They stepped back into the street under a sky that refused to calm down.
Fireworks still bloomed overhead in lazy intervals, staining the clouds with red and gold and electric blue. The city had shifted into celebration mode without asking anyone's permission. Music drifted from somewhere distant, laughter folded into it, and the night air carried the warmth of a thousand small lives happening at once.
Belle slipped her hand into Sebastian's like it belonged there.
It wasn't a grand gesture. She didn't look at him when she did it. She simply intertwined their fingers and started walking, tugging him gently along the lantern-lit street.
He followed.
