All Chapters of She Writes Her Own Heartbeat : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

POV: Maya The rain was the kind that felt personal. Sharp. Cold. Like it was mocking me. My boots were thoroughly soaked as I ran in the rain holding the last cardboard box of my things. I’d just been evicted. The landlord gave me a full three days’ notice - how generous. Turns out that when you owe rent for two months, sweet smiles and apologies won’t stop a disgruntled landlord. I stopped under the only source of light, as I was practically freezing in the rain. I dropped my box down to shake out my wet jacket. One of the handles had broken off during the walk from the café, and the soggy contents - half-used notebooks, a chipped mug, a few worn-out paperbacks - were beginning to tear out like my self-esteem. Great. Brilliant. Just perfect. I looked up at the sky hoping God would offer me a break. Just a small one. That’s when I saw him. At first, I thought it was a pile of clothes dumped at the side of the road. But then the shape moved - or twitched, more like - an

POV: MayaThe rain kept us in for almost three days, it felt while the world was ending. Either way, my world had shrunk down to the walls of my tiny flat - and the man who occupied it like he’d always belonged.“Noah,” as I continued to call him, was adjusting to the small routines of life with surprising ease. He didn’t complain about the scratchy towels or the temperamental kettle or the fact that we didn’t have proper heating and relied on a space heater I’d bought second-hand off Facebook Marketplace.If anything, he seemed... grateful.And given the fact that it was all a lie made my tummy ache.“Do you want sugar in your tea?” I asked that morning. I was barefooted and the floor felt cold from the weather.He looked up from the floor, where he sat reading one of the few books I had.“I’m not sure,” he said. “Let’s try it both ways. Maybe one of them will feel... right.”“His voice had this low, calm quality. Like even without his memories, he wasn’t easily shaken. Everything he

POV: MayaI woke up to find his side empty, for a second, I thought he'd left. My hand stretched out to the space beside me, still warm, but empty. My heart kicked - too fast, too hard.Then I heard it.The creak of floorboards. The soft pad of bare feet.I sat up slowly, eyes adjusting to the early morning sun. Noah was standing by the window, shirtless with his arms folded, as he stared out in thought.He didn’t turn when I spoke. “Couldn’t sleep?”A pause. Then: “I did. Then I woke up.”I stood up and walked to him, wrapping the throw blanket from the end of the bed around my shoulders. I didn’t ask if he was alright. He wasn’t. That much was obvious.His knuckles were white around his arms. His jaw clenched tight. And there was something haunted in his eyes - a shadow I hadn’t seen before.“I was in a car,” he said suddenly, voice hollow. “Rain was hammering down. I was on the phone. I think... arguing. Or desperate. And then everything went black.”My breath caught.I hadn’t aske