She walked like the floor knew her. Like the room owed her silence. Like the universe paused and muted itself to watch her breathe. She was tall. Not just tall.. tall like her heels were forged in a realm where gravity begged her for mercy. Long, lean, glossy in all the places women were supposed to be matte. Skin smooth as a scandal. Hair a soft wave of caramel wealth. Glasses oversized and unnecessary. Lips... oh God, the lips.
I didn’t recognize her at first. There was something familiar about her. A déjà vu with mascara. But my brain was still buffering like a third-world Wi-Fi router. No signal. No processing. Just white noise and a low battery warning.
She walked straight to our table like she owned the air we were choking on. Ryan stood. Stood like a man who had finally remembered
