Theme song:"You found me by The Fray"
"Some days, loving him feels like holding sunlight with bare hands."
— Mira
---
I didn't sleep that night.
Not because I didn't want to—because I couldn't.
Every time I closed my eyes, I was back in that field.
His breath on my skin.
The weight of the stars.
The way he kissed me like he thought he wasn't allowed to.
At 6:12 AM, I gave up pretending.
I put on my apron and walked to the café. It was still dark, but the city was already moving.
The early regulars came in. I smiled, I poured, I nodded. But I wasn't really there.
And then... Elian walked in.
Same grey coat.
Same tired eyes.
But this time, something was different.
He looked at me like he had memorized the shape of my silence.
"Did you sleep?" I asked, handing him his usual.
"No," he said, quietly. "I couldn't stop thinking."
"About?"
He didn't answer right away. Then he looked down at his cup and whispered, "You."
Time slowed.
I leaned on the counter, heart racing in that dumb way hearts do when they're about to get hurt. "And what did you think about me?"
"That you make it hard to stay in the dark," he said.
"That I might not have much time left, but I want to spend it where it feels like the world stops falling apart."
I forgot how to breathe.
We were silent for a while, the noise of the café buzzing behind us like background static.
And then he asked it.
The thing that changed everything.
"Would you come with me today? Somewhere quiet?"
I nodded before I knew what he meant.
---
We drove out to the edge of the city.
A quiet, glassy lake nestled behind trees that looked like they were holding secrets.
There, in the early morning light, Elian took off his coat and sat on a rock near the edge.
"I come here when I need to feel real," he said. "Hospitals smell like endings. But this? This smells like living."
I sat beside him. Our hands brushed.
"I don't know how to do this," he admitted. "Any of it. I don't know how to be sick and want something at the same time."
"You don't have to know," I whispered. "You just have to be here."
We didn't talk for a while. We just watched the water, both of us pretending like it wasn't terrifying to fall for someone who was slipping further from time.
But in that quiet, I saw him smile. Just a little.
And that was enough.