Chapter Five:Glances that stay
1217 Words
Maya stood at the window of a quiet corner café, watching the world pass in slow, careless waves. The air outside was cool, soft with the scent of brewing rain. She glanced down at her phone again.
Liam’s message still sat on the screen, waiting.
Hey. I think your scarf’s still in my car.
She typed her reply slowly, then erased it. Typed again.
Hey, thank you. Would you maybe want to meet this afternoon? I can come to you.
She stared at the message for a second. Then hit send.
There. Simple. Polite. Friendly.
Her scarf wasn’t the reason she wanted to see him — not really. There was something about his steadiness she needed right now, a quiet counterweight to the strange disorientation she still felt from the interview.
From him.
She stepped outside, wrapping her coat tighter, unsure of what she was doing. There was still time before Liam would reply — or before they met. Maybe she’d just walk around. Clear her head. Let the city distract her.
She turned the corner, heading toward the busier part of town — where bookstores gave way to boutiques, and quiet cafés turned into sleek office buildings.
And that’s when she saw him.
Dante.
He was standing beside a black car, blazer off, sleeves rolled up, phone tucked between his shoulder and cheek as he rummaged through the trunk. He looked... different. Less precise. Less guarded. More real.
Maya hesitated. Her pulse picked up.
He saw her.
Their eyes locked.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then he said something into the phone, ended the call, and closed the trunk.
“You again,” he said.
Maya laughed under her breath. “You keep appearing in places I don’t expect you.”
“You keep spilling things.”
She smiled. “Only once.”
His gaze dropped to the ground, then back up. “Twice, actually. Your presence is... distracting.”
The words hung in the air between them.
He looked like he wanted to take them back. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to.
“I didn’t get the job, did I?” she asked.
Dante paused. “No. You didn’t.”
Maya nodded, trying not to look disappointed. She took a step back. “Thanks for the honesty.”
He looked at her, really looked at her — the kind of gaze that stripped away everything she thought she knew about a person. His next words surprised her.
“But I have a side project. Something creative. Something less... corporate. I think you’d be good for it.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“I’m not asking to be kind,” he added, more softly now. “I don’t really do kindness.”
Maya tilted her head. “Then why ask at all?”
Dante didn’t answer.
And that’s when it happened.
Across the street, standing by a parked car, Liam saw them.
He had just texted her back — said he was close by, if she wanted to meet at the café down the block. He’d been scanning the sidewalk when he spotted her.
But she wasn’t alone.
She was standing far too close to a man Liam didn’t know — a man dressed like he ran the world and looked at Maya like he wanted to own her.
Liam’s heart sank.
The scarf was still folded on the seat beside him.
But now, it felt like a souvenir from something that never really belonged to him.
He didn’t call out.
He just watched. Then slowly turned the key in the ignition and drove away.
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CHAPTER FIVE (continued): Glances That Stay
Across the street, Liam's car pulled slowly from the curb.
At first, Maya didn’t register it. She was still caught in the weight of Dante’s eyes, in the strangeness of being offered a second chance by the man who barely looked at her yesterday.
But something in her peripheral vision shifted.
The curve of a familiar car.
A green sweater sleeve in the driver's seat.
And then—
Liam.
Her chest tensed. Her breath caught.
He was already turning the corner, disappearing between a blur of traffic and streetlights.
Maya took a sharp step away from Dante, heart racing. “Wait— Liam was just—”
“Liam?” Dante echoed, brow raised.
She shook her head. “Just someone I was meeting. I think he saw me.”
Dante followed her line of sight, but the moment had already vanished. The street was just a street again.
“You should go,” Maya said quietly, half to herself.
She took another step, but Dante’s voice stopped her.
“Do you always run when something unexpected happens?”
She turned back to him, lips parting.
His tone wasn’t condescending — not this time. It was curious. Unfiltered. Human.
“I wasn’t running,” she said, defensive.
He tilted his head slightly. “No? Because it looks like you’re afraid of being seen by the wrong person.”
Her jaw tightened. “And you assume you’re the wrong person?”
Dante smirked — but there was no humor behind it. Only something heavier. “I usually am.”
Maya’s stomach knotted.
It would’ve been easy to leave. To run after Liam. To fix whatever had just broken in that fleeting moment. But something about the way Dante said those words — like he was confessing a truth he didn’t know how to carry — made her stay.
“Why me?” she asked suddenly. “You said you had a project. Said you don’t do kindness. So why offer it to me?”
Dante leaned back against the car, his sleeves still rolled, his collar open just enough to make him look disarmed.
“Because you’re not like the others,” he said. “Everyone else bends to me. You didn’t even flinch when I was an asshole. You didn’t try to impress me. You didn’t try to disappear, either.”
“I spilled coffee on you,” she replied dryly.
“And you apologized like it mattered.”
They stared at each other in the early afternoon light — two strangers tied together by the threads of some invisible pull.
Maya swallowed. “What kind of project?”
Dante hesitated. Then shrugged. “A branding campaign. Small startup. Off the books. No corporate nonsense. Just people with vision.”
“I’m not a professional yet,” she said softly.
“You have better instincts than most professionals I know.”
Maya didn’t answer right away. Her fingers fidgeted with the edge of her coat. In her mind, Liam’s face lingered — kind, open, wounded. She imagined him glancing into his rearview mirror and not seeing her chase him.
But then there was Dante — real, flawed, sharp-edged, and suddenly... human.
“I’ll think about it,” she finally said.
He nodded. “That’s all I ask.”
As she turned to leave, she paused. “I really was supposed to meet him.”
“I know.”
“And he’s...” She trailed off, unsure of how to finish that sentence.
Dante’s voice came quiet, almost amused. “Not me?”
Maya didn’t confirm it. She didn’t deny it either.
She just walked away — heart heavy, mind louder than ever
- Writer
