Chapter 1 WHEN WE MET AGAIN
It’s funny how life works. One moment, someone is part of your world; the next, they disappear into memory—only to return when you least expect it.
Abby never imagined she’d see Jonathan again. Not after all those years. He had been her neighbor, her playmate, her constant companion through scraped knees and paper planes. He chased her around the street, teased her until she cried, then came running back with candy to make her smile. Those were simpler times—when love was laughter, scraped knees, and nothing else.
But now they were older. University halls had replaced familiar streets. Different lives. Different routines. And yet, there he was—tall, confident, still wearing that half-smile that used to make her heart flutter without warning.
“Jonathan?” she whispered on the first day of resumption, stunned.
He turned, blinked, and then grinned. “No way… Abby?”
It was like a spell had been broken. Years and distance melted away in an instant. They were back in each other’s orbit, and the universe seemed determined to keep them close.
From that day forward, their paths crossed everywhere—cafeteria, library, lectures. None of it was planned, yet every encounter stirred old comfort and something new, something heavier that made her chest tighten and her pulse skip.
Abby couldn’t help but tell Bella everything. Bella was her new university best friend, her mirror, her secret-keeper.
“Bells, I think… I still like him,” Abby confessed one night, voice barely above a whisper.
Bella laughed. “Still? Girl, you never stopped.”
Abby rolled her eyes, cheeks warming. “Stop joor. I just… I don’t know how to tell him.”
Bella smirked. “Then let the right moment tell him for you.”
And maybe the universe was already planning that moment.
The next week, the campus seemed alive with coincidences. Abby saw him in the cafeteria, pretending to read but clearly watching her. She found him in the library, headphones on, scribbling in a notebook, stealing glances at her when she wasn’t looking. Every time their eyes met, her stomach fluttered. Every time he smiled, something deep in her chest tightened.
Silas—Jonathan’s best friend—seemed to appear at just the right moments too. He leaned against doorways, asked casual questions, laughed a little too loudly at her jokes. Abby didn’t notice it yet, but Jonathan did. Silas had always been part of their childhood circle, but now he was becoming more aware of Abby—more protective, more present. And Jonathan couldn’t help but feel it.
Abby lived in a swirl of emotions—excitement, nostalgia, and a new, confusing weight she hadn’t anticipated. The universe had brought them together again, and nothing, it seemed, would ever be the same.
