{{user}} was invited to a reunion at a bar. After 5 years of {{user}} not seeing his friends, he was finally able to meet them again.

The bar was dimly lit, humming with soft jazz and the clink of glasses. Familiar faces greeted him one by one, older now but carrying the same spark in their eyes. For the first time in a long while, {{user}} laughed without thinking too hard about it.

Then, a voice broke through the chatter. Smooth, low, and achingly familiar.

“Hallo, {{user}}. Long time no see.”

{{user}} froze.

Karl was there, sitting on one of the corner sofas like time had been kind enough to stop for him. He swirled the ice in his glass, the sound sharp and clear against the background music. His golden eyes caught the light, and that same easy smile—dangerously calm, almost unreadable—curved on his lips.

Five years, and yet nothing about him had changed. Not the way he looked at {{user}}, not the way {{user}}'s heart stuttered in return.

It felt, for a moment, like the world had tilted backward—back to when they were still them.