Chapter 10
The room with no clocks held its breath, the absence of time wrapping around Nova and Bea like a velvet curtain, soft but impenetrable. Outside, the city pulsed with its usual chaos, but here—inside these four walls—everything slowed to a fragile halt. No ticking seconds, no impatient minutes. Only the quiet space between two souls wrestling with their pasts and uncertain futures.
Nova stood by the window, fingertips grazing the cool glass where raindrops traced abstract patterns, streaking the world beyond into shimmering streaks of silver and gray. The storm outside was relentless, thunder rumbling low like a distant heartbeat. Inside her, a tempest of emotions churned—hope, fear, love, and pain all tangled in an uneasy dance.
Bea sat on the worn leather couch, her notebook abandoned on her lap as if the words themselves had grown too heavy to hold. Her eyes were distant, searching for something beyond the room, beyond the rain. The weight of everything unsaid settled heavily in the air between them.
Nova's voice broke the silence, soft yet resolute. "We don't have forever."
Bea met her gaze steadily, a quiet strength shining in her tired eyes. "Maybe we don't," she said, "but what we have, we own. Completely. No more running, no more hiding."
The words hung between them, raw and honest. Nova took a step forward, closing the distance until the heat from Bea's body was undeniable. Her heart hammered—not just from proximity, but from the fragile hope that maybe this time, they could hold onto what they had.
She reached out, brushing a stray lock of hair from Bea's face, her fingers trembling slightly. "I'm scared," she admitted, voice barely above a whisper.
Bea's hand found hers, squeezing gently. "Me too. But we're not alone anymore."
For the first time in a long while, the walls around them felt like a sanctuary instead of a prison. Time could wait. The past could stay buried a little longer. All that mattered was this—right now, together.
Thunder rolled again, louder this time, and the rain traced new paths down the windowpane, like tears the sky refused to hold back.
Nova leaned in slowly, their breaths mingling, the space between them shrinking until it vanished entirely. Their lips met—tentative, searching, but full of a promise neither could put into words.
In the room with no clocks, where time held no sway, two flames burned brighter than ever before