I didn’t understand what was happening.

Evan hadn’t returned my calls and Alex hadn’t been in school for two days.

Any attempt I made to visit the apartment went unrewarded as I stood at the door knocking, blinking back tears of betrayal and confusion.

On Friday he had gone to pick up Alex from my mom’s place, he did not answer my texts and my panic mounted with each hour that slipped by.

Did something happen to them? Were they in an accident?

I called my mom, demanding to know if Evan had picked up Alex and she calmly explained that he had.

“What was he acting like? Was everything okay?” I screeched in her ear. “He’s not answering his phone!”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” my mother replied, not a note of concern in her voice. “Although I have to say you seem very attached to your Uncle Evan. Maybe he needed some time to breathe, Vyolet. Perhaps you’re spending too much time with him.”

It didn’t make sense to me and I rushed to the apartment, listening at the door.

I could hear Alex inside as I banged on the wood, calling out to them but no one responded.

Why is he doing this to me? I wondered, my heart shattering into pieces. I recalled how I had decided to break up with him that night and suddenly I felt like karma was laughing in my face.

He beat you to the punch. He’s ghosting you now. He took what he wanted and now he’s cutting you out.

I expected to see Alex on Monday but when Tuesday arrived, and she still did not show up for class, I knew that he had taken her and left without so much as a text to say goodbye.

His cell was disconnected when I called to leave yet another voicemail and on Wednesday, I called in sick to sob into my pillow.

I lay, curled into the pillows as tears streaked down my cheeks, wondering if I should pursue it.

I could track him down in Seattle if he had gone back there. My parents would know where he went. I had to bite the bullet and ask them.

I was owed an explanation at the very least, but I couldn’t force him to talk to me.

Still, I had to know what was happening.

How could he simply wrench Alex out of my life so easily? I could almost bear it if it was him alone…or so I lied to myself.

When my iPhone chimed at noon, I fully flipped to snatch it off my bedside table, my heart racing in anticipation.

It was only Maya.

<You’re not at school.> she texted.

<No.> I replied. <Not feeling good.>

<Coming over.>

<No!> I responded. The last thing I wanted was to see my sister. She would detect my heartbreak in three seconds and I just wanted to be alone in my misery.

She didn’t text back, and I knew that meant she was simply going to appear on my doorstep like she always did.

I’ll just take a page out of Evan’s book and ignore her when she comes, I thought bitterly but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that and when she arrived fifteen minutes later, I had managed to pull myself out into the living room to answer her knock.

I never really did understand how Maya always managed to slip inside without buzzing but I couldn’t remember a time when she had not simply landed on my doorstep.

That day was no different and as I opened the door, already turning away as Maya slipped her foot into the jamb.

“You’re not sick,” my sister commented. “You’ve been crying.”

I didn’t answer, falling onto the couch to curl my legs beneath my robe and close my eyes.

“I heard Evan left for Washington,” Maya sighed, and I tried not to sob at the sound of his name.

So I had been right; he had simply disappeared without a word.

How could I have been so stupid? I had ignored all the warnings and still pursued him even though I knew it could only end this way.

Why are you so upset? You were going to end it anyway! I thought for what felt like the hundredth time, but no amount of logical reasoning made it any less painful.

“Vy – “Maya started to say but I closed my ears to her.

“I know, you told me so,” I spat. “Did you come here to rub it in?”

I could sense my sister’s shock at the accusation.

“Have you ever known me to do that?” she replied quietly, sitting on the edge of the sofa to stroke my hair lovingly. “I came here to tell you that I am here for you.”

I opened my eyes cautiously and I read only compassion in her bright green eyes.

My hand flew to my mouth as I stifled a strangled noise.

“How could I have been so stupid?” I wailed, tears falling to my cheeks. “He just left. Just like that! I didn’t mean anything to him but kinky sex!”

Maya’s eyes widened with interest, but she wisely did not comment on my wording.

“It’s probably for the best, Vy,” she told me gently. “You wouldn’t want to get in any deeper than you’ve already gotten.”

I had to admit that her rationale was sound, but it didn’t make it any easier.

“Have you tried to contact him in Seattle?” she asked me, and I shook my head.

“No,” I sighed, sitting up and wiping my eyes. “I’ve been tempted but I can’t bring myself to do it. I just can’t believe he would take Alex without a word to anyone.”

