Mira did not sleep.
She lay awake cataloging the evening the way she would a case study—location, duration, emotional response. Yet every time she tried to pin Hiyoon down into facts, the memory softened at the edges.
By morning, she knew this much: she had met him, she had walked with him, and she had felt afraid of losing something she didn't yet have.
At the clinic, she began to test herself.
She wrote his name once on a sticky note.Hiyoon.
She placed it on her desk and went about her day.
By noon, she noticed she hadn't looked at it.
By afternoon, the letters felt unfamiliar, like a word in a language she used to know.
She closed her eyes, pictured the bridge.
His face came back to her—not clearly, but enough.
That evening, she returned to the same place.
He was already there.
"You came back," he said, surprise warming his voice.
"So did you," she replied.
They smiled at each other, an understanding settling quietly between them.
"You're testing the rules," Hiyoon said.
"So are you," she answered.
He didn't deny it.