Zoey reads the letter. Mystery finds out. And everything changes.
It started as an accident.
Zoey hadn't meant to snoop. She just came into the old practice room to find Mystery's notebook; the one he scribbled lyrics in, the one he always kept near but never let anyone touch.
He'd left it behind after rehearsals, along with his hoodie and water bottle. Mira dared her to flip through it.
"He writes poems, right?" Mira had grinned.
But Zoey, heart too curious, waited until she was alone.
Now here she was, sitting on the studio floor, knees pulled to her chest, not breathing as her eyes scanned the page.
A folded piece of cream paper had fallen out of the notebook, slipped between two scribbled half-songs and inked moons.
It wasn't a poem.
It wasn't a song.
It was a letter.
To her.
Never sent.
Never spoken.
Raw. Vulnerable. Undeniably his.
By the time she reached the last lines —
"You were the one. Not because a mark said so... but because when everything was falling apart, you were the only thing that made me want to stay."
—her tears had already blurred the page.
She clutched it to her chest, heart thundering louder than the bassline from their last comeback.
He loved her.
He loved her.
And never told her.
Until now.
The door opened.
She froze.
Notebook still in hand.
Mystery stood in the doorway, chest rising and falling like he'd just run from the other side of the building.
His hoodie half-zipped.
Eyes wide.
Terrified.
"You... found it?" he asked hoarsely.
Not angry.
Just broken.
Zoey stood up slowly. She held the letter close to her chest like it was alive.
"I didn't mean to," she whispered.
"I was going to burn it," he said. "I thought I already did."
"You wrote this for me?" Her voice trembled.
He couldn't meet her eyes.
"I wrote it to survive you."
Pause.
"Because I didn't know how to exist beside you... and not love you."
Silence. Rain tapped gently on the studio windows, like soft applause for the truth finally spoken.
Zoey stepped forward.
"Mystery..."
He still wouldn't look up. "You don't have to say anything. I know it's complicated. The Sigil. The curse. The risk. I'm not..."
"Say it again."
Her voice cut through his panic like moonlight through smoke.
His breath caught.
"What?"
Zoey stepped even closer, until they were barely a heartbeat apart.
Her hands trembled as they reached for his. She held his fingers gently, like she was afraid he might disappear.
"Say it again," she whispered.
"That you love me."
His golden eyes finally met hers.
And this time, they didn't waver.
Not for a second.
"I love you."
Steady. Certain. Devastating.
"I love you, Zoey. I've loved you since the moment I saw your soul shine through that stage light. Maybe even before that."
She laughed through her tears. Then surged forward.
Their lips met like fate had been waiting.
Not fire. Not storm.
But moonlight.
Soft. Warm. Real.
Later, she rested her head against his chest, listening to the beat of his heart like it was her favorite song.
"I'm glad I found the letter," she murmured.
"I'm glad I never sent it," he replied.
She looked up, confused.
He smiled softly.
"Because now... I get to say it to you every day."
And in that studio filled with old echoes and new promises,
they rewrote everything...
not in ink,
but in forever.