The Love Affair

Chapter Thirty-Two

"What is it?" I asked, suspicious at the way he words cut through thin air and silenced our bliss.

I was anxious. What was he going to tell me? Out of all of the things I could imagine, the fear that it was going to wreck us apart was nerve-wrenching. My stomach was doing back-flips and bile was snaking at back of my throat.

"It's...difficult to explain this," he said, swallowing hard as he sat up and rested his body against the headboard. I followed slightly, dragging the cover with me to at least appear decent in which seemed to be the start of a serious conversation. "So, there's reason why I pursued you," he added after remaining silent for two minutes.

"What do you mean by that?" I frowned, unsure whether I wanted to remain sitting in his bed or standing.

"I-I—you reminded me of someone," he replied, sighing gently as he rubbed his elbow and refusing to look my way.

"Remind you of someone? I-I---"

"Please don't take this the wrong way," he warned, clasping his hands together within his lap, " but you reminded me of my fiancé."

My mouth opened then closed. I was so confused. "But—but your ex-girlfriend, the one on Facebook—"

"No, not her. Before her. I was engaged to this woman called Andrea. We...were pretty smitten with one another. Childhood sweethearts if you want to call it. And then when she turned twenty two, she just disappeared." He paused, taking a huge suck of air. "And then...the police just turned up one day. I remember seeing blue and red flashing lights through the blinds. Her father went to the door. They came in and told us...that they found Andrea's body dead in a river, just 7 miles out."

I sat quiet.

"I thought...she got murdered. But...they found a note. I guess you know what that means," he said, rubbing his forehead as he blinked back tears. "And then I met you..." he continued, leaning to the left as he extended his arm to his phone sat resting on the bedside table. His fingers slid hurriedly over the screen before he tapped down. Then he passed it over to me.

Taking it gently from his hands, I held my breath as I prepared myself for whatever he'd wanted me to see. And there is was. An image of a woman which strikingly looked similar to me. I had heard of doppelgangers but now I was more than convinced I had probably found my own. Her hair was the same. Even how her dimples protruded from her cheeks. I could tell Shane was studying my face to decipher my reaction.

"She...does look---"

---"The same?" Shane suggested.

I nodded quietly as I passed him the phone. I wasn't sure how to react or what this exactly meant. Was I even my own individual to him? Or did he just see Andrea every time he looked at me? Did he think I was her?

"I know what you're probably thinking," he muttered, locking his phone and placing it back on the bedside table. "And it's not true...at the start, Rose. Yes. I won't lie, I wanted to know you because you looked so much like her but...once I got to know you. I realised you weren't her," he explained, turning towards me and gently grasping my helpless hands. "You're so much more. Completely different. I fell in love with a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman that I want to spend the rest of my life with." He squeezed my hands reassuringly.

"So...when that old...woman thought I was Andrea, she knew her? And that lipstick? Was that her favourite?" I pried, slowly drawing my hands away from his.

"Y-yeah. Andrea and I would go to that cabin. She knew Doreen and Ed. Doreen suffers from dementia. You must have triggered a memory...I don't know," Shane responded. "But, Rose, you have to believe me. I do see you as your own individual. You're not Andrea. You're Rose. You're smart, funny and incredibly stubborn," he said, pleading within his tone.