The night wrapped the city in a quiet, deliberate rhythm—streetlights casting pools of gold on the slick asphalt, the hum of distant traffic low and unbroken. Inside the hall, voices had softened into a background murmur, as though the evening itself had grown tired.
And then there was Sara.
She stood near the exit, still and unhurried, her presence drawing the eye the way a flame draws breath. The warm light brushed against the smooth fall of her hair, against the sharp, clean lines of her black jacket and white blouse, giving her a quiet authority—effortless, precise, and untouched.
Narsen noticed her before he realized he'd stopped listening to the person speaking to him. There was something in her calm—an elegance that asked for nothing yet left no room for indifference. Without thinking, he began to cross the room.
"Sara…"
She turned, her smile gentle but contained.
"Hello, Narsen."
"How have you been?"
"I'm fine, thank you. And you?"
"I'm… good." He paused, his voice caught between memory and hesitation. "It's been a while since—"
"Yes, it has," she said, her tone light, almost casual, as if nothing between them had ever carried weight.
Her phone buzzed. She glanced down.
"My car's here," she murmured.
She lingered for a second—as though granting him the space to say what mattered—but the moment slipped, unclaimed. Without another word, she stepped into the waiting car.
He stood on the curb, watching the red glow of her taillights fade into the river of traffic, before finally walking to his own car.
A few minutes later, he was behind her again, following at an unspoken distance. The road between them felt longer than it was, the spaces in his chest heavier than before.
At the next intersection, her car turned right, his road leading left. He slowed, watching until she disappeared into the dark curve of the street, and then drove on. Inside the car, the silence was almost whole—until the radio came alive with a song he'd heard before. The words, half-forgotten, seemed to have been waiting for him all along, speaking what he could not bring himself to say.