“He told mom he was going,” Maya volunteered. “Maybe he was trying to spare you more pain.”

I scoffed.

“He did a fine job,” I retorted but I wasn’t mad at Maya of course.

I wasn’t even sure I was angry with Evan.

I knew I was livid with myself for allowing such a thing to happen.

Glancing sharply at Maya, my eyes widened.

“You didn’t say anything to mom about – ”

“Of course not!” she replied indignantly, folding her arms over her busty chest and scowling. “Why would you even ask that?”

I exhaled slowly.

At least one thing had not exploded in my face.

Maya studied my expression and suddenly I got the sense that she wanted to say something else.

“What?” I demanded. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shook her head and rose from her spot on the couch to saunter into the kitchen.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I’m going to make you something to eat. You look pale and I bet you haven’t touched anything since he left, have you?”

I swallowed and shook my head, following her into the galley where she stuck her head in the fridge, busying herself with the contents.

As she pulled out condiments and bread to make a sandwich, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

“Mai, what is it?” I asked, approaching. “You came here to tell me something.”

Maya refused to look at me and I knew that the news was going to be devastating.

“Oh my God!” I gasped. “Did something happen to them? Is Alex okay?”

Maya threw up her hands in surrender.

“No! Nothing bad happened…to them,” she murmured, and bile rose into my throat.

“Just tell me,” I ordered, my jaw locking. “I deserve to know what’s going on.”

Maya pursed her lips together and leaned back against the counter, shaking her head.

“I think I know why he left so suddenly,” she whispered, and my eyes grew like saucers.

“Why?”

Maya gritted her teeth as if steeling herself for the backlash of what she was going to say.

“I was at mom’s for dinner on Sunday,” she explained, and I groaned inwardly, realizing I had completely flaked on the weekly gathering for what was probably the first time in my adult life.

“And?” I demanded. “What happened? Was he there?”

My heart began to hammer with excitement.

“No,” Maya replied slowly. “But mom said something which makes me think she knew about you two.”

I stared at her dubiously.

“No way,” I said. “She would have confronted me.”

“I think she confronted him, Vy and that’s why he left.”

I gaped at her, uncomprehendingly.

“Wh – what did she say exactly?” I demanded, a sudden spark of hope lighting my gut. If he had only left because of my parents, there was still a chance we could salvage our relationship.

Maya looked at me, biting on her lower lip.

“What I’m going to say is going to hurt, Vy so I want you to brace yourself,” she told me but I only half-heard what she was saying.

In my mind’s eye, I was already reaching for the phone, begging Evan to come back to Oriental and be with me.

“Vy, are you listening?” Maya asked, and I nodded, my palms sweating in anticipation.

“Yes,” I replied. “What did she say?”

“She said that it was a blessing that Evan did the right thing leaving before a scandal ensued,” she started, and I felt myself bristle at my mother’s old-fashioned mentality.

“Mom is such a prude,” I groaned but to my surprise Maya shook her head.

“No,” she replied softly. “Not in this case.”

I gazed at her, cocking my head to the side.

“What does that mean?”

“Mom told us that Evan has a fiancée in Seattle. That’s why he was biding his time here. He didn’t want to rush back with a kid and scare her.”

Shock wracked my body and I gasped.

“What?” I croaked. “He’s engaged?”

Maya nodded, averting her eyes.

“According to mom.”

Bile choked me, and the world began to spin around me.

Mom’s comment to me roared in my head when I had begun to show interest in Evan.

“He’s got a condo there, honey and a career and a life,” mom reminded me. “He probably has a girlfriend too whom he is eager to see.”

I realized she had been trying to warn me before I had even gotten started.

All the signs had been there, and I had ignored them all in my blind desire to be with a man I had no right to have.

I felt my legs buckle and Maya reached out to steady me.

“It’s okay,” she murmured, pulling me into a hug. “You had no way of knowing. It’s not your fault.”

I thought I would melt into a puddle of tears right then and there but suddenly I had none left to cry.

There was nothing left in me but an empty abyss of betrayal.

I had to accept that I had made a mistake allowing myself to love the wrong man.

But he’s gone now, and the damage could have been so much worse, I thought, gulping down the lump in my throat. There is nothing to do now but accept my stupidity and move on.

“Are you all right?” Maya asked, squeezing me into her and I could barely manage a nod.

“Yes,” I whispered but I was lying.

I wasn’t okay but I would be.

Eventually.