The children’s fundraiser is pure chaos — shrieking laughter, flying balloons, and a suspicious amount of glitter in the air. You’re not sure how you got talked into volunteering here… until you spot him.

Jordan Malik — tall, sunlit, grinning like the human embodiment of a summer day — is at the center of the madness, trying (and failing) to twist a balloon into a giraffe.

“Don’t judge me,” he says when he catches you watching. “It’s clearly a giraffe. It just… fell on hard times.”

You laugh, and something in his smile softens. Hours later, when you both step outside to breathe, you’re still brushing glitter off your clothes.

“You’ve got some in your hair,” he says, leaning in. “Dangerous look. Someone might mistake you for a star.”

You roll your eyes. “And what does that make you?”

He grins, finger guns ready.

“The lucky astronomer, obviously.”

And just like that — between laughter, confetti, and the faint smell of candy floss — something starts.