ANMELDENEnoch booked the private box at the theatre himself. The dark-haired, brooding, actor, fresh off a Netflix lead, was already waiting when Anna arrived in the silver slip dress Enoch had laid out for her.The play was good. The actor was better. During intermission he leaned close and whispered lines from the script against her ear. When the show ended he walked her out into the cold London night and kissed her slowly. He was skilled but Anna felt… nothing.She came home at midnight to find Enoch in the kitchen, shirt unbuttoned at the collar, pouring tea like he hadn’t been waiting for her.Anna kicked off her heels, the silver dress whispering against her thighs as she crossed the room. She walked straight to him, took the mug from his hand, and set it down on the marble with a soft click.“My date kissed me,” she said, voice husky from the wine and the night air. “Properly this time.”She stared at him with one raised brow, daring him.She stared at him with a raised brow as if ask
ANNAThe restaurant Enoch chose was all low lighting and black marble. He was beautiful. Candlelight flickered across the table where the six-foot-three Ghanaian model smiled at her like she was a prize.Kwame leaned forward, his deep voice warm and easy as he refilled her glass. “So tell me, Anna, what do you do when you are not stealing men’s breath away?”Anna laughed softly and took a sip of the rich red wine. “I work in marketing. Mostly campaigns for fashion brands, ironically enough. I spend my days convincing people that a scarf or a pair of shoes will change their whole life.”He chuckled and said. “I know that world too well. Last month in Milan I shot for three days straight in the rain. The creative director kept yelling that the wet look was intentional. I was just trying not to freeze.”She tilted her head, genuinely curious for a moment. “Was it worth it? All the freezing and the yelling?”“Worth it the second I saw the final images,” he said, pulling out his phone and
ANNA The dream had already gone too far before her mother’s voice slipped into it. In the dream she was on the stairs, feeling the warm press of Enoch’s body and the slow, deliberate drag of his mouth down the side of her throat. His hand was under the hem of the dress she’d worn to dinner, fingers sliding up the inside of her thigh. She felt the wood of the step against her spine, the weight of him between her legs, the low sound he made when she arched into him. “Anna,” he whispered against her ear, voice rough, “let me in.” She said yes and he pushed inside her in one smooth stroke and she woke up gasping, her thighs clenched and heart hammering so hard she could feel it in her teeth. For a long moment she lay perfectly still, staring at the ceiling of her childhood bedroom. The new floral curtains moved faintly in the draught from the window. Her skin was damp. Between her legs she was slick and aching and furious with herself. She pressed both palms flat to the mattres
ENOCHThe trouble started with wine. That was the easiest lie to explain why everything had almost shattered in one reckless evening.Anna’s mother had always treated an empty plate like a personal failure. The table groaned under mountains of food long before they sat down, and every time a dish was cleared, another appeared as if by magic.Anna slipped back into the family dynamic as though she had never been gone.Enoch sat across from her and watched as Annabelle laughed with her head thrown back, dark hair spilling over one shoulder like ink. Her eyes sparkled with unguarded mischief, and every time she spoke, her hands moved expressively, painting the air.Being so close to her felt like standing too close to an open flame.“Enoch, you’re too quiet over there,” her father said, waving his fork like a conductor’s baton. “London has turned you into a statue.”“I was never very loud to begin with,” Enoch answered with an even voice.Anna snorted into her third glass of wine, and En
EnochThe Tesla Enoch chose to drive today hummed silently along the motorway except for the low sound of K-pop music spilling from the speakers.Anna had connected her phone the moment they left the garage, queuing her favorite playlist without asking. Enoch hadn’t objected. He simply adjusted the volume once, then let her take over.She sat curled in the passenger seat now, her bare feet tucked beneath her, in a green dress that was riding just high enough to show the smooth curve of her thigh. The exact shade he had picked for her because it reminded him of the dress she had worn at her nineteenth birthday.The wind from the open window played with her hair. Every so often she swayed gently to the beat with her shoulders rolling and her fingers tapping the rhythm against her knee, enough to make her dress shift even higher.Enoch kept his eyes on the road, as much as he could control himself.She reached into the small bag at her feet and pulled out a packet of crisps. Opened it an
ENOCHEnoch stood by the bed too long.Anna was already asleep again judging by her slow breathing, dark hair spread across the pillow like silk. He watched her chest rise and fall. Felt a dangerous twist in his gut.Dearest.The word she'd murmured against his shoulder still burned. For one moment in the dark hallway, he'd almost believed she knew who held her. That she wanted him to.He left before he did something unforgivable.The shower ran ice cold.Six years. That's how long he'd tried not to want her. Since her nineteenth birthday. She had been in a yellow dress that caught his attention like fire. Since he'd walked into his aunt's house, hed known that he was in serious trouble.She'd been laughing with her head tilted back. He'd stopped walking mid stride. Twenty-four years old and suddenly capable of nothing but staring at his cousin.He'd spent the years pretending it wasn't real. Sent birthday gifts. Avoided family gatherings. Built a company and told himself that was en
ANNAEnoch left twenty minutes later. Anna spent the next hour doing nothing.She made more coffee. Stared out the window. Sat on the couch and scrolled her phone without reading anything.Then she wandered around like she was in a museum, touching his things while she imagined she was touching him
ANNAThe first thought that surfaced through the fog of sleep was that she was lying on something so soft and so expensive that it felt illegal to exist here without a signed contract and a credit check.She stretched both arms out, then rolled over and screamed into the pillow. Not a dignified twe
ANNACheck-in was quick. Security was slower but manageable. By the time she reached her gate, she had forty minutes until board. She found a seat near the window and sat and watched planes take off and land and told herself she still wasn't scanning the crowd.She pulled out her phone and opened h







