Chapter 6: The Name Nobody Wanted Me to Hear
I reached the front window before my mother could stop me.
Andre stood beside his car, talking to a young woman in a blue sweatshirt. She had long braids pulled over one shoulder and a small purse hanging from her wrist.
Even from across the yard, I recognized her.
Kiara.
The girl from my economics class.
The girl Aaliyah had accused me of flirting with.
The girl whose name had appeared in the argument that supposedly led to my brother sleeping with my girlfriend.
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Then I turned toward Mom.
"Why is Kiara here?""
Mom looked as if she might collapse.
"I don't know.""
"Stop saying that!""
She flinched.
I grabbed my keys from the table and went outside.
Andre saw me first.
His shoulders stiffened.
Kiara turned, and her eyes widened when she recognized me.
"Nico," she said.
I stopped a few feet away from them.
"What are you doing here?""
Kiara glanced at Andre.
He immediately stepped forward.
"Don't take this out on her.""
I laughed.
"You don't get to tell me what to do anymore.""
Andre's jaw tightened.
"She's here because I asked her to come.""
"Why?""
"Because there's something we need to explain.""
I looked at Kiara.
"Did you sleep with my brother?""
Her mouth fell open.
"What?""
"Last year. Did you sleep with him?""
Kiara stared at me, then slowly turned toward Andre.
"Is that what you told him?""
Andre looked away.
My stomach twisted.
I pointed at him.
"Answer me!""
"No," Kiara said.
Her voice was so firm that both of us turned toward her.
"No, Nico. I never slept with Andre.""
I searched her face.
"Then why is my mother telling me he thought he'd gotten you pregnant?""
Kiara's expression changed.
She looked at Andre with an anger so sharp it made me take a step back.
"You told them that?""
Andre rubbed his forehead.
"Kiara, please.""
"No. You don't get to do this again.""
She turned toward me.
"Your brother didn't think I'd gotten pregnant. He knew I wasn't pregnant because we never had sex.""
I stared at her.
"Then what happened?""
Kiara's eyes filled, but she blinked the tears away.
"Last year, Andre asked me to meet him after school. He said he wanted to talk about you.""
I frowned.
"About me?""
"Yes. He told me he was worried about you. He said you were getting involved with the wrong people and that you weren't thinking about your future.""
I looked at Andre.
He said nothing.
Kiara continued.
"I thought he was trying to help. He's your brother. I trusted him.""
"What did he do?""
"He started asking me personal questions. He asked whether you talked about girls in your classes. He asked whether you were seeing anyone besides Aaliyah.""
I felt a strange mixture of anger and confusion.
"Why would he ask you that?""
"I didn't know. I told him you and Aaliyah were together and that I wasn't interested in you like that.""
She paused.
"Then he told me he thought I was pretty.""
Andre stepped forward.
"That's not exactly—"
"Shut up," I said.
He stopped.
Kiara continued.
"I told him I wasn't interested in him, either. I was seventeen, Nico. He was twenty-one. I thought he'd understand that I wasn't comfortable with the conversation.""
She looked down at her hands.
"He kept messaging me afterward. I stopped answering. Then one night, he sent me a message saying he'd made a mistake and needed to talk to me in person.""
My brother's face had gone pale.
I looked at him.
"Did you tell Mom you got her pregnant?""
Andre shook his head.
"Not exactly.""
"Then what did you tell her?""
He dragged both hands over his face.
"I told her there was a possibility I'd gotten somebody pregnant.""
"Somebody?""
He swallowed.
"I didn't give her a name.""
Kiara let out a bitter laugh.
"You told her that after I threatened to show your messages to my parents.""
The silence that followed was enormous.
I looked between them.
"Messages about what?""
Kiara took her phone from her purse.
She opened a conversation and held it toward me.
The first few messages were ordinary. Andre asking how she was doing. Kiara responding politely. Then his messages became more personal, and hers became shorter.
Near the bottom, I found the message she'd mentioned.
Please don't tell Nico. He'll think I'm trying to get between you two.
Below it, Kiara had replied:
You are the one who keeps bringing him into this. I told you I'm not interested.
Then Andre had written:
If you tell anyone, I'll make sure everybody knows you were the one who came to me.
I read the message twice.
My brother had threatened to make a seventeen-year-old girl look responsible for his behavior.
Then he'd told our mother enough to make her believe there was a pregnancy scare.
He hadn't just lied.
He'd built a lie around someone else's fear.
I handed the phone back to Kiara.
"Why didn't you tell me?""
She looked at me sadly.
"Because Andre told me he'd say I was lying. He said you wouldn't believe me over your own brother.""
I turned toward Andre.
"Is that true?""
He didn't answer.
"Andre!""
He finally looked up.
"I was wrong.""
"That's all you've got?""
"No.""
"Then say something that makes sense!""
His face reddened.
"I was embarrassed, Nico. I was twenty-one, and I was acting like an idiot. I didn't want Ma to know what I'd done, so I made it sound like something worse had happened.""
Kiara shook her head.
"You made it sound like I'd done something wrong.""
"I know.""
"And when I stopped talking to you, you started telling people I was obsessed with you.""
Andre looked at the ground.
I felt sick.
The image of my brother that I'd carried for seventeen years was breaking apart in front of me.
He'd taught me how to ride a bike. He'd sat beside me in the emergency room when I broke my wrist. When Dad stopped calling after the divorce, Andre had promised me that I would never have to face anything alone.
I'd believed him.
Now I wondered how many other promises had been convenient lies.
My mother appeared in the doorway.
"Everybody needs to come inside.""
Kiara shook her head.
"I'm not staying.""
