I wanted to demand answers.
But instead, I stayed silent—because I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
When the car finally slowed, I blinked at the building outside.
A bookstore.
What?
Not just any bookstore—this place looked like it had fallen out of a fairy tale.
The sign above the door read The Book Nook, and soft golden lights wrapped around the entrance like stardust tangled in tree branches. A café on one side. An art gallery on the other. And in the middle—this.
He parked and stepped out without a word, rounding the car before I could find my voice.
My door opened. He stood there, still as ever, eyes unreadable.
“Come on,” he said. Smooth. Quiet. Laced with something I couldn’t name.
I hesitated.
Because it felt like a trap.
Because this wasn’t him.
But curiosity was louder than fear. And just for a moment, I forgot how angry I was.
I stepped out and followed him.
The moment I crossed the threshold, warmth wrapped around me like an embrace I didn’t ask for—but maybe needed.
The air smelled like coffee and fresh paper and something soft and sweet—like cinnamon and honey and childhood dreams. Books towered in every direction. Shelves stretched to the ceiling. Cozy nooks and armchairs invited readers to get lost. Lamps cast a golden glow over worn rugs and tucked-away corners.
It felt… alive.
My heart fluttered—genuinely fluttered—as I wandered deeper inside.
I paused near a velvet armchair beside the romance section, where the shelves gleamed with heart-shaped bookmarks and handwritten staff picks. The titles sparkled like spells. Everything here whispered you’re safe now.
Behind me, I felt his presence like gravity.
I turned.
He leaned against a shelf, arms crossed, watching me with that maddening calm that hid everything and revealed nothing.
“You did this?” I asked, my voice quieter than I expected.
He shrugged. Just barely. Like it was nothing.
But it wasn’t.
Not to me.
There was no game here. No power play. Just… this. A moment pulled out of time.
And it hit me all at once—he had remembered.
Somewhere in the chaos of us, he’d seen me. And he’d chosen this.
