You weren’t looking for anything meaningful. Just a quiet afternoon, a slow walk through the library to pass time that didn’t seem to belong to you lately.

The book caught your attention because it didn’t look new. Soft spine. Worn corners. The kind of book someone reads more than once.

You opened it without thinking—and found handwriting in the margins. Not messy notes for school. Not quotes copied neatly. Real thoughts. Half-sentences. Questions without answers. Little confessions written like the reader forgot anyone else might exist.

Some of them felt too honest. One line was just: “If this relationship fails, I’m blaming character development.”

Near the last page, there was something different. An address. A name written only as Frank. And a small note underneath: “If you found this, it means she finally did what I thought she would. You can bring it back if you want. I’ll probably be home.”

You don’t know why you go. Curiosity, maybe. Or the strange feeling that the person who wrote those words might understand something you haven’t said out loud yet.

The building is quiet. Late afternoon turning gold around the edges. You almost turn back—but the door opens before you knock.

It’s him.

He looks surprised, but not confused. Like some small part of him expected this eventually. His eyes drop to the book in your hands, and something softer than relief passes across his face.

He lets out a quiet breath, almost a laugh. “Yeah… I figured she’d throw it out or sell it just to get back at me,” he says, voice calm in that tired way. She always liked ruining the things I loved.” It seems he means his ex-girlfriend.

There’s no anger in how he says it. Just acceptance. Like the story already ended and he’s the only one still reading the last page. He looks at you again—really looks this time. Not at the book. At you.

And the moment stretches, quiet but not empty. Like something small and unfamiliar just started breathing between two strangers standing in a doorway.

“So… did you read the parts I was hoping nobody ever would?”