Luka
He motioned for us to follow him, looking way too excited.
I glanced at Kazuo.
He wasn't excited at all. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath, bracing himself for whatever Michael had come up with this time, shoved his hands into his pockets, and reluctantly walked outside.
Ed, a few of the volunteers, and I followed.
It was already dark.
Our neighborhood barely had any streetlights, so it was hard to make out much in the darkness.
Michael lined us up in front of the bar with excessive enthusiasm, then yelled toward someone standing off to the side.
"Hey! You ready? One, two, three!"
He threw his arms out dramatically.
"Ta da!"
Nothing happened.
Michael let out an annoyed sigh and looked toward a guy standing in the corner, his face lit by the glow of his phone.
"Hey! You! Yeah, you! Get off your phone. Remember what we talked about? Let's try that again."
He cleared his throat.
"One, two, three!"
He spread his arms again.
"Ta da!"
A bright light suddenly flared to life.
It happened so fast that I couldn't see anything for a second.
I squinted, waiting for my eyes to adjust.
Then I saw it.
Right above the entrance, glowing against the wall, was a bright neon sign.
The Little Night
Its light spilled across the brick wall and onto the sidewalk, bathing our little corner of the street in a warm glow.
Everything looked different.
It was as though the whole place had come back to life.
Like someone had slammed a defibrillator against our little corner of the world and shocked it back from the dead.
Our bar...
It was alive again.
My heart skipped a beat.
"What'd I tell you?" Michael said with a smug grin as he turned to Kazuo. "Well, Fluffy? Pretty awesome, right?"
Kazuo didn't answer.
He just stood there, staring at the sign.
The usual irritation that followed nearly everything Michael did was nowhere to be found.
Not even a trace of it.
Instead, he looked like he felt exactly what I did.
Like our home had come back.
Like it wasn't just another construction site anymore.
It was a bar again.
Our bar.
But Kazuo wouldn't be Kazuo if he let Michael have the win.
"…The old sign was better," he muttered after a long pause. "Now I'm gonna end up paying a bigger electric bill than I planned."
Despite the words coming out of his mouth, he looked pleased.
It sounded more like he was arguing with Michael out of pure principle than because he actually meant it.
"Oh, for God's sake," Michael groaned. "You could admit I did a good job for once. One time. That's all I'm asking."
The two of them were still arguing when I decided I'd had enough.
With no desire to get dragged into it, I crossed the street and glanced back at our bar from a distance.
I wanted to take in the whole picture.
Ed followed me and stopped beside me.
Neither of us said a word.
We stood there, looking at the glowing sign, the bar bathed in its warm light, and its two co-owners still arguing by the entrance.
I glanced over at Ed.
To my surprise, he looked… sad.
No.
Not just sad.
He was miserable.
My chest tightened.
"You don't like it?" I asked quietly.
He shook his head.
"No. It's amazing."
There was something heavy in his voice.
"Then what's wrong?" I asked. "Do you regret becoming co-owner with those two?" I nodded toward Kazuo and Michael.
A faint, bittersweet smile crossed Ed's face.
"Not at all. It's just..."
He swallowed.
"I've stood in this exact spot before." His eyes dropped to the pavement. "This is where I stood and watched the bar burn."
"It wasn't you who set it on fire," I said.
I wanted to comfort him.
Even though his words brought that night rushing back, the sadness I'd been trying to bury quietly found its way back into my chest.
I'd wanted to ask him about that night so many times, but I never had the courage.
"That day..." He said. "I tried to call the fire department. The police… I tried to do something… Anything."
He fell silent for a moment and swallowed.
"I tried. But nothing worked. Back then, I didn't know what was happening. Or why it was happening. I didn't know what I was supposed to do."
He let out a quiet breath.
"Then my father called me. He threatened me, and I..." His voice caught in his throat. "I was a coward."
He turned slightly toward me, but his eyes stayed fixed on the ground, as though he couldn't bring himself to look at me.
"I was a complete coward," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry my cowardice caused you... all of you... so much pain."
Finally, he lifted his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Luka."
His eyes were filled with so much pain that it caught me off guard.
This wasn't the calm, unreadable expression I remembered.
Not even close.
"I'm sorry for being such a coward. I'm sorry I ran away. I kept telling myself I did it to protect you, that I didn't have another choice. That I did the right thing."
He let out a quiet, bitter laugh.
"What a pathetic lie… I left because I made that choice. I made it. And everything would have been different if I hadn't been such a coward."
His eyes never left mine.
"Everything you went through..." He swallowed. "All of it happened because of me."
He held my gaze.
The expression on his face had turned so serious that it was as if he was trying to prove, with every part of himself, that he meant every word.
"I promise you," he said, taking one small, hesitant step toward me. "I'll never let my fears hurt you again. Not my fears. Not my choices. I'll do everything I can to protect you from all of it."
He reached toward my hand.
Then stopped.
His fingers hovered in the air for a second before he slowly pulled them back.
"Luka..."
His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"That day at the warehouse... the only thing I could think about was you. I realized there was nothing more important to me than you."
He looked at me, completely vulnerable.
"I like you… I like you so much."
He swallowed.
"I know I have no right to ask this... But could you give me another chance?"
My chest tightened, and I felt like I was about to cry like some damn girl.
This time, I had an excuse.
This was the first time I was hearing a confession from someone I liked, so I was allowed to be a little bit of a crybaby.
I blinked, and a tear rolled down my cheek. I quickly turned away, wiping it with my sleeve.
"Just one," I mumbled. "You have one chance left."
Ed took my hand and gently pulled it away from my face.
"Will you go out with me?" he asked.
Color rushed across his cheeks.
Then to his ears.
Then down his neck until it disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt.
"If the answer is no, I'll understand. But maybe... maybe at least one date?"
"Yes!"
The answer came out much louder than I expected.
I practically shouted it.
Even I was startled by my own reaction.
Ed blinked.
"I said yes," I repeated. "To going out with you."
Only then did I realize my own face had gone completely red.
We stood there looking like two tomatoes.
Ed finally gathered the courage to take my hand.
His fingers carefully wrapped around mine.
He gently pulled me closer until our foreheads rested together.
"God..." he let out a shaky sigh of relief. "I was so scared of your answer."
A small smile spread across his face.
"And... could I have your phone number?" he asked, his voice tinged with embarrassment. "This past week was insane. More than anything, I wanted to text you, but I didn't have your number."
I laughed.
"Finally. I was starting to think you were never gonna ask."
"Sorry," he said sheepishly.
We couldn't stop smiling.
Our faces were impossibly close.
So close that I could feel his breath against my skin.
There were no masks between us anymore.
Not mine, the one I'd hidden behind to shield myself from the world.
Not his, the calm, confident expression he'd worn.
We looked at each other.
It was just him… And me.
My heart felt so full it almost hurt.
His hand slid to the back of my neck, gently pulled me in...
…and kissed me.
Everything stopped.
My heart.
The noise around us.
Time itself.
There was only the warmth of his lips against mine.
I was happy.
So unbelievably happy.
We had another chance.
One more chance.
And whatever came next...
It didn't matter.
We were together.
End of Book 1.