Chapter four:The stranger Who Stayed
415 Words
Maya stood in her tiny new apartment, wrapped in a towel, steam still lingering from the shower. Her reflection stared back from the fogged mirror — tired eyes, flushed cheeks, a small frown she didn’t remember putting on.
She should’ve been thinking about the guy who gave her a ride home last night. About his soft voice, the way he looked at her like she was already a memory he missed. About the scarf she left in his car — intentionally or not, she didn’t know.
But she wasn’t thinking about him.
She was thinking about the man in the suit.
The way he barely looked at her. The way he said “Good luck” like it meant something, even if it didn’t. The way his eyes — cold and unreadable — had softened for just a fraction of a second before he walked away.
There was something about him. Something she couldn’t name. Something sharp and unshaped and entirely uninvited.
Maya pulled her fingers through her damp hair and sighed.
Why was her mind stuck on a stranger who didn’t even bother to ask her name?
Liam had been kind. Gentle. Safe.
She could still hear his laugh in the back of her mind, feel the easy silence between their words, the way the city seemed quieter when he was around.
And yet…
Her phone buzzed.
1 New Message – Liam
Hey. I think your scarf’s still in my car.
Maya stared at the screen.
Her eyes narrowed, not at him — but at herself.
Why hadn’t she thought of Liam until just now? Why did it take a text to remind her of the person who had made her feel instantly welcome in a city full of strangers?
Was it because Liam had been easy to talk to?
Was it because the other one hadn’t?
Maya flopped down onto her bed, the sheets still wrinkled from the night before. She stared up at the ceiling, arms crossed behind her head, heart oddly unsettled.
There was something dangerously alluring about people who kept their guard up. Something that whispered, “Find the broken parts.”
But she’d learned the hard way: those were the people who could leave you emptier than they found you.
Still, she couldn’t deny it — when she thought of Dante, her stomach tightened.
When she thought of Liam, her chest warmed.
One stirred the storm.
The other brought the calm.
She wasn’t sure which one she feared more.
- Writer
