Journal Entry — Unsent Letter #37
Dear Lucian,
It's funny how time doesn't dilute what it should.
I still remember the way your shadow used to fall across my pages when you'd lean over to help me with my schoolwork. I still remember the mint on your breath, the scent of polished leather and rain that clung to you.
I still remember everything.
You disappeared on my thirteenth birthday.
No goodbye.
Just a wrapped copy of Jane Eyre at my door—
the one with the inscription I pretend not to reread.
Today, I begin something I once wanted to tell you about.
A dream that doesn't have you in it.
And that breaks me.
—Aria
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ReGenesis Pharmaceuticals — Main Campus, 9:17 AM
Aria Ray stood in front of the towering glass doors of ReGenesis, clutching her ID badge like it was a talisman. The logo gleamed above—sleek, chrome, clinical—and her reflection blinked back at her from the polished surface.
Pipette pen jammed in her bun. Lab coat wrinkled from the commute. Sneakers scuffed. But her heartbeat was a pure, bright anthem.
She'd made it.
Inside, everything smelled like steel, coffee, and ambition.
"New recruit?" someone asked, popping into her peripheral. A tall guy in a violently orange hoodie and a ReGenesis lanyard with way too many cat pins.
"Uh—yes! Aria Ray."
He grinned like she'd passed some unspoken test. "Yusuf Khoury. Molecular virology. Sunny brainiac. Friend to awkward newcomers."
"Ah. I'm definitely awkward."
"Good. You'll fit right in."
They passed glass doors, humming labs, and people with the posture of people who owned their purpose.
Then came Meilin Shi—poised, clipboard in hand, black braid slicing down her back like a knife.
"This is Aria," Yusuf introduced.
Meilin's gaze flicked over her like a scan. "Hmm. You tied your hair with a pen?"
Aria blinked. "It's sterilized."
"She's in." Meilin walked off without another word.
"She's always like that," Yusuf whispered. "Don't worry. She has a heart. It's just... encrypted."
In the farthest lab sat Ezra Smithson, feet up on the desk, tuning a pocket-sized guitar.
"Another baby scientist?" he drawled without looking up. "You better not trip on cords or break my centrifuge."
"Nice to meet you too," Aria said with a half-smile.
"She bites back," Yusuf whispered approvingly.
Ezra looked up then, sharp eyes flickering with interest. "Good."
---
Back in the Executive Office — 10th Floor, ReGenesis
Lucian Reed stood at the window, steel-blue eyes tracking nothing but the horizon.
"Miss Ray has checked in," his assistant said.
He didn't respond.
Only opened a drawer, pulled out a childhood sketch folded so precisely it might have been origami. A girl holding a paper cat, smiling.
His thumb ran over the creases.
The years folded too, inside him.