Chapter 224: Couldn't lie

The room felt suffocatingly quiet.

Alex's phone had already betrayed him. The ringtone still echoed in both their minds.

Lucas stood frozen. The phone screen is the same. The pendant similarities. Everything was crashing together.

And now, he was staring directly at Vince, waiting and demanding for answers.

That question gripped Alex harder than anything else. Not because Lucas thought he was a thief. But because the question revealed something far more dangerous.

Lucas was suspecting the truth. Not consciously, but the pieces were beginning to connect.

Alex swallowed. His throat suddenly felt dry.

"I'm not a thief." His voice came out lower than intended.

Lucas didn't blink, he didn't move or even look away.

The silence stretched. Then Lucas nodded slowly. "You're not a thief."

His eyes remained fixed on him.

Searching, studying, and almost pleading.

His voice softened.

"Are you wearing lenses?"

Alex's heart slammed painfully hard against his ribs.

For a moment he forgot how to breathe. Because Lucas wasn't looking at him the way he had looked at Vince. He was looking at him the way he looked at Alex, and that made it hard for him to lie.

Across from him, Lucas's pulse was racing just as wildly. The longer he stared, the longer the truth hung unanswered, the more impossible it became to ignore.

The smile, the voice, the way he stood. The way his face softened whenever he looked at him. The way being around him, made his chest feel warm.

God, the more Lucas looked at him now, the more he wanted him to be Alex.

The realization shocked him, because if Vince wasn't Alex, then why did every part of him wish he was?

Lucas took another step forward.

Alex didn't move. He couldn't move.

The space between them disappeared.

"Look at me." The request came quietly, and Alex obeyed.

Their eyes locked. Lucas's breath hitched. There it was again. That undeniable feeling. That strange pull,

like he was standing in front of someone important. Someone his heart recognized. Even if his memories didn't.

Alex's hands clenched at his sides.

He wanted to tell him. God, he wanted to stop lying. He wanted to stop pretending. To finally say, Baby, it's me, but fear stopped him.

Fear that Lucas would feel betrayed. Fear that everything they'd built would collapse. Fear that the look in Lucas's eyes would disappear forever.

"Vince." Lucas whispered his name. The sound almost broke him.

"Answer me"

Alex lowered his gaze briefly. Then he looked back up. The conflict in his eyes was impossible to hide now.

Lucas saw it, and his heart skipped. Because Vince suddenly looked like a man standing at the edge of a cliff. One step away from falling. One step away from confessing something life-changing.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Lucas asked softly.

Alex laughed, a broken laugh.

"You’re sounding very suspicious and it's scaring the shit out of me."

Lucas frowned.

Those words only deepened his confusion.

For several seconds neither spoke.

The air between them felt dangerous.

Then Alex slowly reached up..His fingers stopped just short of Lucas's face.

Not touching, hovering, as though he desperately wanted to. But wasn't sure he had the right anymore. His voice came almost in a whisper.

"Lucas..."

The way he said his name made Lucas's chest ache, because no one had  ever said his name as sweetly as Alex did. And the way Vince was saying it now. It was the first time and exactly like Alex.

Lucas became afraid of the answer he was seeking. Because if Vince really was Alex, Why in disguise?

Alex's hand finally reached his cheek. The touch was gentle, but tentative. As though Lucas might disappear if he touched him too firmly.

Their eyes locked. The room seemed to shrink, and only the truth hung between them.

Lucas's lips parted. His voice came out as nothing more than a whisper.

"Who are you?"

The question pierced straight through Alex. His chest tightened.

Every lie. Every disguise. Every moment spent pretending. It all came crashing down at once.

"Lucas..." His voice broke. "I didn't mean to…" He stopped, swallowed, and tried again.

"Lucas, I never meant to hurt you."

Lucas barely heard him, because there it was again.

That voice. The way he said his name. The way it wrapped around his heart. The way it made something deep inside him tremble.

Only Alex said it like that, only him.

Lucas’s eyes burned. A tear slipped down his cheek.

Alex froze. "Oh no." His expression crumbled instantly. "Baby...Please don't cry."

The familiar endearment hit Lucas like a physical blow.

‘Baby.’ Only Alex called him that.

Nobody else.

Another tear escaped.

Suddenly, Lucas couldn't hear anything else anymore.

The world around him faded. Alex's voice became distant and muffled.

As though he were underwater.

Then a sudden sharp pain exploded on his head.

Lucas gasped as his vision blurred.

The room tilted violently. He staggered.

"Lucas?"

Alex's voice sounded far away.

His head spun. His heartbeat thundered. And then, a memory flash came.

He saw himself in a walk-in refrigerator. Cold air, shelves lined with vegetables and spices.

Lucas reached for a container near the back as the door opened.

Someone entered. Then he turned to check, it was Alex with a familiar smile. He seemed very happy.

He was looking at Lucas as though he were the center of his universe.

"What are you doing here?" Lucas had whispered.

Alex grinned. "Looking for you, baby."

Then without warning, he stole a quick kiss. It was warm, playful and perfect. Then he smiled and stepped away laughing.

Leaving Lucas blushing furiously inside the refrigerator.

Then another flash.

Alex's hand intertwined with his.

A late-night talk, sitting side by side on the bed.

Laughter. Promises. A stolen embrace. A whispered I love you too from Lucas.

Then everything vanished. Darkness swallowed him whole.

"Baby." A familiar voice.called out, desperate and terrified.

"Baby, wake up, please."

Something cool like water touched his face.

Lucas frowned. His eyelids felt heavy, but slowly, he opened them.

The first thing he saw was Vince.

Hovering over him. Panic written all over his face. Relief flooded  the instant their eyes met.

"Oh thank goodness." His shoulders sagged. "Baby, you scared me."

Lucas blinked slowly. Trying to focus. Trying to breathe, and process what had just happened.

"Baby." Vince cupped his face.

"Are you okay?"

Lucas stared at him.

"Did your memory return?"

Still Lucas said nothing. His eyes remained fixed on Vince's face.

Taking in every detail. Every expression. Every line and every familiar feature.

The memories were still incomplete, broken, scattered, but one thing was suddenly crystal clear.

“Lucas’s heart knew. It had always known.

Tears filled his eyes again. This time not from confusion but from certainty.

Slowly, Lucas sat up. Vince immediately helped steady him.

"Easy baby."

But Lucas wasn't listening. He kept staring, as if afraid the man before him would vanish. As if afraid this was another dream.

Then he stood. Vince rose with him. Concern still written all over his face.

"Lucas?"

Lucas took a shaky breath, then another, and suddenly threw his arms around him.

The force of the hug nearly knocked Alex backward. For one stunned second, Alex froze.

Then Lucas buried his face against his shoulder. Holding him tighter.

As though making up for every lost memory.

A broken sob escaped him.

"My Alex..."

Alex's breath caught. His entire body went still.

Lucas pulled back just enough to look at him. Tears streamed freely down his face. Yet he was smiling.

A beautiful, trembling smile.

"My Alex." His voice cracked.

"You're my Alex, right?