The Night Before I Knew Him
There’s something about the way her eyes follow the butterfly, how her lips part slightly… it tugs at something buried deep in me.
I take a small step closer, almost without thinking. My fingers brush hers—just the lightest contact—and a jolt shoots through me. She flinches, tiny and fragile in my grasp, but she doesn’t pull away.
"Careful,” she murmurs, still focused on the butterfly. That soft sound, her breath catching.
My stomach knots; my hands itch to move, to hold, to anchor myself to her.
The butterfly flits again, closer to her face. She gasps, stepping forward—and suddenly, she loses her balance.