"Truth in the Spotlight"

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I decided to change the timeline so they are in 2007 and they are eighteen

Late October 2007 – Berlin, Germany

Isadora’s POV

I was brushing my hair in the mirror, Tom sitting on our bed behind me with his sketchpad open, half-distracted by the faint buzz of his phone. My bump was finally showing — just barely, enough to where certain clothes didn’t hide it anymore.

And today wasn’t a casual day.
It was a press interview.
Red carpet. Flashes. Microphones.
Questions.

I pressed my hand over my stomach and sighed. “How long are we going to pretend?”

Tom looked up. “You okay?”

I nodded, but the tension sat heavy in my chest. “No one’s said it yet. Not directly. But they’re noticing. The way I walk slower. The way I wear looser clothes. The way I skip certain events now.”

He closed the sketchpad, crossing the room in three long strides. “Do you want to tell them?”

I looked up at him in the mirror.

“I think I need to,” I whispered. “I don’t want our babies to be a rumor. They’re real. They’re ours.”


Later that evening – Red Carpet Event, Berlin

The carpet was chaos — blinding camera flashes, reporters yelling names, bright lights shining down as I stepped out in a sleek black velvet gown that hugged me gently in the right places and shimmered in the flash of the paparazzi. My hair was loose, waves falling over my shoulders. Tom stood beside me in all black, rings on his fingers and calm in his eyes.

Reporters shouted over each other.

“Isadora! Isadora! Are you pregnant?”
“Tom — any comment on the rumors?”
“Isadora, people have been speculating for weeks!”
“Isadora, can we ask about the photo at the clinic last week?”
“Are you expecting twins?”

Tom looked at me. I took a breath.

“Yes,” I said into the nearest mic. “I am pregnant. We’re expecting twins.”

The noise exploded around us — cameras flashing even faster, voices raised — but all I heard was Tom’s steady breath beside me and the slight smile he wore.

Reporters hurled more questions, but I only added:
“I’m proud. We’re proud. Our lives might be chaotic, but we’re grounded. And these babies… they’re not a secret. They’re a gift.”

And then I turned to Tom, who kissed the side of my head in full view of every camera.

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