Chapter 5 Chapitre 5

A sudden noise, a cry stifled behind the door, made Camille jump when she was putting the table for dinner. Before she could even turn, the living room door opened suddenly. A familiar silhouette emerged in the frame of the door, as sharp and relentless as a blade. Camille's eyes stared at this woman who, with a simple look, seemed to take place in the room.

She didn't even need to speak so that Camille knew that she had just entered a territory that she should never have trampled. The moment suspended, when time seemed to freeze, left a strange feeling, a palpated tension in the air. Camille did not move, frozen in the unknown of this unexpected meeting.

The woman turned to her, and the exchange of looks that followed left no doubt about the nature of the situation. Bastien was not alone. This woman... Camille recognized her, without being able to put words on it. But the implicit threat she wore seemed clear immediately, like a shadow that stretched without noise. Camille tried to hide her discomfort, her breath accelerating slightly. It was not the first time that she had felt this pinch of concern, but this time, it was different. The woman was not interested in her, but in her place in this world, in her existence in the life of Bastien.

Bastien, who until then had remained calm, got up from his chair with a quick movement, too fast to be natural. He tried to hide the concern that was read in his dark eyes, but Camille knew. She now knew him enough to know that something heavier than a simple ex-girlfriend had just burst. This woman had a past with him. A past that he had never completely erased.

The woman's voice, sweet but sharp, broke the silence.

"I didn't think I would see you in a situation too ... intimate, Bastien. »»

Each syllable seemed to weigh tons, as if it measured each word before releaseing it. Camille felt in vice, the beats of her heart being more intense at every moment. She was not used to finding herself in such tense, so ... terrifying situations. It was not the simple shock of a confrontation. There was something else, a heavy impression of a story that was not his. An implied that she was not ready to understand.

Bastien turned slowly, a glimmer of worried people spinning his usual mask of indifference.

"Sofia," he said, her words colder than he had ever left in front of Camille. "It's not time. »»

He turned to Camille, his imploring, almost desperate look, as if he knew he had failed to protect her from a world that he had always tried to hide her. He should have warned her, he should have prepared her. But he left her there, defenseless, facing this woman.

Sofia, a glossy smile on his lips, advanced slowly. She spoke to Camille with false cordiality that betrayed all the bitterness that she seemed to nourish in silence.

"You must be Camille. The tone was almost mocking, but Sofia's eyes betrayed a resentment that Camille would not have imagined. "So, you managed to settle in the corner of Bastien. Well played. »»

Camille, a beating heart, straightened up slightly, a breath of challenge passing through her veins. She refused to be intimidated. However, each word of Sofia seemed to slip under her skin like a sharp thorn. She tried to maintain a capacity, but Bastien's concern, the way he stood, the tension of his features, all that amplified a silent fear that she could not ignore.

"I ..." Camille sought her words, but the woman in front of her did not leave her respite.

"You thought it was a good idea to live here, right? Sofia smiled at Bastien, as if she had just revealed a universal truth. "It's not surprising. But we both know that it was never easy between you and me. »»

Sofia's words resonated in the room, like a bell announcing the start of a conflict that none of them was ready to face. Bastien stared at her with an icy look, but his expression betrayed a weakness that he had not shown so far. He didn't seem like the same man, the one he had shown him in his tender moments. The one she had understood.

"You have nothing to do here, Sofia," he said, in a calm but sharp voice. He turned to Camille, a look full of unwarmed promises. "Let me manage this. »»

But it was too late. The game was launched.

Sofia turned to Camille with an enigmatic smile, and in an almost inaudible breath, she dropped the sentence that was going to mark Camille's mind forever.

"You realize, isn't it, that it is not a simple fairy tale? Bastien is not the one you think he is. »»

Camille felt an icy chill crossing her. Each word of Sofia seemed to wrap her in a spider web which she did not yet know how she would get out. Bastien, despite his attempts to hide his discomfort, suggested a crack in his control, a fracture in the image he had wanted to offer him.