Mom looked at her.
"Please. I owe you an apology.""
Kiara hesitated.
Then she said, "You do. But I'm not here for you.""
She turned toward Andre.
"I came because I heard what happened with Aaliyah, and I didn't want Nico thinking he was the only person you'd ever done this to.""
My brother's face tightened.
"What does that mean?""
"It means I heard about the messages. I heard about the pregnancy. And I realized you'd learned absolutely nothing.""
Andre looked at her helplessly.
"Kiara—"
"No.""
She stepped backward.
"I'm done protecting you.""
Then she turned toward me.
"Nico, I never flirted with you to make Aaliyah jealous. I never tried to get between you two. Whatever she thought she saw, it wasn't me trying to steal you.""
I nodded slowly.
"I believe you.""
Her shoulders relaxed slightly.
"Thank you.""
She walked to her car, got inside, and drove away.
For a long moment, I watched her taillights disappear down the street.
Then I turned toward my brother.
"Did you know Aaliyah thought I was cheating with her?""
Andre frowned.
"She told me.""
"When?""
"Before she came over that night.""
I felt my hands curl into fists.
"So she told you she thought I was cheating, and you decided to sleep with her?""
"No. It wasn't like that.""
"Then what was it like?""
He took a breath.
"She was hurt. I was angry about my own life. We talked, and things happened.""
I shook my head.
"You keep making it sound like nobody made a decision.""
He stared at me.
I stepped closer.
"You chose to text her. You chose to keep talking to her. You chose to come over when I wasn't there.
You chose to sleep with her. Then you chose to hide it.""
My voice cracked.
"At what point did you think about me?""
Andre's eyes filled.
"Every time I looked at you afterward.""
"That's not an answer.""
"I know.""
"Did you feel guilty when I told you I loved her?""
He looked away.
"Yes.""
"Did you feel guilty when I asked you for advice about our relationship?""
He didn't answer.
I laughed bitterly.
"Of course you did.""
Mom stepped outside.
"Nico, let's go inside. The neighbors can hear everything.""
I turned toward her.
"Let them hear it.""
She stopped.
I looked back at Andre.
"You're going to tell me the truth about everything. Not just what makes you look bad enough to feel guilty. Everything.""
He nodded.
"Okay.""
"Starting with why Aaliyah thought I was cheating.""
Andre's expression changed.
"What?""
"She thought I was cheating with Kiara. You knew that before you slept with her. So tell me what you said to make her believe it.""
Andre stared at me.
Then his eyes moved toward Mom.
That familiar glance.
That quiet exchange.
That moment when he seemed to be deciding whether the truth was worth the consequences.
I stepped forward.
"Don't look at her. Look at me.""
He swallowed.
"I didn't tell her you were cheating.""
"Then what did you tell her?""
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Then he said, "I told her you might not be the person she thought you were.""
I stared at him.
"What does that mean?""
Andre's shoulders slumped.
"I told her about the conversation we had last year.""
I frowned.
"What conversation?""
He looked directly at me.
"The one where you told me you weren't sure you wanted to stay with Aaliyah forever.""
My heart sank.
I remembered that conversation.
It had happened during a late-night drive, months before any of this. I'd been frustrated about school, money, and the pressure of trying to figure out my future. I'd told Andre I sometimes wondered whether Aaliyah and I were too young to be making promises about forever.
I'd said I loved her.
I'd also said I was scared of growing up and becoming the kind of man who stayed in a relationship because he was afraid of being alone.
I had trusted my brother with those thoughts.
He had taken them to my girlfriend.
"You told her that?""
Andre nodded.
"Yes.""
"And what did you say?""
He looked at me with red eyes.
"I told her you might leave her someday.""
I stepped back.
Aaliyah had believed my brother when he told her I might abandon her.
My brother had used a private conversation to make himself seem like the person who understood her better than I did.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, she'd made a choice that could change every one of our lives.
I looked at Mom.
She was crying silently.
Then I looked at Andre.
"Get out.""
He didn't move.
"Nico—"
"Get out of my house.""
"This is Ma's house, too.""
I stared at him.
He seemed to realize what he'd said only after the words left his mouth.
Mom's face hardened.
"Andre, leave.""
He looked at her in disbelief.
"Ma.""
"I said leave.""
For the first time all day, she sounded certain.
Andre picked up his keys and walked to his car.
Before getting inside, he turned back.
"I know I don't deserve forgiveness," he said.
"But I need you to know something. Whatever happens with the baby, I won't run away from my responsibility.""
I looked at him.
"You couldn't even take responsibility for the truth.""
He lowered his head.
Then he drove away.
I stood in the yard until the sound of his engine faded.
When I finally went inside, my mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her face in her hands.
I sat across from her.
Neither of us spoke for several minutes.
Then I asked the question that had been haunting me since I'd read the first message.
"Ma, what happens if that baby is mine?""
She lifted her head.
Her eyes were swollen.
"Then we'll figure it out together.""
"And if it's Andre's?""
She looked toward the empty doorway.
"Then he'll have to become the man he should have been all along.""
I stared at the table.
There were no answers left in the room. Only consequences waiting to happen.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Aaliyah.
I know you've talked to Andre. I know you've talked to Brianna.
Another message appeared.
There's one more thing I need to tell you, but I can't say it over the phone.
I stared at the screen.
Then the final message came through.
Please meet me tomorrow. I need to tell you what happened after Andre left that night in June.
I read it twice.
After Andre left.
I had spent the entire day trying to understand what happened while he was there.
May you like
Now I realized the night might have held another secret.
And whatever Aaliyah had to tell me, she had waited months to say it.
