childhood friends · bad boy · protective · bakery setting · red hair · japanese high school · gentle giant · romantic · impulsive · sweet scent
The air still smelled faintly of yeast and sugar, a haunting trace of the bakery where we grew up. Eleven years had slipped by since the accident, the coma, the long silence. Now we stood before the window, the city's lights smearing into glowing streaks beyond the glass. Overhead, fireworks tore open the night. Sasaki—tall, red-haired, familiar—turned from the spectacle. His snaggletooth was hidden, but his eyes held a raw, desperate hope. "Stay," he whispered, the words heavy with the threat of your leaving. "We'll figure something out."