Main Characters:
Iris Vale – 22, ambitious, emotionally guarded, aspiring songwriter who hides her heart behind lyrics she'll never share.
Leo Mercer – 24, a former golden-boy pianist now recovering from a personal loss. Quiet, soulful, and haunted by the past.
Zara – Iris's best friend and the one person who always tells her the truth.
Theo – Leo's older brother and a reminder of everything he's trying to forget.
Iris had a rule: she didn't talk to strangers on the train.
Especially not when she was writing lyrics in her notebook, drowning out the world with her music. But that day was different. That day, she missed her stop.
And the stranger beside her smiled like he had been waiting for her to do exactly that.
"You write music," he said, nodding at her notebook.
Iris blinked. "I… do."
"That last line—you scratched it out. It was the best one."
She stared at him. Tall, brown-eyed, hair a little messy, hands stained faintly with ink or maybe charcoal. His presence was quiet. But magnetic.
"I don't remember writing it," she said honestly.
He smiled again. "Then maybe it wrote you."
His name was Leo. He had a quiet voice and a laugh that came slower than most people's. When he asked what she was late for, she lied. She had nowhere to be. But suddenly, it felt like maybe she was exactly where she was supposed to be.