The News

"The past cannot be cured." - Queen Elizabeth I

Alex went straight to the bar and ordered himself a scotch. After two hours and two-thirds of a bottle of scotch, the answer is nothing. Google provided 174,00,000 results for a search on Maya, her husband, and his family's name. From there, he drilled down to images, social networks, and their cell phone number. He tried to cross-reference Maya's name with the police directory. He tried variations on the spelling of her name; he searched government databases for a birth certificate or hospital records. Alex even asked his private investigator to dig everyone thing on Maya and her family. He wanted to know every skeleton in Maya's closet.

In short, he twisted his brain into a pretzel to find any crumb of information, but nothing worked. Maya Davis's daughter is a ghost or a pseudonym.

"Is she telling the truth?" His heart whispered.

A red devil pops up in his mind. "You think you're the only man she's making a run for? Don't be naïve." his mind growled, spitting fire.

"What if she is telling the truth?"

"So, you moved on. Do you know how many kids go missing every day? Moreover, you wanted her to suffer, don't you? What could be a bigger punishment in the world than losing your child?" His mind presented a logical answer.

"Have you moved on? You lied that you have a girlfriend. If ruining her is your mission, then why the thought of Maya having a daughter heart-smashing and soul-killing?" Demanded his heart.

"If you lose, don't lose the lesson. Your heart might have forgotten the incidences in your life that tore you apart, but don't forget the lessons Maya taught you."

"Do the ends justify the means? Does it ultimately matter? Or what matters is that Maya gets, what's coming to her one way or another? Do you think she deserves this?" His heart argued.

"First things first, would a mother who lost her baby-sit through a meeting? Why didn't her brother-in-law help her out? Why hasn't she filed a police report? Why didn't she go to the media? Why come to you for help? Most importantly, why no one knows about their baby? What's with all this secrecy?" My mind logically listed all the glaring problems in this mystery.

Alex groaned. He was at war with himself. Never in his wildest dream, he imagined the meeting going south. Several things dawn on him at once. The first is that he continued to underestimate Maya. The second, she's much tougher than she looks. The third, for the first time in seven years, she has shown her vulnerability.

He took a gulp of his scotch. He is on fire. His heart, his soul, his brain, his sweat glands: all of his burns.

He felt someone take a seat beside him. It's Josh. They sat in tense silence for a while, until Alex spoke, "Did you speak to Sasha?"

"I did."

"And?"

"I don't know, Alex. Sasha says she will be with Maya as long as she lets her and I will have to find a way to be okay with it."

Now he got Alex's full attention. "Why would she say that? What is going on, Josh?"

His voice is low and rough. "Sasha met Maya two days back in the hospital and reconciled."

"They had a long-running feud and solved in seconds? Something is amiss. None of this makes sense, Josh. Why did Sasha go to the hospital?"

"A general checkup." He deadpanned.

"Did you know about it?"

"No."

"Did she tell you about meeting Maya?"

He narrowed his eyes, "Wouldn't I warn you if I had known? In her defense, I get riled up at the mere mention of Maya. So, she was waiting for the right time to bring it up."

"Do you trust her?"

"I don't know, Alex. She was with us at every step we took to ruin Maya's husband and her marriage. How can she go back to Maya without an ounce of guilt? Forget Maya, doesn't Sasha have a moral conscience? I don't understand."

"I hear you, Man. Women give us solace, but if it were not for women, we would never need solace." Alex tries to joke, trying to appease the tension.

"How was your meeting with Maya?"

He sighs and explained everything

"She has a daughter?" Josh questioned, incredulously.

"Yes."

"Damn! Do you believe her?"

Alex shrugged, "I don't know."

"So we're back to where we started: what happens when you fall back into 'Maya's black hole', Alex? Do you glide right through it and come out the other side? Or burn to ashes?"

After a moment, Alex chose his words carefully, "Unless, that is, I demand to know which story is really true. Does her daughter exist or is she her figment of imagination?"

Alex's throat muscles relax enough for him to exhale a ragged breath. Until Josh says thoughtfully, "Reality depends on whom you ask. There is Maya's reality and there is your reality. End of story."

Thud, thud, thud goes Alex's heart, before stopping altogether. "I know."

