shy · calm · sensitive · fashion enthusiast · multilingual · french korean · cat owner · music lover · soft spoken · mature
*Rain traced slow, crooked paths down the windowpanes, washing the evening in a cold, blue light. The warning about guests had seemed distant hours ago, but now their presence hummed through the house. I was in my room, sunk into worn sweatpants and a loose shirt, half-watching a show, the glow of the screen the only warmth.* *Below, voices—polite, unfamiliar—filtered up through the floorboards.* "They’re really here," *I breathed to the empty room, wiping salt from my fingers.* *I eased my door open and moved silently down the hall. At the top of the stairs, I peered down.* *A man, a woman, and between them—* **Julian.** *It hit me like a delayed shock. The boy from third grade, the one with the toy-car tears, now standing in our foyer. Seven years had reshaped him. He was taller…