26
3%]
It felt like life had finally settled into a peaceful rhythm.
Neither of us mentioned certain things anymore.
In the mornings, I’d wake up in his arms. We’d brush our teeth together, our reflections
side by side in the mirror.
We went to work separately.
Sometimes, he’d bring me a bouquet of fresh white roses when he picked me up. times, I’d bring him food I’d cooked, asking him to try my latest recipe.
He called it “repaying kindness with cruelty.”
Other
23:40 Mon, Apr 7 D.
That summer, the rainy season came with relentless downpours, forcing us to cancel our
travel plans.
I didn’t know who I was angrier at–the weather or Liam–so I sulked, taking it out on him.
He just held me close, whispering for me to sleep.
And I did. I fell asleep in his arms.
When I woke up, the rain was still tapping softly against the window.
The setting sun cast streaks of light through the raindrops, and the neon signs along the
street flickered to life one by one.
Liam hadn’t moved. He was still holding me.
“Still mad?” he asked, his hoarse voice breaking the quiet.
He brushed my bangs aside, his fingers warm against my skin.
I tilted my head up and kissed him.
“Idiot.”
One evening, I got home early.
It was Liam’s birthday, and I wanted to surprise him.
Quietly, I snuck into his study.
It wasn’t much of a study, really–just a small room piled with books and papers. It was
where I used to study for exams, and now it served as Liam’s workspace.
I had a gift for him and was planning to hide it in one of the drawers.
When I opened a drawer, my eyes fell on a stack of blank white papers tucked into the
corner.
23.40 Mon, Apr 7
At first glance, they seemed ordinary.
But as I looked closer, I noticed faint indentations, as if someone had written on the top
sheet and left marks on the ones below.
My gaze shifted to a pencil lying nearby.
– Almost instinctively, I picked it up and began shading over the indentations.
Slowly, words started to emerge.
“9.17 Demolition.”
It was the date our old family house was scheduled to be torn down.
My chest tightened, a cold dread settling over me.
No one knew what secrets that house held.
In
my
last life, I hadn’t even lived to see the day it was demolished.
But now, with that date looming closer, it felt like a noose tightening around my neck.
“Lila?”
Liam’s calm voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I turned to see him leaning against the doorframe, his expression unreadable as he raised an eyebrow at me.
“What are you doing?”
Without thinking, I crumpled the marked paper in my hand, hiding it from view.
Liam’s eyes flicked to the paper in
my
fist.
“What’s that? Let me see.”
I tossed the paper into the trash can and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around
his neck
23:40 Mon, Apr 7
He bent down slightly to meet my gaze.
His eyes were so clear, so full of trust, like the purest glass.
How could I ever bear to shatter them?
Rising onto my tiptoes, I pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.
He let me do as I pleased, even steadying me with a hand on my waist.
“Happy birthday, Liam,” I whispered, handing him the gift I’d prepared–a photo album filled with pictures of us.
We carefully placed it on the shelf next to the fridge.
“Only two pictures,” he said with a wry smile.
“We’ll fill it up,” I replied, picking up a Polaroid camera.
Standing next to him, with the glow of the birthday candles behind us, I tilted my head toward him.
“Smile,” I said.
He smiled, just a little.
It was Liam’s 26th birthday.
That day, I was still by his side.
And every day I’d spent with him before that had been filled with the same quiet longing.
But 9.17 loomed like a curse, slowly devouring what little time we had left of this
summer.
