"Seven videos flooding the internet so far. Your former classmates have been busy, posting.”
Sebastian strips off his gloves and tosses them aside. "I wondered if anyone kept those. I always assumed they took and kept the videos so they could have something to laugh at after class."
"Why didn't you tell me? When all this started, when he was taunting you that night … why not just say it?"
His Adam's apple bobs as he takes a long pull of cold water. "Sit with me?"
We settle on the bench against the wall. His body radiates heat beside me, muscles still twitching from exertion. Sweat still trickling in rivulets down his cheeks and arms. I can't reconcile this powerful man with that fragile boy. But my heart breaks all the same.
"I didn't tell you because it wasn't relevant," he says finally.
"Not relevant? Sebastian, it changes the entire story!"
"Does it?" His blue eyes meet mine. "Would it have changed what we did? Our plan? The marriage?"
The question stops me. "Well, no. But?—"
"It would have given Kyle exactly what he wanted—attention. Significance in my life." Sebastian runs a hand through his damp hair. "That's what bullies like Kyle crave more than anything. Recognition. Proof they matter. I mean, he ended up as a paparazzi for a reason. He likes hounding people to get a reaction, he exploits people and makes money off it."
I hadn't considered that angle.
"Besides," Sebastian continues, "I didn't want to be the bullied kid in your eyes. I wanted to be the man who chose you."
"Were you embarrassed?"
"Honestly, no. Kyle was nothing to me until he came after you. I wasn't going to elevate him by acknowledging our history. He could have called me names and whatever, and he wouldn't have gotten a rise out of me."
I study his face—the sharp angles so different from that boy's soft features. And here I thought he was always popular. "You knew he'd eventually reveal it himself, didn't you? That's why you were so chill."
A small smile touches his lips. "People like Kyle can't help themselves. They always overplay their hand. I've met so many like him, and you don't really need to do much. Just sit back and enjoy the show."
Understanding blooms, and with it, my chest expands. Sebastian didn't hide his history out of shame. He did it because he knew exactly how this would play out—Kyle exposing himself, destroying his own credibility in the process.
"You out-strategized him," I say, impressed despite my lingering concern.
"I learned to think three steps ahead in hockey." He takes my hand.
Later, I sit cross-legged on our bed, laptop balanced on my knees. Two more videos appeared this afternoon. In one, the worst yet, Kyle and his friends steal Sebastian's clothes during gym class, forcing him to wear just a tiny pair of shorts fromthe lost-and-found. Painfully tight and restrictive for his already thin frame.
The other shows Sebastian sitting alone in the cafeteria, day after day. Same spot. Same isolation. The video spans months, based on the changing seasons visible through the windows.
"Why watch those?" Sebastian appears in the doorway, hair damp from his shower.
"I need to understand."
"What's to understand? I was skinny, poor, and dyslexic. Perfect target." He sits beside me and closes the laptop gently. "That's not me anymore."
"But it shaped you."
He nods. "Into someone who protects people who can't protect themselves. This is why I hate bullies with a passion."
The pieces click together. His immediate reaction to Kyle's verbal attack on me. His reputation for fighting anyone who targets his teammates on the ice. His protective streak. Kyle could insult him all he wants, and Sebastian would shrug it off, but say one nasty word about me, and it's game over for him.
"You became everything that boy needed," I say softly.
"I became what I needed to be." He hooks a finger under my chin and lifts my face for a kiss. "And found exactly who I needed to find."
"I still wish you'd told me."
