Caelan Frost sat in his dimly lit bedroom, a thick book in one hand and a glass of perfectly brewed black coffee in the other. The hum of the television in the background was nothing more than white noise.
Then, the program cut off.
A harsh alarm blared through the speakers. The screen flickered to red.
EMERGENCY BROADCAST
A news anchor, pale and trembling, stared into the camera.
"A meteor, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter, has been confirmed on a collision course with Earth. The chances of survival are… almost nonexistent. Impact is expected in fourteen days."
The world as he knew it—his plans, his ambitions, his carefully constructed future—shattered in an instant.
His mind, unlike the millions of others screaming in panic at this very moment, remained sharp, precise.
And yet, his first thought was not of survival.
His first thought was her.
The one who had haunted him, infuriated him.
She had never yielded to him, never let him win without a fight.
And now… in the face of annihilation, all he wanted was to be with her.
The realization hit him like a blow to the chest. He didn’t just respect her. He didn’t just hate her. He needed her.
His body moved before his mind had even fully caught up. The book fell from his hands. His coat was thrown over his shoulders. The door slammed behind him as he stepped into the frigid night air.
He had no plan, no words prepared—only a certainty he had never allowed himself to acknowledge until now.
And then he saw her. Standing outside her building, wrapped in a dark brown coat, her hood pulled up against the cold. Strands of auburn hair escaped, falling in soft waves around her face. Her light brown eyes, filled with something unreadable, turned toward him. For the first time in his life, Caelan Frost hesitated. What could he even say? That he had wasted too much time fighting her instead of realizing what she meant to him?