*(Some moments stay with you longer than others. Some things don’t need to be finished… to continue.)*

“You’re doing it again.”

Ava didn’t look up.

“Doing what?”

Sienna tilted her head slightly.

“That thing where you pretend this is normal.”

Ava wrapped her hands around her coffee.

“It is normal.”

Across the room…

he was there.

Not looking at her.

Not approaching.

Not leaving.

Just… present.

Sienna followed her gaze.

Then back to Ava.

“You’ve come here three times this week.”

“So have you.”

“I’m not the one pretending it’s coincidence.”

Ava smiled faintly.

“I’m not pretending anything.”

Sienna leaned in.

“Then say it.”

Ava didn’t answer.

Because the truth wasn’t dramatic.

It wasn’t even clear.

It was just…

*consistent.*

The same time.

The same place.

The same quiet awareness that hadn’t asked permission.

“I don’t know what it is,” Ava said finally.

Sienna nodded.

“Good.”

Ava frowned. “Good?”

“If you did,” Sienna said,

“you’d already be trying to control it.”

Ava exhaled softly.

“That sounds like something I would do.”

“That *is* something you do.”

A pause.

Across the room, he stood.

Ava didn’t move.

Didn’t turn.

But she felt it…

that shift again.

Like the moment was asking something of her.

Not loudly.

Not urgently.

Just…

waiting.

Sienna watched her carefully.

“Well?” she said.

Ava stared into her coffee.

Ten years ago, she would’ve laughed it off.

Called it timing.

Coincidence.

Something to keep light.

Now…

She set her cup down.

“…I think,” she said slowly,

“some things don’t start when they arrive.”

Sienna’s expression softened.

“When do they start, then?”

Ava glanced up.

Not at him.

Not yet.

“…when you stop pretending you don’t recognise them.”

A pause.

Sienna smiled, quiet and certain.

“Ah,” she said.

There it was.

Not a beginning.

Not exactly.

Just the moment before one.

👉 Read Signature Series → Come to Me, Black Knight 🌙

🖤 Some patterns are easier to see when you watch them unfold.