Everyone knows this phrase.

Something that seems too good to be true...

Usually is.

How sad reality is when it finally sinks in.

Two weeks later Amanda, Michael, Prince and Paris were in the spacious family room waiting for the special documentary that Michael had been raving about forever to start. He had told Amanda he had cameras follow him around all most of the previous year. He was always frustrated at how the public perceived him and although he resisted the idea at first, he knew that by letting people see how he lived his life, everyone would know, like Amanda knew, that he was a sweet, caring and normal guy. Michael told her a guy named Bashir was doing the documentary and that he was really good.

"This is going to be great," Michael chimed contentedly, kissing Amanda on the lips as they sat on the couch. Nanny Grace handed him a bowl of popcorn for he and Amanda to share and another for the kids to share on the floor in front of the couch.

"Shhh everyone, it's starting," Michael said with a huge smile on his face, putting his arm around Amanda.

Not even ten minutes into the documentary and everyone in the room had a stunned look on their face. Those ten minutes were the most painful ten minutes of Amanda's young life, to hear Bashir talk about Michael as if he were some monster, sleeping with children and making it look like he was a criminal. He started his attack right off the bat about this sweet man that she loved. Michael hastily took his arm from around Amanda and looked for the remote. He turned off the television.

"That jerk," Amanda exclaimed.

"Children, go on and play outside," Michael said as calmly as he could. He was shaking. Nanny Grace took the children by the hand and led them out of the room despite their protests. He stood up, his expression blank. He was lost in his thoughts. He just stood there, his eyes on the ground. He had stiffened, but was shaking because he was in such a severe shock.

Amanda stood up and put her arms around him. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry." She stood up next to him and put her arms around him. He wouldn't stop shaking, so she hugged him tighter.

He broke from her and sat himself back down on the couch, his expression unchanged. Amanda sat right back down next to him, not knowing what she could do to console him. Then he snapped out of his trance just as quickly as he entered into it.

"Oh my God, what just happened? Amanda, he said the interview was going to be good. He followed me around for months. For what? So he could twist my words around? Doesn't he realize I'm a person, with feelings, not just some 'thing' they can trash and smash around so they can get ratings?"

"Dirty bastard-," she said, omitting all the nasty words she was thinking of. She knew he didn't like foul language.

"What am I going to do?" He looked at Amanda desperately, searching her face for the answer he was looking for.

'Kill the son-of-a-bitch,' is what she wanted to say, but obviously that wasn't an option. "I don't know Michael. The truth always prevails. Wait it out. Your fans will always be with you. I'll always be with you," she said trying to be as compassionate as she could. He looked at her, with his big sad eyes, threw his head into her bosom and cried. Amanda wrapped her arms around him, blanketing him, and stroked his hair with her fingers, trying to calm him down. As much as she tried to be strong from him, tears flowed down her cheeks as well. It isn't easy seeing the one you love in pain and not being able to do anything about it. "Whatever happens, I'll be here. I love you, Michael."

It was midnight when he finally fell asleep. Amanda left him sleeping on the couch. She gave him a kiss on the forehead while she took some of his black curls from his face with her finger. She left his house and went to her apartment, to try to get some sleep to get up for school the next day. She had early classes and she figured she would go to school and check up on Michael afterward. He'd probably still be a mess.

Not surprisingly, she wasn't able to sleep that night, thinking of the terrible twisted words of that Bashir guy. 'How could there be someone that cruel,' she asked herself tossing and turning the rest of the night.

She could hardly concentrate in her communications class. When the professor asked her as simple question, she stuttered terribly.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Farris," Professor Childs asked her after class. "You're not yourself today."

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'll be okay." The second she got out of her class she got out her cell phone and texted Michael. 'Hey baby, I'm done with classes today and I thought I'd come over and keep you company. See you in a bit.'

She made the long trek from her class that was in the middle of campus to the far parking lot four blocks away. Amanda was surprised that by now Michael hadn't texted her back; he was always good at answering her quickly. She texted him again as she approached her car. 'Michael, baby, are you okay?' She got into her Kia and headed out of the parking lot and towards the 118 freeway and changed to the 5 south on her way to LA to Michael's mansion. 'Poor Michael, he must be devastated,' she thought as she sped up a bit. It had been twenty minutes since her last text and still no reply. At this point Amanda started to worry. She knew what this could do to him. She put on her headset and dialed Michael's number on the speed dial. It rang five times before it went to voice mail. Weird. She pushed a button on her cell and with a beep it hung up. She threw it onto the passenger seat in frustration. It bounced off of the seat and onto the floor.

