The studio was unusually quiet that morning. Outside, the coastal town moved in its steady rhythm — the waves breaking against the shore, the faint chatter of vendors setting up their stalls, the gulls crying overhead. But inside, the silence wrapped around Arielle, grounding her as she organized brushes and sorted paint jars into neat rows.
She liked mornings like this. Calm. Predictable.
Or at least, they had been.
Now, there was something else lingering in the quiet. Something heavier.
Because she knew Kairo was still around.
And today, she was tired of pretending she didn’t.
It started small, the way she began letting him in.
Not with words. Not even with acknowledgment.
Just… less resistance.
When she saw him at the market that morning, standing near a fruit stall while talki
