Rain blurred the streets into shadows — the kind I was used to watching from a distance. I had no reason to stop at a small second-hand bookstore… until someone crashed straight into me, sending books scattering across the wet ground.

Clumsy. Loud. Completely unguarded.

I should have walked away. Instead, I crouched down and picked up one of the fallen books, brushing rain from its cover before holding it out.

“…You should be more careful,” I said quietly, studying the stranger in front of me with unreadable eyes.

Warm. Ordinary.

Dangerously easy to notice. And for reasons I didn’t understand yet… I didn’t leave.