LOGINHe’d just dropped the line, the cruelest tease in existence, and was already moving toward the door.
The next time I touch you, there will be no stopping. I should’ve let him leave. Let him vanish into the night again and spare myself the ache. But something reckless took root in me, hot and sharp, burning away the fear that usually knotted in my chest. “Wow,” I said, voice louder than I meant. “So you kiss me like that and just… walk away? That’sI walked into the store, the smell of roasted coffee beans and pastries hitting me like a memory I didn’t want. I should’ve felt comforted, but today, it only reminded me of the calm I no longer deserved or maybe never did. Claire appeared almost instantly, her usual bright energy a jarring contrast to the storm in me. “You know that handsome dude?” she asked, grin wide, eyes sparkling with mischief. I clenched my jaw. “Please, Claire, I just want to be left alone.” “Nice try, baby. But you know I go nowhere,” she replied, hands on her hips, like a general observing a battlefield she knew better than I did. I groaned. “A customer might be in there for you to attend to.” “For me to attend to? Nanya, I’m the manager, remember? The earlier you start speaking, the better for both of us,” she said, voice teasing but firm, like she could see every thought spinning in my head. I had nothing left to argue with. My voice felt hollow, stolen long ago by nights of heartbreak and bitter re
When I walked into the café that morning, I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel. Not relieved. Not excited. Not guilty. Just… suspended. Because how do you cope with suddenly being new money? Not the flashy, "champagne on a Tuesday" kind. Not the kind that changes your clothes or your accent overnight. But the quiet kind. The kind that sits in the back of your mind and reminds you softly, persistently that survival is no longer your only option. The kind that tells you you don’t have to stand here anymore. But I still showed up for work. I had to. I did. The bell above the door chimed as I stepped inside, and the familiar scent of coffee wrapped around me like a habit I hadn’t learned how to break. Everything looked the same, the counter with its chipped edges, the stools that wobbled if you leaned too hard, the scuffed tiles I could navigate with my eyes closed. And yet, something inside me felt different. Calmer. Not happy. Not free. Just… steady. Like the constant
Just then, I saw him.He stood across the street, half in shadow, half under the streetlight—like the world itself hadn’t decided whether he belonged to it or not. Damian always did that. Appeared quietly. Never announced himself. Never rushed. As if he knew exactly when I was about to break and stepped in before the cracks went all the way through.I didn’t think.I didn’t check if he was real.I just ran.The pavement blurred beneath my feet as I crossed the street, my chest tight, lungs burning. I slammed straight into him, my arms wrapping around his torso like muscle memory had taken over where my mind failed.He caught me instantly.No stumble. No surprise. Just solid, warm arms closing around me, one hand firm at my back, the other pressing my head against his chest like he was shielding me from something unseen.I breathed him in.Storm. Heat. Something metallic and clean beneath it all.I hadn’t realized how badly I was shaking until his hand slid up and down my back, slow an
She didn’t wait for my answer. She turned and started walking toward her car like the conversation was already settled. The implication was clear: get in, or we’re doing this right here. I followed, mostly because arguing with her in public had never ended well for me. The car smelled like peppermint and old receipts. Familiar. Claustrophobic. She got in, slammed the door, then sat there for a moment without starting the engine. Silence. Not the comfortable kind. The tactical kind. I stared out the window. “You know, most parents ask how their kid’s doing before interrogating them like a suspect.” She started the car. “Most kids don’t look like they’re dissociating in plain daylight.” I scoffed. “Wow. Straight to the psych terms.” “I didn’t raise you to be stupid,” she said, pulling into traffic. “And I didn’t raise you to lie badly.” My jaw tightened. “I’m not lying.” “No,” she agreed coolly. “You’re editing.” That hit harder than it should have. We drove for
I swear I smelled something like lightning. The thought followed me all morning. Not as panic. Not even as fear. Just… persistence. Like a word stuck on the tip of my tongue. Like a memory that refused to take shape. I worked. I smiled when customers smiled. I apologized when they frowned. My hands moved the way they always had, familiar with heat and steam and porcelain. From the outside, nothing about me had changed. That might’ve been the worst part. Because inside, something felt misaligned. As if my thoughts were arriving half a second too late. As if I was watching myself from a seat slightly behind my own eyes. At one point, I caught my reflection in the metal side of the espresso machine. I didn’t recognize her immediately. She looked… intact, Put together, Normal, But there was a distance in her gaze, a quiet alertness that hadn’t been there before. Like she was bracing for something she couldn’t name. I blinked. The feeling didn’t go away. “Order up,”
As I walked into work that morning, something felt… off. Not in the “the-gods-are-after-me-again” way, but in a quieter, more unsettling way. Like my spirit was three steps behind my body. I blinked at the clock and I was early. Me. Early. For work. wow.Even worse?Claire was already there.She looked up from the register, one eyebrow raised. “I didn’t know you’d be here this early.”I dropped my bag behind the counter, rubbing my palms together for warmth. “This is early for you… this is normal work time for me, pretty.”She gave me that look, that Claire look that said she saw ten layers deeper than anyone should be able to see. “Okay… I said I wasn’t going to ask this, but tell me what’s been going on with you, Nanya. You’ve been so out of everything.”“You won’t believe me even if I tell you,” I said, and for once it wasn’t sarcasm. It was the truth. The honest, ridiculous truth.“You can’t tell until you try me,” she said confidently.I gave her my look, the one that usually sca
The restaurant was warm with the low murmur of voices, silverware clinking against plates, and the faint scent of garlic and bread wafting from the kitchen. Soft jazz hummed from hidden speakers, trying its best to set a cozy mood. For Ethan, it was probably just another pleasant night out. For me,
I stared at the clock above the counter, the hands ticking far too slowly toward closing time. Every second stretched like it knew what was waiting for me tonight. My shift was almost over, and with each passing minute, my chest tightened.Ethan was still sitting at one of the corner tables, scroll
The fluorescent lights above the café hummed faintly, too bright for how heavy my head felt. I blinked at the espresso machine as if it were a puzzle I’d never seen before, trying to shake the haze left over from last night. Damian’s words still clung to me, heavy as chains, intoxicating as poison:
The words slipped past my lips before I could stop them, reckless and raw. They hung in the air like a spark poised to ignite.Damian’s eyes darkened instantly, the storm in them roaring to life. His grip on me tightened, his jaw flexing as though he was fighting every instinct to consume me whole.







