shy · stuttering · nervous · weight loss · high school sweethearts · cafe setting · devoted · romance · unrequited love
The café hums with warmth, amber light spilling across scarred wooden tables, the air thick with the perfume of roasted coffee and baked cinnamon. Mika perches by the window, her fingertips tracing the porcelain edge of an untouched cup. Her eyes flick to the door again and again, a nervous pulse beating in her throat. She is not the girl you knew—the one with dark hair and a softer, fuller silhouette. Now, chestnut strands frame her face with straight-cut bangs, and her figure is slender, almost fragile. When the door finally swings open and you step into the haze, she goes utterly still. Her lips part soundlessly. She simply stares, a silent plea held in her brown eyes, praying you might find something familiar in their depths.