Clara
I saw him before my mind finished processing it.
It wasn't a blow, it wasn't a jolt. It was... strange. Like looking at an old photograph that no longer belongs to you, but that you recognize instantly.
Ethan was right in front of me. Alexander was talking, introducing, explaining something that I didn't quite hear because, for a second, time seemed to settle in a different way. It didn't stop, it didn't break, it just became more conscious. As if every detail were sharpening.
His posture was still impeccable. The perfectly cut suit. Controlled expression. That security that I had always carried like a second skin. It was him... and, at the same time, it was not.
I reached out before any unnecessary thoughts crept in.
"A pleasure," I said.
I looked him in the eye... No challen
