‘Hello, Karen here.’ ‘Hi Karen, it’s Ronan here. Can I speak to Shane please?’ Ronan’s voice sounded more unfriendly than usual. ‘Sure Ro. Is everything okay?’ ‘Just let me speak to Shane please.’ ‘Shane, it’s for you. Ronan.’ ‘I wonder what he wants.’ ‘I dunno, but he doesn’t sound very happy.’

‘Hi Ro, it’s Shane.’ ‘Shane, I’ve got some bad news. The Sun has got some photos of you and Karen together and they’re printing them tomorrow.’ Shane sat down. Hard. They knew this was going to come sometime, but they just weren’t expecting it now. ‘When you say ‘together’, how together do you mean?’ It could just be them shopping together. That would be fine, the cliched ‘just good friends’ would cope with that one.

‘Kissing over a table in a restaurant, holding hands walking down the street. It’s unquestionable Shane, we can’t laugh it off as anything else.’ ‘Shit. We can’t put them off?’ ‘No way. They’ve already sent it to the printers. They only called me to give us some warning.’ ‘That’s kind of them!’

‘Look, I’ve got to go. I just thought you should know. You’re off tomorrow aren’t you? Why don’t you set up an interview with a paper to set the story straight? I have no idea how this is going to go, but you have to be prepared Shane. Give me a call tomorrow and let me know what’s going on, yeah?’ ‘Yeah, of course. Jesus, I don’t believe this is happening.’ ‘Just try and get a good night’s sleep, and deal with tomorrow when it comes.’ ‘Mmm. Thanks Ro. G’night.’ ‘Bye Shane.’

‘What’s wrong Shane? What’s happened?’ Karen’s voice was full of concern. ‘Kar, they’ve got snaps of us. Together.’ ‘Who have? Where? Are they using them?’ ‘The Sun. When we went out the other day, to that restaurant. And they’re coming out tomorrow. The story’s probably already broken.’

‘Shane, what are you gonna do? We haven’t even told Ro and the rest of the guys yet? Are there photos of my ring?’ ‘I don’t think so. Ro would have mentioned it if there were, I’m sure. Bloody hell, why is this happening now?’ Shane was close to tears by this stage. ‘Don’t worry baby. Things will be okay.’

‘How the hell do you know?’ His voice rose - he was close to breaking point. ‘This won’t threaten your career!! I could lose everything because of this!’ ‘So I’m not part of your everything anymore??? When you proposed you told me I was your everything! Now you’re throwing this back at me? Maybe I’m not as important to you as I thought!!!! I’ll come back tomorrow and get my stuff.’

Karen grabbed her coat which was hanging on the banister, and ran from the door, her sobs echoing all the way back through the flat. Shane’s tears started rolling down his cheeks, but he made no noise. Instead, he closed the door behind her, and switched off the lights. At least now, when the press called him in morning, he could tell them honestly that there was as single as he could be, and that the girl in pictures didn’t mean anything to him. But she did. She meant more to him than his life, and now she was gone.