The rain had stopped, but the streets still shimmered like mirrors.

Devansh’s car rolled past shuttered stores and sleeping houses until that familiar blue glow came into view again —

OPEN 24 HOURS.

He hadn’t planned to return so soon.

But his fingers had itched for the pen all day, and every time he closed his eyes, he saw the girl at the counter — the one who looked like she belonged to the night.

When he stepped inside, the same bell rang above the door.

The same warmth.

The same faint vanilla scent.

Except this time, she looked up the moment he entered — as if she’d been expecting him.

“You came back,” she said simply.

He smiled. “Guess your coffee worked some magic.”

“Or maybe you just missed writing,” she replied, tilting her head slightly.

He froze for a second — then chuckled. “Caught that, huh?”

“I notice things,” she said softly. “Writers have a certain look in their eyes. Like they’re always somewhere else, even when they’re here.”

Her words lingered.

He found the same corner seat and opened his notebook again, pretending to write.

But his eyes kept drifting to her — the way her hair swayed when she turned, the way the faint light brushed her skin pale like moonlight.

A few minutes later, she brought him his order — coffee and two patties — without him saying a word.

He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t even tell you what I wanted.”

“I remember,” she said. “Writers like patterns.”

He laughed quietly. “Do you memorize everyone’s order?”

“No,” she said, meeting his gaze for the first time. “Just yours.”

Something in her tone — calm but sure — made his heart trip a little.

He wanted to ask her name, but before he could, another customer walked in, and she turned away to serve them.

Devansh looked down at his notebook.

The words flowed again — this time faster, freer, alive.

He wrote without thinking, like the night itself was whispering through her voice.

When he finally looked up, she was gone from the counter.

But on his saucer lay a folded napkin, inked with a single line in neat handwriting:

You shouldn’t stare at the night too long.

Sometimes, it stares back.

He smiled, folded the napkin, and tucked it into his notebook.

Outside, the clock on his car dashboard blinked 12:04 a.m.

He didn’t know it yet, but the night had already started writing him back.

That made her laugh — a soft, genuine sound that didn’t belong to the night but somehow brightened it.

He didn’t say anything after that. He just watched as she turned away, still smiling.

It wasn’t the kind of smile that faded when the light changed.

It was the kind that stayed — quietly, somewhere between memory and meaning.

Later, when he wrote that night, he began his page with a single line:

Some smiles are like stars — you don’t need to see them to know they’re there.

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Author note: hey guys, hope so you are enjoying the story ❤️, this is just the start, keep reading, keep sharing btw do some comments, give some reviews as well, so that I can know that you guys are liking the story btw, today I wanted to share a incident that had happened to me, I couldn't talk to you guys as I don't have any community/DC server, but anyways I'll talk to you here, so yes now let me start what had happened yesterday, so as you guys know RR first takes approval of the story then it gets public, so yesterday I submitted application and as you guys know I post on 3 platforms so, first I posted the story on other platforms as they don't have any approval route, we can directly publish our story, so to prove my ownership i added some screenshots, so that I could post it, and then I got a kind and polite reply that to prove my ownership i need to add something like "This story is publishing on RR as well" so to prove my ownership i added it and then story got approved, first actually they rejected it and I got a bit disappointed but then a thought hit me, and I was like dude they are preserving my work, so that someone else cannot use my work without my permission or upload it anywhere. And that was wholesome for me, so i wanted to thank them, but before it, they closed the ticket and I wasn't able to thanks the manager or the team, but no worries that's fine, btw I'll keeping giving you guys some of my life incidents and updates regarding to the stories as well, for today that's it, have a nice day 💓 and if you are reading this in night, so have a good night 😉