His voice hardens. "I watched as you plunge toward the black hole, Alex, while Maya got happily married. Now, after four years, you are still in the same place where Maya left you like someone has hit the pause button."

Alex felt a twinge of guilt and hated himself for it. Sighing, he closed his eyes. "Time only goes forwards, never backward, and it pulls us along against our will, preventing us from turning around. I won't go back." Though his voice lacked conviction.

He gazes at Alex pensively for a moment, "You might expect to get crushed, or maybe torn to pieces if you let Maya in your heart for the second time. But the reality is it would incinerate you."

Alex swallows, surprised by that, and unsure what to say in response. "Consider me warned."

Josh's eyes soften. He wrestles with himself in silence for a long time, until he says, "Are you okay? The news she has a daughter must have shot through your heart. Bullet to the brain. Fall from a forty-story building. With that one sentence, she must've killed you in a dozen distinct ways."

Alex sets his brandy on the table in front of the sofa, loosens his tie, leans his head against the back of the sofa. Exhaling heavily, he closes his eyes. "I will be okay."

A slow smile spreads over Josh's face, "You said Maxine is your girlfriend?"

"Trust me, the minute it came out of my mouth, I wanted to kick myself."

A pleased chuckle rumbles through Josh's chest. "Maxine does better research than the FBI. She came to the hotel searching for you."

Alex gasp, "She didn't?"

He laughs, "She did. Thank god I had a moral sense to warn the receptionist."

Alex shook his head in disbelief, "Thank god! Dammit, can't she take a clue I'm not interested?"

Looking frustrated, Josh says, "Clue? You threw her out of your office, yet the woman says you are going to propose soon."

Alex's voice turns hard. "She lives in a deluded world."

After a moment of silence, Josh asks, "What's our next move?"

Alex took another shot of scotch, gulped it down, and then looked at the glass, twirling it around in his fingers. "Josh, I want someone to tail Maya 24/7 starting now. I need to know what game she is playing this time. What about Sasha?"

He sighs, "Let's take a wait-and-see attitude on Sasha for now."

Alex's expression sours. "You know, and I know, that we can't wait for the bomb to drop. We have to grab it before it does."

Josh shook his head, "Imagining Sasha might be on Maya's side is enough to send shivers down my spine. Which makes me wonder what else is down there that we just don't know about yet?"

His mouth twisted mournfully, "Oh, the tangled webs they weave." After a brief pause, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. The truth will come out, Josh."

Alex saw the terror and panic in Josh's eyes. "Trust is not exactly a cheap commodity in the world we come from, Alex. I hope she doesn't break my trust taking the last of my faith in humanity with her." His voice was tight.

Alex knows that pouring oil on fire does not extinguish it, it only makes it burn brighter and hotter.

"Let's look it the other way. What if she is afraid that you won't believe her? She's afraid you will not want to forgive her for speaking to Maya. The bottom line is… you either trust each other to be there through the bad times or you don't."

Josh blew out a long breath and nod. Not long after, they paid the bill and left the hotel. Throughout the drive Alex was alone with his thundering heart and a million unanswered questions, wondering how on earth he is going to decide. Even though he said no to Maya. He wanted to see her suffer. And, if he says yes to Maya, what exactly he would get himself into.

One thing he knows with conviction: He will not fall in love with Maya Davis again. He will not let her destroy him like she almost did…

He couldn't sleep whenever he closed his eyes all I could see was Maya. Her eyes showing a mixture of sadness, vulnerable and desperate. His phone rang, and he picked it up without looking at the caller id.

"Alex, get to the hospital quick." Josh's frantic voice spoke over the phone. His heartbeat wildly and he got off the bed.

"Why? What happened? What's going on?" He rushed out picking up his car keys and made his way out of his apartment.

He whispers hoarsely, "It's Maya."

Alex felt the earth move away right under his feet. His heartbeat goes haywire and the walls seem to grow closer. In a strangled voice, he questioned, "What happened to Maya?"

"As you asked, I put a person to tail her. He called me a few minutes back, they rushed Maya to the hospital."

Alex's worry zooms closer to panic. "What do the paramedics say? What is their initial diagnosis?" Desperation lends his voice a hysterical pitch.

When the silence stretches uncomfortably long, in an inaudible voice, "Suicide."

That one word shocks Alex into silence.