The Miracle of You

Later that night, Camille received an unexpected text message from Michael.

‘Hey Vanilla,’ the text simply read.

She stared at the words on the screen, feeling a small piece of her heart break.

She could still remember the words he told her just yesterday, about them remaining friends and secretly meeting, messaging, and calling each other. He had seemed really eager to connect with her after so long.

She wasn’t dense. She knew that she had been Michael’s close and only friend back then, which was probably the reason why he grew attached to her.

But she wasn’t foolish enough to assume that he’d been waiting for her for years now. Of course, they had been close, but not that close…

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Camille sighed. There was no use overthinking things now. If she didn’t reply to him right now, she would never get the courage to do so.

She had to at least give him some kind of warning. Or a sign.

‘Hello,’ she texted back.

And then the series of messages began, with them talking back and forth. It was the perfect opportunity to start her mission of driving him away.

She honestly didn’t expect it to be this soon, but it was now or never.

Better to be early than late, as her mother used to say.

‘Did you get home safe?’ Michael messaged.

‘Yes,’ she replied.

‘We should get some vanilla ice cream together. For old time’s sake.’ There was a hint of teasing in his words.

It pained her, but she had to reply in a dry undertone. ‘I’m busy these days.’

‘I am, too.’

‘I see.’

‘When should we meet next, then? It should be a secret, right?’

‘I’ll check my schedule later.’

‘Okay. What will you have for dinner? Are you living alone? Don’t rely too much on takeout food, okay?’

‘I don’t know. I’ll have to see.’

‘Is something wrong, Hailey?’

Camille stiffened as she read his message on the screen of her phone.

Why did he have to use her name that way?

The guilt in her heart was growing and increasing by the minute. Any more, and her resolve would wither away.

She couldn’t let that happen. Not this early.

‘Nothing. Just tired,’ she replied.

‘Oh, sorry. I should’ve let you rest before deciding to text.’

‘It’s okay.’

‘Don’t worry about me and go to sleep after eating dinner. Stay healthy, okay?’

‘You as well. Thanks.’

That was the end of the conversation.

Camille lay back against the sheets and shut her eyes.

If she were to be completely honest… that had been a painful conversation.

It was so obvious that Michael wanted to catch up with her and go back to the way it was, but she had to push him away. Even though she wanted so badly to chat like normal and tease him like she used to, she couldn’t.

Whenever she was with her friends, with her brothers, and especially with Michael, she always had a lot to say. Most of the time she was even called a ‘nagger’ because she liked to take care of her loved ones and fuss over them all the time. She would ask how their day was going, if they were eating well, and if they had any problems they wanted to share.

So, being cold and clipped with Michael, of all people, went against her own personality, one that she had kept restrained inside of her for years.

During her time as Camille, the only people she showed any concern for were her brothers and Patricia. Patricia was now 25 years old, a young, carefree adult who wanted nothing to do with her father and brother’s business. She was still in college and was studying two majors at the same time.

College…

Camille sighed heavily. Even though she had a strained relationship with the Callahans, she had to admit that she wouldn’t have gotten her university degree and her new identity without them.

After learning the truth from Luther and Emilia all those years ago, she had been confused, angry, and betrayed. Especially because they never denied the fact that they took her in out of guilt and treated her like glass because they didn’t want to upset Mason’s daughter and break their promise to him. It made her feel so isolated that she felt she had to leave, that she needed to disappear as soon as possible.

She had made some decisions she wasn’t very proud of to this day. Maybe she should have talked to them properly, maybe she should have done something else, maybe she should’ve been more mature and patient…

But it was all said and done now. There was no longer anything she could do about her past actions, no matter how foolish they were.

A week later after that conversation, the day before her 18th birthday, she packed her bags, took all her savings, and left the van Gowen house without saying goodbye to her parents.

She only told her brothers and even managed to say her own goodbye to Michael sometime before, giving him the treasured necklace that Emilia had gifted her for her birthday years ago.

There had been another reason why she hadn’t taken the necklace back. Besides the fact that she couldn’t wear it anymore thanks to Christian’s stupid necklace, it was also because she felt she didn’t deserve it. She didn’t trust her adoptive parents all those years ago and left without looking back, so it felt wrong for her to keep wearing Emilia’s necklace.

Camille rolled her body to the side. She wasn’t going to lie; she had checked in on her adoptive parents from time to time. It was out of curiosity and longing, like a child who missed her family and wanted to know how they were doing. Her brothers kept her updated, but she wanted to see for herself how the public treated them.

She felt a little guilty about leaving them with a scandal. The eldest daughter of the Van Gowen family, the one who was supposed to inherit the hotel business, ran away from home. There were all kinds of rumors and speculations about her disappearance.

It was difficult for her and the family she left behind to avoid public attention. Camille had to hide for years after she ran away, while Luther and Emilia desperately tried to come up with a good explanation for why their good, obedient daughter had left home on her eighteenth birthday.

It was one of the reasons she couldn’t let Greg and Christian Callahan tarnish her family’s reputation with another scandal. She knew how much Luther valued his reputation after working so hard to get to the top all on his own.

At first, she couldn’t understand how Greg Callahan had managed to find out about Luther’s betrayal of Mason and that Mason was supposed to be his partner in the business. That Luther had caused someone else’s ruin and death, even if only indirectly.

But after some clarification, she finally understood.

Because the ‘Alexander Sterling’ all those years ago…

It turned out to be Gregory Callahan himself.