So he paid for rooms. Hid transfers. Answered poorly.

And stayed silent.

You did nothing wrong, he wrote. You made your choice with the truth you had.

I sat with that letter for a long time.

He had lied—but now I understood why.

I folded the paper carefully and placed it back in the envelope.

And I grieved—not just the man I lost, but the life we might have had if he’d trusted me enough to let me in.