LOGINWho do you think is Clarise? ;)
A week passed quietly, like the world had decided to give me a break.Days began with coffee and ended with pages. Revisions, notes, manuscripts. I was still working remotely as Joaquin’s editor, and though our exchanges stayed mostly professional, the tone between us had softened.He wasn’t the man who barked orders nonchalantly over the phone anymore. Sometimes, he even asked how I was sleeping. We even made small talk every now and then.Jessy teased me about it, of course. “Boss checking in on your bedtime? That’s suspicious,” she’d say, waving her fork at me.But I didn’t read too much into it. Maybe it was his way of keeping the peace. Maybe it was mine, too.Javier hadn’t called. Not once. And I hadn’t tried to reach him either. His number sat folded in the drawer, the paper worn from where my thumb brushed it whenever I opened it to take a pen.Some part of me wanted to call, just to hear his voice. The rest of me knew better.***It was Friday night when the three of us, Jessy
By the time night came, home was quiet again.Jessy had fallen asleep early, curled up on the couch with her laptop still open beside her. The faint blue glow from the screen painted the room in a kind of melancholy calm.I sat at my desk, the same one where I’d written every chapter of my book, the same one Javier had teased me about being “too small for dreams that big.”The cinnamon rolls he brought earlier were still on the counter. I hadn’t touched them.My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time before I finally gave up and reached for pen and paper instead. I wasn’t planning to write another story tonight. I was just… trying to understand the one I was still living.***Dear Javier,You always said I used to write to make sense of things. Maybe that’s still true. You came today, and for the first time in a long while, you didn’t feel like a storm. You were calm, quieter, almost… at peace. It scared me more than your chaos ever did.I should’ve told you I was proud, too
The morning after the theme park felt softer than I expected.The rain had left everything washed clean, The windows streaked, the streets outside silver and quiet. Jessy had already gone out to run errands, leaving a note on the counter.“Breakfast’s in the fridge. Don’t overthink.”I smiled faintly at that, then poured myself coffee and sat by the window. The silence felt heavier than usual, filled with thoughts I hadn’t sorted through yet.Joaquin’s words from last night lingered like echoes.“I want to make it real.”They sat somewhere between comfort and confusion, and I didn’t know which one was winning.I was halfway through my second sip of coffee when the doorbell rang.I frowned. Jessy wasn’t supposed to be back yet. When I opened the door, my breath caught.“Hey,” Javier said quietly.He stood there with one hand in his pocket, the other holding a paper bag that smelled faintly of pastries. His usual sharpness was gone—no smirk, no teasing grin. Just tired eyes and a kind of
The park gates closed softly behind us, and for the first time in a long while, the night didn’t feel heavy. It felt like a deep breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.Joaquin walked beside me, hands in his pockets, head tilted toward the quiet sky. The faint sound of the city hummed in the distance. Traffic, laughter, life still moving beyond the fences of our little memory.“You know,” I said after a while, “I didn’t think you’d actually go through with renting the entire park.”He smiled faintly. “You always said you wanted to feel like the world stopped for a night.”“I was dramatic,” I said, nudging his shoulder.“You still are.”“Touché.”We both laughed softly, the sound blending with the breeze. For a few blissful moments, there was no tension, just two people walking home, pretending the past didn’t exist.Then, as the laughter faded, his voice turned quieter. “Do you ever think about what could’ve happened if we hadn’t fallen apart?”I hesitated. “Sometimes. But then I rem
His fingers were steady as they folded around mine—warm, familiar, and impossibly careful. The carousel’s tune played softly in the background, a lullaby of old laughter and forgotten promises.We stepped closer to the platform. The lights spun lazily, painting Joaquin’s face in gold and rose as he helped me up the small step. The moment felt weightless, like stepping back into something we’d lost but hadn’t yet buried.The wooden horses glistened under the lights, their chipped paint somehow charming instead of broken. I climbed onto one, laughing quietly. “This feels ridiculous.”“Everything worth remembering usually does,” he said, settling onto the horse beside me.The carousel began to move. Slow at first, then steady, the air brushing against us with each turn.For a few moments, we just watched the lights blur together. It was almost peaceful, like being trapped inside a dream we both knew would end too soon.“I still remember the last time we were here,” I said. “You were try
“I’ll stay here and guard the house like a loyal sidekick,” Jessy announced, hands on her hips.“You don’t have to,” I said, trying not to smile as I searched through my closet.“Oh, please. You think I’m letting my best friend go on a sudden date with her ex-almost-fiancé without backup?” She grinned, leaning against the doorframe. “Besides, I want to make sure you don’t chicken out halfway through.”I groaned softly. “It’s not a date. He just said it’s dinner to celebrate the book.”Jessy raised an eyebrow. “Sure. A man shows up looking like he walked out of a magazine, holding your hand and kissing your knuckles, and you’re calling it not a date?”I shot her a look over my shoulder. “You sound like Ethan.”“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said with a laugh. Then, gentler: “Relax, Haven. You’ve both had space. Maybe tonight’s not about fixing things. It’s about seeing if the air between you still breathes.”Her words lingered as I pulled out a simple navy dress. “He said it’s a







