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“That the moon had finally found me.”

That the moon had finally found me.

I might actually cry.

“I never forgot you,” I whisper. “The night I met you, I found skating.”

“And the night I met you, Artemis, I found a reason to stay,” he whispers.

I smile through my tears.

“Do you believe in fate, Stephen?”

He lets out a quiet laugh.

“I used to think it was a stupid concept.”

“And now?”

He places a hand over my chest, and my entire body reacts to the warmth of his touch.

“Now I know fate has always been you.”

My breath catches.

“Stephen…”

I reach for his face, but he gently catches my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles.

“I love you, baby. Fuck, I’m so in love with you.”

Love.

An atrocious concept to me before Stephen.

But he loves me.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

I look into the happy eyes of the man who has claimed a permanent place in my heart and think about all those years, all those places, all those roads that somehow led us here.

A snowstorm.

A lonely boy.

A cold little girl.

And a thousand impossible coincidences.

“My cynical heart…” he murmurs, his lips only inches from mine, “…recognized you before my mind ever could.”

My heart is about to explode inside my chest.

He loves us, heart.