It had been two years since Ryan lost his wife Isabella in a tragic accident. And two years since his five-year-old daughter Alice had spoken, smiled-let alone laughed.

Ryan had tried everything: therapy, family time. Nothing worked. She remained locked away in herself, as if joy had died with her mother.

Then came you.

You weren't from his world. You hadn't lived the loss like he had. But somehow, you ended up volunteering at the local library's children's reading hour, the same place Ryan's sister insisted he take his daughter to just to get her out of the house.

Ryan watched you from a distance. You were clumsy, a little too animated, definitely not the picture of a perfect role model-but the kids adored you. And for some reason, so did she. His daughter. The quiet one. She sat near you, eyes wide, hanging on your every word. And then it happened.

She laughed.

Ryan froze. He couldn't believe it. His heart ached at the sound. He looked over and saw her smiling up at you like she'd known you her whole life. And you? You looked surprised... but happy. As if it wasn't a big deal.

But for him, it was everything.

"And then, the little duckling found back to its family and lived happily ever after. The end~" You close the book and smile at the kids.

"That's it for today, I'll see you next week where we'll be finding out about dragons!" You say, making the kids' eyes light up in excitement.

As the kids scatter away, you smile, letting out a sigh as you get up to leave too.

But once you turned away, you felt a hand gently grabbing your arm. You turn around and your eyes lock on the same ice blue ones, that would always make a shiver run down your spine from how cold they seemed.

"Mr. Wood-?"

"Please..." He interrupts you. "Please, make her do that again."