It was almost midnight by the time she texted him.
You up?
No response.
Not right away.
Then:
Always.Where are you?
Nowhere.Come find me.
He found her sitting on top of the old abandoned parking garage near the east line — the one that still smelled like burnt rubber and rain.
She sat on the edge, hoodie drawn over her head, legs dangling over a six-story drop like the wind couldn't touch her.
She didn't turn when he approached.
Didn't need to.
He slid down next to her, close but not touching.
The city stretched below them — all neon and cold steel.The perfect view for two people who didn't belong anywhere beneath it.
"I don't think I'm human anymore," she said after a while.
Haru didn't look at her. He watched the lights flicker below.
"I don't think we ever were," he said.
A pause.
Then:
"Did you know I saw you before we ever spoke?"
Her eyes flicked to him.
"You mean at school?"
"No. Before that."
She frowned. "How?"
He finally looked at her.
And for the first time, his voice wasn't cold.Wasn't calculated.It was unraveling.
"You were outside the police station," he said quietly."Middle of the night. You had blood on your sweatshirt. You were waiting on the curb with your head down."
Her mouth parted — stunned.
"That was three years ago."
He nodded.
"You were fifteen. I was seventeen. I'd just finished dropping off one of my cousins after a street brawl. I walked out… and there you were."
She was silent.
"I didn't know your name. I didn't ask. But you were there for hours. You didn't cry. You didn't move. Just… sat there like the world forgot you."
A breath escaped him.
"And I remember thinking — whoever she is, she doesn't need saving. But she deserves a witness."
Aara couldn't speak.
She remembered that night.
The cold. The hum of streetlights. The silence.
She thought she was alone.
But he had seen her.
Before names.
Before fights.
Before anything.
He had seen her as she was.
"I kept seeing you after that," Haru said. "At fight spots. In alleyways. Sitting alone at the station late at night."
She stared at him. "You followed me?"
"No," he said. "I found you. That's different."
She exhaled shakily.
"And all this time, you never said anything?"
"I didn't want to get close," he admitted. "You looked like someone who'd set herself on fire if you thought it would keep other people warm."
Her chest tightened.
"You were right."
Haru leaned back on his palms, eyes closed.
"I watched you bury yourself in other people's messes. I watched you fight like you were apologizing. Like you were trying to earn a reason to exist."
She looked down at her hands.At the faded scars on her knuckles.At the girl she'd become.
"What did you think I was?"
"I thought you were a story," he said."But now I know you're the pen."
Silence.
Heavy.
Real.
Then Aara turned toward him fully.
"You said once you're not afraid of losing control anymore."
He nodded.
"I need to know," she said, voice quieter. "If I become something I can't walk back from… will you stop me?"
He looked at her — and for once, didn't smile.
"No," he said. "I'll follow."
The wind picked up, dragging the cold through her bones.
And yet, she didn't shiver.
Because this?
This was the first time in her life she knew exactly where she stood.
Not alone.
Not clean.
But understood.
"I used to think needing people made me weak," she said.
"You don't need me," he replied.
She looked at him.
"No. I don't. But I don't want you to leave."
His eyes softened. Only for her.
"Then I won't."
They sat in the dark for another hour.
No more words.
Just two broken people sharing space above a world that had never made room for them.
And in the silence, something settled between them.
Not safety.
Not love.
But loyalty.
The kind that didn't come with rules.
The kind that burned.