I told myself it didn't matter.
A spilled coffee. A kind stranger. A moment that would fade by morning.
That's what I repeated as I walked home, as I unlocked my apartment door, as I stood under the shower and let the hot water wash the city off my skin.
It didn't work.
Hours later, I was still thinking about him.
Theo.
I frowned at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, water dripping from my hair. I didn't usually remember names. Names had a way of sticking, of pulling people back into your life when you weren't ready for them.
I turned away, wrapping a towel around myself, forcing my thoughts elsewhere.
The apartment was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that pressed in on your chest if you let it.
I curled up on the couch with a blanket and tried to focus on the book in my hands, but the words blurred together. My mind kept replaying the same moment—his smile, the warmth of his hand, the way he had stepped back instead of closer.
People didn't do that.
Not anymore.
I closed the book with a sigh. This was how it started. A thought. A curiosity. A crack in my carefully constructed distance.
I had promised myself I wouldn't let that happen again.
The next morning, I took a different route to work.
It was ridiculous. The city was massive. The chances of running into the same person twice were almost nonexistent.
Still, when I pushed open the door to the small bakery on the corner, my heart betrayed me before my eyes did.
Theo stood near the counter, a paper bag tucked under his arm, scrolling through his phone.
My first instinct was to turn around.
Too late.
He looked up, surprise flickering across his face before softening into recognition.
"Mira," he said, like my name belonged there.
"Hi," I replied, my voice quieter than I meant it to be.
For a moment, neither of us moved. The air felt oddly charged, as if we were standing inside a moment that wasn't finished yet.
"Funny running into you again," he said. "Either this city is smaller than I thought, or—"
"Or coincidences lie," I finished.
His smile widened. "That's exactly what I was going to say."
I should have left.
I didn't.
Instead, I ordered coffee. Instead, I stayed.
And as I followed him toward the small table by the window, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was stepping into something I wouldn't be able to walk away from quite so easily.