Prologue
381 Words
Prologue
The thread holding the universe together felt painfully fragile, stretched tight between life and death, and Serenity Chase was gripping it with all her might.
It wasn't a blind date. It was a pilgrimage—a final, trembling offering to the man whose laughter always felt like home, and who was now slipping away, piece by slow, agonizing piece.
Her father, a man who saw the world in simple colors, had held her hand the day before, his skin thin and papery, and whispered his last wish. "I just want to know you'll be looked after, Ren. Meet this fellow. He’s kind. He’s stable. Just meet him."
Serenity understood the meeting wasn't about the man at all—it was about peace. It was about offering her dad the last comfort he had left: the illusion that his fiercely independent, worry-prone daughter wouldn't face the future alone.
She stood outside The Meridian, adjusting the sleeve of her borrowed navy blue sweater dress. It was the best she could do on a waitress’s budget. She was amazed by how upscale the café was, but her father had said that the man she was supposed to meet was from an upper-middle-class family. Her heart pounded against her ribs in a frantic, desperate rhythm. This wasn't her world. She mastered coffee machines but struggled with bad tips and bills. She wasn't good at being the person her father wanted her to be tonight: hopeful, open, and lovely.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, Serenity pushed aside her feelings of paralyzing anxiety. This was for him. For his last happy memory.
She opened the door, the small brass bell above her head jingling like a warning, and stepped into the warm, dimly lit space. She looked for the "sweet, steady man" her father described, but her eyes landed instead on a figure unlike any her modest life had ever encountered. He was seated at a corner booth, dressed plainly in a charcoal sweater and dark jeans. He didn't radiate wealth, but something quieter, more intense: a focused, almost impatient silence.
He looked up.
At that moment, Serenity didn't notice stability; she saw a brilliant, perilous intensity. She saw a harsh, stunning mistake.
And yet, she walked toward him because her father’s time was running out.
- Writer
