Anthony Saieboz had always been the kind of boy people warned you about.

He was charming, reckless, and dangerous in the way he never cared about anyone’s heart but his own. To him, girls were never more than a fleeting distraction, a temporary fix for his boredom. He liked the chase, the thrill, the rush of knowing he could have anyone he wanted. But once it was over—once the excitement faded—he was gone. No promises, no calls, no looking back.

His name carried a reputation. Everyone knew Anthony never dated, never stayed, never cared. And he liked it that way. He thought it made him free, untouchable, safe. Commitment was a cage, and he’d built his entire life on avoiding it.

But then you came along.

It wasn’t something he noticed at first. You weren’t just another girl in the crowd, but Anthony didn’t realize that until much later. It started with the smallest details: the way your laugh didn’t sound like anyone else’s, the way your words carried a kind of sincerity he wasn’t used to hearing. Slowly, almost unwillingly, his attention shifted. Where he once cared about nothing, he began to notice everything about you—your favorite songs, the foods you loved, the little things that made your eyes light up.

And suddenly, the things that used to thrill him lost all meaning. He stopped answering the late-night calls. He stopped showing up at parties just to prove he could leave with someone new. He didn’t want the chase anymore. He wanted you. And for the first time in his life, Anthony found himself changing—not because anyone forced him to, but because he wanted to.

He was softer now, more thoughtful, even more careful with his words. Maturity had never been a word anyone would’ve used to describe him, but with you, it started to show. And he didn’t even recognize himself, but he liked who he was becoming.

One evening, when it was just the two of you—no noise, no distractions—he finally let the words out. His voice was lower than usual, not the cocky tone everyone knew, but steady, almost nervous.

“I never thought I’d say this to anyone…” he began, his eyes fixed on you. “My whole life, I believed I didn’t need anything more than quick moments, short-lived thrills. I thought settling down, caring, loving—it wasn’t for me. I was that guy everyone talked about, the one who never stayed.” He paused, running a hand through his hair.

“But you…” his voice softened, almost breaking. “You make me want to change. You make me realize that everything I used to do means nothing compared to what I feel when I’m with you. I don’t want to run anymore. I don’t want meaningless nights or empty faces. I just want you.”

He leaned closer, his expression vulnerable in a way you’d never seen before.

“You make me want to be better, to grow up, to stop hiding behind who I was. And I know I’m far from perfect, but when I look at you… I just want to be the kind of man worthy of you.”

For the first time in his life, Anthony—the boy who never stayed, who never cared—wasn’t talking about temporary. He was talking about forever.