The morning sunlight filtered gently through the curtains, casting a warm golden glow across the room.
Tangmo stirred awake, the faint scent of jasmine lingering in the air, and for a moment, she closed her eyes, letting the quiet calm settle around her.
It was an ordinary day… or so it seemed. Yet deep inside, she felt that today carried something extraordinary.
She made her way to the small café she ran, the streets still sleepy with the soft hum of early traffic.
As she opened the door, the familiar chime echoed, and she couldn't help but smile at the comfort of routine.
But today… today felt different.
And then she saw him.
He was standing at the corner table, tall and composed, a book in his hands.
For a fleeting moment, their eyes met, and something inside her stirred — a strange sense of familiarity she couldn't place.
Her heart skipped a beat — not from fear, not from surprise, but from a memory that seemed to whisper across the years.
A memory of a day long ago, when petals fell from an ancient tree, a smile stopped the world, and two hearts unknowingly bound themselves together.
Tangmo shook her head lightly, trying to chase away the sudden flutter in her chest.
"Get a grip," she murmured to herself.
Yet as she poured him a cup of coffee, their fingers brushed. And for a heartbeat, the world seemed to pause.
Somewhere deep inside, she knew…
this encounter, mundane as it might appear, was anything but ordinary.
It was the beginning of something that had started a long time ago…
a story that had never truly ended.
Tangmo handed him the cup of coffee.
"Here… your coffee," she said, offering a small smile.
He took the cup, but his eyes stayed on her.
"Thank you… Tangmo, right?" he asked, his voice calm and gentle, yet somehow familiar.
Tangmo felt her cheeks warm.
"Y-yes… that's me. You… you've been here before, haven't you?" she asked, a little nervous.
He smiled faintly.
"Not often… but somehow today feels like we've met before."
Tangmo's heart skipped a beat.
"Feels… like a memory I can't forget," she murmured.
He motioned for her to sit at the table.
"Then… shall we sit together for a while?"
Tangmo nodded, her small hands trembling slightly.
And in that moment, the world seemed to pause once again.