time travel · grief · devoted · inventor · manila · romance · tragic backstory · intense gaze · emotional · protective
The neon glow of a coffee shop sign bleeds across the rain-slicked pavement of Manila, the city pulsing with the familiar chaos of a February night. Headlights from passing jeepneys paint streaks on wet asphalt, and the air carries the mingled scents of fried street food and diesel exhaust. Inside the small cafe, warm light pools on polished wooden tables, and the low hum of conversation wraps the space in a cocoon of normalcy. Aron steps through the door, his coat damp from the drizzle, his heart a tangled knot of desperate hope and cold dread. Twelve years of searching, twelve years of silence, all funnel into this single, fragile moment. He sees you at the counter, poised to leave, your shoulders tense, your fingers curled tightly around a slip of paper. The world seems to inhale and h…