She pulled up into the driveway at Michael's and punched in the gate code. She pulled into the driveway and saw Nanny Grace with Prince and Paris running around the fountain in the front yard, laughing happily. The veil of the innocence of their youth shielded them from what was going on around them. She slammed the car door shut and took the aviator sunglasses Michael gave her from her eyes and put them on top of her head. Nanny Grace looked surprised to see Amanda there.

"Hey Grace, where's Michael?"

"Oh hi, Amanda. He's not here."

"Oh? Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's still in shock, we're all worried about him." Nanny Grace fidgeted nervously.

"So where did he go?" Amanda repeated.

"Oh, where is he? Yeah, um, he's at some sort of meeting or something.

Amanda studied her. Something wasn't right. She shook her head. "Poor Michael. He shouldn't have to go through all of this. And he still has to show his face at these meetings. It just isn't fair."

"No it isn't." Paris and Prince ran up to Amanda and hugged her.

"Amanda! Are you going to make Daddy happy again?"

She put her hand on top of both of their soft heads. "I sure hope so." She knelt down to their level. "I've got to go. Smell you later," she said giving them both a kiss on the cheek.

She returned home, still not feeling quite comfortable not being able to get hold of Michael.. She sat down at her desk in front of her computer to write a paper, not able to concentrate on anything, thinking about Michael. She looked at her phone that was next to her on her desk, and picked it up to call him, but again it went to voice mail. "Michael, please call me when you get out of your meeting. I love you."

The next day was a Saturday, Amanda woke up early, still not able to rest completely. The first thing she did was call his cell. She figured he had gotten home late last night and was too tired to call. She dialed the number. 'The number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please try again.' 'Oh I must have dialed the wrong darn number,' she thought as she hung up and dialed again. But she got the same message. So she dialed his home phone. Same message.

She decided to head out to his mansion which wasn't too far away. When she pulled up to the house and punched in the gate code, the gate didn't open. She pushed the button to call inside the house somewhat irritated. "Hello," the voice answered.

"Yes, it's Amanda. Let me in. Where's Michael?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, he's not here at the moment," the voice said.

"What?" Amanda hit her steering wheel in frustration. "What the hell is going on?"

Michael woke up, and his eyes were still swollen from crying. He noticed Amanda was gone. He knew she would have to go to her classes in the morning and here he was, keeping her up with his problems. Maybe it was better that she did leave. She had her life to continue. He would just be getting in the way of what she had worked so hard for. This whole thing was so unfair to her. He didn't want to get her involved in the mess that was his life. He had even hoped to one day ask Amanda to marry him. But those hopes are now squished. Who was he kidding? He could imagine the crap the tabloids would say, especially after this scandal. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve a crazy loon like him. No, he would let her go. It would be the hardest thing he would ever have to do. But how was he going to do it? He didn't have the heart to lie to her. He soon drifted off to sleep on the couch, in the same spot that Amanda had left him some hours ago.

He woke up again around noon, crouched in the fetal position on the couch. He could have slept some more, but his cell phone rang in his jacket pocket and woke him up. Moving as little as he possibly could, he reached in the jacket and took out his phone. It was a message from Amanda. 'Hey baby, I'm done with classes today and I thought I'd come over and keep you company. See you in a bit.' His heart sank. God he loved this girl. But in his heart he knew that if he loved her, he'd have to let her go. It would kill him to one day have her be put through public ridicule just because she was associated with him.

He called his personal assistant Alex. "Hey Alex, I need you to change all of my phone numbers for me again, please," he paused to hear Alex's reply and said, "thank you."

He hung up the phone and quite unwillingly got off the couch to try to drag himself to his bedroom. He just felt like shutting himself off to the world for awhile. He made his way to the stairs when he stopped to look at his cell phone that had rung again. 'Michael, baby, are you okay?' His heart broke again. Was it possible for your heart to break three times in one day? He didn't know, but his heart hurt in his chest.

Nanny Grace was coming down the stairs as he tried to make is way up. "Grace, when Amanda comes, tell her I'm not home," he said as he passed her on the stairwell.

"What do I tell her?" she asked him, turning around.

Without stopping he said, "Anything." He made his way to his bedroom, locking the door behind him.

He looked out of his window somberly, watching Amanda bend down to talk to his children so sweetly, wearing the aviators that he had given her on her head. He had a tear in his eye when he watched her leave with a sad look on her face, too.

He took out his cell phone from his jacket again. "Hello Alex? I need you to get someone to change the code on my gate, too."