The Last Chapter Is You

Episode 1: The Boy Who Never Smiled

Part 1 · A Stranger in the Rain

“Do you believe in forever?”

That was the first question the stranger asked me while we stood beneath the narrow roof of a coffee shop, watching the rain pour onto the streets.

I turned to look at him.

He was tall, dressed in a black shirt, and wore a silver watch that caught the light whenever he moved his wrist. His dark hair was slightly messy, and his expression was unreadable. He looked like someone who had everything he could possibly want in life.

Yet, somehow, his eyes told a different story.

“Depends,” I answered.

“On what?”

“On the person you're asking.”

He looked at me for a moment, as though he were trying to decide whether my answer was worth believing.

“What if you love someone with everything you have,” he asked quietly, “but the two of you were never meant to be together?”

I blinked.

That was an unusually depressing question for a rainy Tuesday morning.

I had expected him to ask for the time, directions, or perhaps whether the coffee shop was still open. I certainly hadn't expected a philosophical discussion about love with a complete stranger.

“Then maybe it's not the end of their story yet,” I replied.

He looked away.

For a moment, I thought I had said something wrong.

Then he let out a quiet, humorless laugh.

“You really believe that?”

“I do.”

“Even when everything falls apart?”

I hugged my jacket closer to my body.

“Especially then. What's the point of writing a story if you give up before you reach the ending?”

He studied me with an expression I couldn't quite understand.

“And what if the ending isn't happy?”

I smiled.

“Then I'll rewrite it.”

For the first time, something changed in his eyes.

It wasn't happiness. It wasn't sadness, either.

It was something in between.

Something that made me wonder what kind of story he had been living before our paths crossed.

“What's your name?” he asked.

“Lianne Santos.”

He repeated my name under his breath, almost as if he wanted to remember it.

“Adrian Reyes.”

“Nice to meet you, Adrian.”

He nodded.

We stood in silence for a few seconds, listening to the rain.

Then a black car stopped in front of us.

Adrian glanced at it before looking back at me.

“Take care of yourself, Lianne.”

“You too.”

He walked toward the car, but just before opening the door, he turned around.

“By the way, writer?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“How did you know I'm a writer?”

He pointed at the notebook tucked beneath my arm.

“Oh.”

A small smile appeared on his face.

“Don't rewrite everything just because you don't like how it ends.”

Before I could respond, he got into the car.

I watched it disappear into the rain, wondering why a complete stranger had suddenly made me think about things I had never questioned before.

Then my phone rang.

“LIANNE! WHERE ARE YOU?”

I winced.

Mika.

My best friend, personal alarm clock, and the only person capable of shouting through a phone loud enough to make my ears ring.

“I'm outside the coffee shop!”

“YOUR CLASS STARTS IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!”

“I KNOW!”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL THERE?”

I glanced at the empty street.

“Because I just met the weirdest guy in the world.”

There was a pause.

Then Mika screamed.

“WHAT GUY?”

I laughed and ran toward the university.

I didn't know his favorite color.

I didn't know what made him smile.

I didn't know why he looked like he had been carrying a thousand unspoken words inside his chest.

All I knew was his name.

Adrian Reyes.

And somehow, I had a feeling that I hadn't seen the last of him.

I was right.

Because the following morning, when I walked into my classroom and searched for an empty seat, I saw him sitting beside the window.

The same black hair.

The same silver watch.

The same unreadable expression.

He looked up as I entered.

Then he smiled.

“Good morning, writer.”

My notebook slipped from my hands.

Oh, no.

Of all the people in the world, why him?

And why, of all the seats in the classroom, was the only empty one beside him?

Adrian leaned back in his chair, looking far too pleased with my reaction.

“Are you going to stand there all day?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Are you following me?”

“Would you like me to?”

“Absolutely not.”

“That's unfortunate.”

He returned his attention to the book on his desk, as if he hadn't just managed to ruin my entire morning in less than thirty seconds.

I sat beside him, determined to ignore his existence.

That determination lasted approximately twelve seconds.

“Why are you here?” I whispered.

He turned a page.

“Because I study here.”

“You could have mentioned that yesterday.”

“You didn't ask.”

I stared at him.

He stared back.

And then, to my absolute horror, I laughed.

It was a small laugh, but it was enough to make him look at me differently.

As if he had been waiting for that sound without even knowing it.

Neither of us spoke again before the professor entered the room.

But when I opened my notebook, I noticed a small piece of paper tucked between its pages.

I frowned and unfolded it.

There was only one sentence written on it.

Some people enter your life because fate has a plan. Others enter because fate is about to take something away.

I turned toward Adrian.

He was looking out the window.

For the first time, I wondered whether the boy who never smiled was afraid of something.

And whether, someday, I would become the reason he finally did.

End of Episode 1