Written To Be Mine

Part 1

The city looked beautiful tonight.

Every street around Aira glowed beneath strings of golden fairy lights while couples laughed their way through crowded sidewalks carrying flowers, gifts, and heart-shaped balloons. Restaurants were overflowing. Music drifted through the cold evening air, warm and romantic in a way that only made her feel more tired.

Aira stopped at a traffic signal and stared blankly at the crowd outside her window.

Someone nearby was selling roses.

Someone else was proposing in front of a café.

A little girl ran past holding her father's hand while her mother laughed behind them.

For a moment, an ache spread quietly through Aira's chest.

Her parents would've forced her to celebrate tonight somehow. Her mother never needed an excuse to decorate the house or order too much food. Even after long workdays, there had always been noise. Warmth. Someone is waiting at home.

Now there was just overtime.

And an apartment that stayed dark until she returned to it.

Her phone buzzed beside her.

Office Group Chat.

"Reminder: emergency edits before tomorrow's launch. No delays."

Aira let out a humourless laugh.

"Romance comics really are a scam," she muttered under her breath. "Everyone's falling in love except the people working on them."

The signal turned green.

She drove ahead slowly until suddenly—

THUD.

A figure crashed into the front of her car.

Aira slammed the brakes so hard her coffee spilt across the dashboard.

"What the hell?!"

She hurried out of the car just as someone stumbled into the headlights.

A girl.

Long silver-white hair spilled down her back in soft waves, glowing strangely beneath the streetlights. She wore a white dress so elegant and delicate it looked completely unreal compared to the noisy city around them.

And behind her,

"THIEF!"

"She stole it!"

"Catch her!"

A crowd of angry shopkeepers and security guards came rushing down the sidewalk.

Aira blinked in confusion before turning toward the girl.

"What happened?"

The girl looked genuinely puzzled by the chaos surrounding her.

"I do not understand why they are upset."

One of the shopkeepers pointed furiously at her. "She walked out with our statue!"

Aira looked down.

The girl was holding a small angel statue carefully in both hands.

"...Did you steal that?"

"I took it."

"That's stealing."

The girl frowned slightly. "But I liked it."

Aira stared at her for a full second.

"You can't just take things because they're pretty."