The shock was much bigger than she imagined. It was not just the entrance to an old conquest. It was the awakening of a hidden truth, of things that remained in the shadows, ready to resurface at the most inappropriate moment. And Camille, who thought he had found a form of security, found herself again in front of a stranger whom she did not master.

Bastien rose suddenly, his dark eyes filled with contained anger. He positioned himself between Camille and Sofia, as if to separate them, but the gesture in itself seemed to be enough to appease the tension that had settled in the air. His gaze was hard, his features stretched. He took a deep inspiration, trying to hide his disorder, but Camille didn't need more to understand that what he had just lived with Sofia was more complex than he had ever hinted.

"Sofia is over. Leave us alone. His voice was firm, but his body remained tense, ready to react at the slightest provocation.

Sofia stared at him, an ironic smile on his lips. "Ah, so it's like that, Bastien? Do you choose your new doll rather than looking facing reality? She looked at Camille, before turning away and launching a last look at Bastien. "Don't come and cry later, you wanted it. »»

Camille stood there, silent, her mind turned on it. Sofia's words had sunk in her like knives, and although she fought against the feeling that grew up in her, he was there, obvious: doubt. She had never imagined being involved in this kind of dynamic. She believed that she was there by choice, that she was more than a simple pawn in a game of which she did not understand all the rules. But Sofia had just sowed a seed of doubt in her mind, and the words of the woman were constantly turning in her head, enclosing him in a disturbing spiral.

Bastien, visibly agitated, awaited Camille's reaction, but she just looked down, unable to meet his gaze. She had seen this crack in her mask, and it was clear that things were not as simple as she had made her believe. Why did he react this way against Sofia? Why was he disturbed? The Bastien she thought she had known would never have been so vulnerable before an ex, even an implacable as this one. There were secrets, unsaid, and now Camille felt taken in a whirlwind that she no longer controlled.

She was lost. How could she be so naive, so blind? Bastien had tried to protect her, but what, exactly? Her words, her gestures, everything seemed now imbued with mystery, and doubt gnawed at her like a slow poison. Was she really the one he wanted by his side, or was she just one more figure in a game she had no place? A simple pawn of which he had nothing to do once the embrace of fate finished?

Bastien then turned to her, his look that is both imploring and hesitant. "Camille, please don't let this ... situation disturb you. I never wanted to put you in this position. »»

But his words, although borrowing from sincerity, could not appease the questions that swirled in Camille's mind. She looked up, her thoughts a whirlwind of uncertainty. It seemed to be at a crossroads, and each direction led her towards the unknown, towards a world that she had never considered. The rumors of Bastien's past, Sofia's coldness, and the apparent truth of her own feelings were embarked on his mind, each thought exacerbating confusion.

She walked gently towards him, standing on the fragile line that separated the confidence of betrayal. "And you, Bastien?" Have you ever known what you really wanted? Her voice was barely trembling, but the words were heavy with everything she didn't understand. "Or is it all a facade? »»

Bastien stopped, his fists hugging almost imperceptibly. His gaze was fleeing, and he suddenly seemed more distant. "This is not what you think ..."

The "but" which never came to leave a heavy silence between them. Camille did not need to hear the rest. She already knew. She felt this distance between them, growing up as a wave ready to engulf them both. This revelation-or perhaps it was simply his own feeling-prevented him from seeing things under their real light. She no longer knew if Bastien protected her or if it was she who endangered through him.

The murmurs of the past, which it began to glimpse by fragments, gradually distorted the reality that she had understood. And in the tumult of her emotions, Camille could no longer ignore one thing: she was taken in a game much more complex than what she could have imagined, a game where her own feelings became her greatest weakness.

She thought she was at the center of all this, but now, she was no longer sure of anything. The veil of mystery was rising, slowly, but it was not sure to be ready to accept the consequences.