CHAPTER QUOTE
"Truth waits to be heard by the one it fears to break."
Scene One: Light Between the Cracks
Three weeks had passed like autumn leaves drifting down a quiet street—slow, sudden, and unexpected. Nina had begun to laugh again. The sharp edges in her chest still poked at her when Leo's name came up, but now, there was Kellan.
Kellan was warmth without questions. The kind of guy who could make her laugh with the way he argued passionately about why pineapples didn't belong on pizza. He was funny in a clumsy way, thoughtful in a chaotic way. He didn't press. He just showed up.
That morning, he surprised her with a sketchpad she had once mentioned she missed in passing.
"You talk about your past like it's too far behind. I just want to bring it closer to now," he smiled.
Nina blinked. She didn't cry. That surprised her.
Scene Two: The Secret Garden
Leo had received the message from Nina's mother days ago. Just a time and location: "5:00 PM. The greenhouse behind the old train tracks."
He arrived earlier than expected, heart thrumming like the sound of distant thunder. The greenhouse was aging—glass cracked at the edges, vines creeping through wooden beams. It felt like the right place for truths to be buried… or unearthed.
Nina's mother, elegantly weathered by time and secrets, stood by a patch of overgrown lilies.
"You kept her away," Leo said without greeting. "Why?"
She turned, slowly. "Because some truths burn everyone, even those trying to protect."
Leo didn't speak.
"I knew your father," she continued. "More than you think. You were five. You don't remember how he looked at you, how he regretted not being able to stay in both worlds."
"Don't." Leo's voice cracked. "Tell me what I already fear."
"I didn't leave because I was a coward. I left because if you and Nina ever met, and the truth was known… it could destroy you both. But you did meet. And now here we are."
He didn't breathe for a moment.
"So… she's my—"
"Yes." Her voice broke. "Same father. Different mothers."
Scene Three: The Storm Inside
That night, Leo didn't sleep. He walked. He tried calling Amara.
She answered.
"Meet me." That was all he said.
When they met, there was no need for small talk. He looked at her as though she was the last ledge keeping him from falling.
"She's my sister," he said.
Amara's eyes widened. She staggered back slightly, then moved forward again and held his arm. "Oh my God."
"I couldn't tell her."
"I know."
"And… I still love her," he whispered.
"I know," Amara said again. But her eyes were full of something complicated—relief, heartbreak, understanding. Maybe all three.
They sat in silence. The weight of the secret now shared between them, heavy and trembling.
Leo
I have held many secrets in my life. But this one is heavier than blood. I want to protect her, but how do you protect someone from something that lives inside who they are?
Amara
What do you do when the person you love is bound to someone else… not by desire, but by DNA? How do you hold them through it without breaking yourself?
Nina
Kellan makes me laugh. That should be enough. And maybe one day it will be. But when Leo smiles in my dreams, I still feel that flame. And I hate that I do.
Kellan
She doesn't look at me the way she might've looked at someone before me. But she does look at me now. And I think that's enough reason to stay.
FADES OUT