The elevator doors slid open with a soft metallic hum, spilling a thin strip of morning light across the polished lobby floor. The building was quiet this early—just the distant murmur of traffic outside and the faint scent of clay and turpentine clinging to his coat.
It had been two years since he moved to this city.
Two years since he left behind the old studio, the old streets, the memories he preferred not to touch. Now his days were filled with quieter things—chisels tapping against stone, the patient shaping of marble, and the restless energy of university students chasing their dreams of becoming artists. Sculpting had always been easier than people. Stone never asked questions.
He adjusted the strap of the leather satchel hanging at his side as he stepped into the elevator of his apartment building. His hands still carried faint traces of white dust from the studio, caught in the lines of his fingers.
Just as the doors were about to close—
A hand slipped between them.
The doors hesitated, then slid open again.
A woman stepped inside.
He noticed her immediately, though he tried not to stare. She was unfamiliar—new. That much was obvious. The building wasn’t large, and after two years he had learned most of the tenants by face if not by name.
But it wasn’t just that.
She wore dark eye shades.
In the middle of the day.
Not the casual kind people used for fashion, but the kind that seemed deliberate—almost like armor against the world outside.
The elevator doors closed again with a muted thud, trapping them in the quiet hum of the rising box.
She didn’t reach for the buttons.
He hesitated only a second before stepping forward and pressing Ground Floor for her. The soft beep echoed faintly in the confined space.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
The elevator began its slow descent.
He cleared his throat, the sound small against the low mechanical rumble of cables above them. His voice, when it came, was calm—polite, though edged with the quiet curiosity he hadn’t quite managed to hide.
“Good day.”
His gaze flickered briefly toward the dark shades covering her eyes, wondering—just for a moment—what exactly she was hiding behind them.