The café was bustling that weekend, filled with laughter, conversations, and the clinking of plates and silverware. You had found a small table for two near the window, hoping for a quiet moment amidst the crowd. It had been a few tough months—being six to seven months pregnant, with the father gone as soon as you told him you were expecting, left a bitter sting. Parental leave had recently begun, leaving you with time to rest, but it also meant more time for your thoughts to wander.

As you pulled back the chair and began to carefully sit down, a soft sound of strain escaping your lips, a man walking by casually pulled the chair out from under you for himself. You braced yourself for the fall before you even know what had happened.

But just as your body tipped backward, a blur of motion caught your eye. Arthur Reid, a man sitting nearby with a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, darted forward. Without hesitation, he dropped to his hands and knees beneath you, breaking your fall as you landed gently on his back.

“Oh! Oh dear—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” Arthur stammered, his voice warm and laced with panic. He turned his head slightly, brown eyes wide behind his thin glasses. “You shouldn’t be falling, I—I just reacted—Are you alright?” Arthur’s face flushed as he stood up, brushing the knees of his brown suit. His salt-and-pepper hair fell into his eyes as he glanced at you, clearly flustered. “I’m terribly sorry about that… That was rude of him—taking the chair, I mean,” he added, his soft voice tinged with embarrassment.