Chapter 5 LITTLE DID I KNOW.

"How are you going to pay the rent?"

"I told you," I said, walking along the sidewalk with my bag over my shoulder. "I found a cheap shared apartment."

"Cheap still costs money."

"I know."

"So what's your plan?"

I hesitated.

"Maybe I should ask Dad to lend me something for the first month."

There was a short pause on the line.

Then my mother laughed, but there was nothing amused about it.

"You're going to ask your father?"

"Mom"

"After everything that man did to us?"

"Please don't start."

"That rich man walked out when you were three," she continued, her voice tightening. "Disappeared for years, came back as a multimillionaire, and still refused to take care of his own child."

"I know what happened."

"And now you want to crawl back and ask him for money?"

"I didn't say that," I muttered.

"I cannot stand that man," she said. "Not after what he did to us."

I stopped walking.

"Mom... you're still holding on to that hate."

"Of course I am."

"But I'm not," I said quietly. "I already forgave him."

There was a long silence.

"You forgave him?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Well I haven't."

I rubbed my forehead.

"I'm tired of being stuck between you two," I said. "You're divorced. It's over. I just want to move on."

"I'm only trying to protect you."

"I know."

I looked up at the building in front of me.

The address matched.

"Well," I said quietly.

"What?"

"I'm here."

"At the apartment?"

"Yeah."

"Call me later," she said. "Let me know you're safe."

"I will."

I ended the call and slipped my phone into my pocket.

Then I walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.

The door was swung open as a familiar face stared at me

" Look who came to pay a visit today?" He said as he showed me the way inside.

The moment I stepped into the living room, the conversation inside the apartment died.

Someone reached over and lowered the volume of the music.

A guy sitting on the couch leaned forward, squinting at me.

"Who the hell is that?"

"I don't know," another voice answered. "She just walked in."

Six guys were scattered around the room-two on the couch, one leaning against the wall, another sitting on the arm of a chair.

All of them were staring at me.

My grip tightened around the strap of my bag.

Then someone stood up.

Slowly.

I recognized that movement before I even fully processed the face.

The figure took two steps forward.

My heart dropped.

Dave walker.

For a second neither of us spoke. His eyes narrowed slightly as if he was trying to confirm that I was actually standing there.

"What are you doing here?" he asked finally.

The room went quiet again.

"You... live here?" I asked.

One of the guys looked between us.

"Wait," he said. "You two know each other?"

Dave didn't answer.

He just kept staring at me like my presence in this room was the last thing he expected.

And that's when it finally clicked.

The familiar faces.

The jerseys thrown over the back of a chair.

The gym bags on the floor.

The loud, confident energy filling the room.

These weren't just random guys sharing an apartment.

They were the rugby players.

My chest tightened.

I couldn't breathe.

Six pairs of eyes stared at me and among them was the person I had hoped I would never see again.

Then I realized something even worse.

The six pairs of eyes staring at me belonged to the rugby players.