The day finally slipped toward its end, last bell of the day rang, sharp and final, like freedom had just been announced to the world.

Chairs scraped, bags zipped, and the room burst into chaos—everyone rushing toward the door as if the outside air was more precious than gold. Voices overlapped, laughter bounced off the walls, footsteps thundered. It was messy, loud, alive.

And me? I wasn’t in a hurry. I never was. I moved when there was space, letting everyone else rush like their lives depended on it. My little routine: quiet, slow, invisible.

But then—

A push from the crowd. A stumble.

And then— she was there, in my arms.

Sia.

The very girl who had been in my head the entire day, the one I couldn’t bring myself to talk to, was now pressed against me like something out of the most impossible daydream.

Her body tilted into mine, light and warm, her balance caught in my hands before she could fall. For a moment, it felt as though the universe itself had leaned in, smirking, saying: Here. Try breathing now.

Our eyes met.

Everything else—the noise, the rushing, the world—vanished. Just me, just her, suspended in this one impossible heartbeat.

Her eyes were wide, startled, but soft. My chest clenched so tight I thought it might actually break.

Words fell out of me before I could stop them. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

I sounded too urgent, too worried, but I couldn’t help it.

She shook her head gently, lips curving in the smallest nod, as if to reassure me she was fine. Innocent. So effortlessly calm.

And yet, even that tiny nod sent a wave of warmth rushing through me, filling me with something I didn’t know how to name. Relief. Joy. Maybe both.

But then—her friends swooped in. Voices high, faces worried, calling her name. They circled her like she was glass about to crack, tugging her attention back to where it had always belonged.

The spell broke.

I stepped back quietly, my hands empty now but still tingling with the memory of her.

She turned toward them, answering their fussing with a soft laugh, and just like that, she was theirs again.

I slipped out of the room unnoticed, leaving behind the chaos, her laughter, the faint trail of her scent still tangled in my breath.

It was brief. Too brief.

But as I walked down the corridor, heart pounding, one truth pressed itself against me with terrifying clarity:

She had been in my arms.

No matter how fleeting the moment, no matter how brief the touch, I would remember this. I would hold it close. I would hold her close.

Even if the world demanded that I let go.

That’s it for this chapter! ✨ Did your heart skip a beat with Sam and Sia? Comment your thoughts and stay tuned for the next chapter—where every moment pulls them closer, and emotions run even deeper. 💛