Joe. Polished suit. Clean shave. Smile sharp enough to cut glass. Standing behind a podium like he’d earned the right to be there. Flashbulbs went off. Reporters buzzed. Microphones reached out like hungry mouths, waiting to feed on whatever filth he was about to serve. And then… It began. H
LUCIAN I kept my hand on the gear as I pulled the car into the driveway, stealing a glance at Essence every few seconds. She looked calm and soft. Like the woman I remembered—the woman I had lost and found again. When the engine went silent, I stepped out and circled to her side, opening the doo
She looked at me, her expression soft, hopeful. “Yes. Please. More than anything, I want to remember… especially if it was beautiful, like you say.” “It was,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “It was everything.” She smiled and said she was going to get ready, and that we’d have breakfas
LUCIAN The knock came softly...barely a tap. I wasn’t expecting anyone, especially not this early. Still, I walked to the door, hoping it wasn’t anything urgent. The moment I opened it, my heart softened. There they were. Asher and Danny. Bathed, dressed, beaming like sunrise in boy form. Thei
LUCIAN I came in through the back door like a thief in my own home. Not because I was hiding anything from Essence—at least not in the way it might seem. But because I wasn’t ready to explain where I had gone. The way things are with her now, every truth feels like a blade I must hand over with
And that look? It was doing something to me. Something dangerous. Something that made me want to lean in and let every piece of myself remember him, not through memory, but through touch… through feeling. But he didn’t make another move. Was this it? Was I reading it wrong? I mean, I wasn’