him!"
Then...
Fire.
She cried out.
The man beside her immediately knelt.
"Emma!"
"Look at me."
"Breathe."
She stared at him.
"Why..."
"Why do I know that little boy?"
He hesitated.
Too long.
The boy noticed.
"You know."
He looked directly at the man.
"You know who she is."
The ballroom became silent again.
The old man slowly turned.
"You've been lying to her."
The man's jaw tightened.
"I was protecting my wife."
The old man shouted,
"By stealing her past?"
Emma looked back and forth between them.
"My wife?"
She whispered.
The man closed his eyes.
"Emma..."
"We've been married for eight years."
She looked at the little boy.
Then back at the man.
"If that's true..."
"Why does holding his hand feel like coming home?"
Nobody answered.
Then...
The boy reached into the pocket of his torn hoodie.
He pulled out a faded photograph.
Folded a hundred times.
He handed it to Emma.
The moment she looked at it...
The color drained from her face.
She was holding a baby.
The baby wore a tiny blue sweater.
Standing beside her...
May you like
Wasn't the man she'd married.
END OF PART 2.
