Her HR Management classes dragged on with theories she couldn’t yet care about. Corporate ladders, recruitment strategies , they all felt so far from the quiet life she lived now. The bookstore was a simple escape. A quiet job to pass the time, nothing more.

The radio hummed softly behind her, breaking into a segment of entertainment news.

“…Cassian Rhys has been cast in the upcoming blockbuster drama after the success of his latest album topping the charts for the third consecutive week…”

Elara barely noticed. Big city celebrities meant nothing in sleepy Brindlewood. She flipped another page in her notebook, doodling idly.

Miles away in the heart of the capital, Cassian Rhys adjusted his cufflinks, stepping into the back seat of a black car waiting to take him to yet another promotional event. The world knew him as the nation’s beloved actor-turned-singer, a star born without the help of his family’s powerful name by his own choice.

But behind every performance, every smile, was the same unanswered question: Where was she?

The girl who had pulled him from the water nine years ago the girl who unknowingly rewrote his fate.

He never forgot her name.

Elara.

His manager rattled off his schedule from the front seat magazine shoots, interviews, award rehearsals but Cassian hardly listened. He scanned the faces in every crowd, every audition, every waiting room, wondering when or if fate would finally lead him to her again.

Unaware, in a quiet little town, the very girl he sought sat alone, dreaming of anything but fame.