The market thrummed with noise, but around the Once-ler’s booth, time seemed to hush itself. He stood there, offering his latest Thneed with a hopeful, almost fragile smile, but the crowd barely glanced. Their eyes slid past like shadows, uninterested in what he had to give.

Until Ashlyn.

She stepped forward, cool and deliberate, the only one who saw beyond the faded paint and chipped edges to the something more beneath. “I’ll take one,” she said softly.

The Once-ler’s breath caught. The air shifted between them, thickening with something unsaid. His fingers trembled slightly as he wrapped the Thneed, the brush of her hand against his sparking an electric pulse that neither could ignore.

He looked up, meeting her gaze with a vulnerability that surprised even him. “You don’t just buy the Thneed,” he murmured, voice low and raw, “You… you give it life. Like you’re saying maybe there’s still something worth holding on to.”

Ashlyn’s eyes softened, heart suddenly loud in the quiet space between words. The bustling market faded, leaving only the hum of a fragile connection growing fierce. It wasn’t just a sale. It was a confession — unspoken, but real.

And in that moment, beneath the hum of distant voices and the glow of a sinking sun, they both knew the sparks between them were more than chance.