pte

f his life understandin

knew how to repair broken hinges and faulty wiring before he ever learned how to

ella walk

nothing felt s

e had seen enough to understand the distance between them. The car that occasionally waited at the

e who had never neede

him on that old wooden bench,

t him as if

at unsettle

or repairs, women who spoke to him without learning his na

bella s

worn s

ughness of

ence in their

She remembered details. She

xposed in ways he

d their conversations in his mind. Every laugh. Every shift in her expression.

urrounded by everyt

ll people, become th

rustration and wonder tang

ight to fee

t to wa

omething inside him expanded - some

o

he arrived at the pa

a coincidence. That he

knew th

s wai

he path, sunlight catching in her hair, his br

d when sh

lone made the wa

significant at first. The weather. A book she had recentl

ary conversation, som

mself studying

ugh carefully choosing honesty over convenience. The way her

but he was even more dr

iet," she obser

nking," h

bo

esit

ly you fit int

dangerous

don't want

out how strange it is

ad slightly. "Str

"Strange in a way tha

ingered be

ntio

ble force had nudged

destiny. Life had taught him that effort mattered more

of her again t

feeling of reaching

dreams yet. They felt too int

e unease

you're trying to memorize

est ti

nswered before he

om discomfort, but from th

f to look away brief

part that f

Not the potential disapproval wait

ntensity of

n before. Brief sparks

as not

felt

ed into a story al

awing his attention back to h

sidere

he chos

someone like you would choose to

together. "So

, self-conscious smile. "You belong i

opped

are about that?"

erve more than w

s tasted

closing the space he ha

she said gently but firmly. "And you don't

tartled by the conv

continued, softer now. "

settled heavi

a

simpl

lt like a

ift inside him then - no

control wea

ld control

loya

r father, her family, or anyone else tried t

had to st

and slowly, giving h

di

his naturally, as if the gest

l understood somethin

d prote

he was fragil

elt like the most certai

stepping into battles h

ificing more than he

ow what the

d at him, he felt alive in a way

in his life, survival

somethin

d her ha

ter th