Nze stood in the center of the storm. The air was thick with mist, suffocating and silent. No stars hung in the sky, and the moon glared blood-red, casting an eerie glow over the endless expanse of black water beneath his feet. He wasn't sure how he was standing—whether the water held him up or if he was simply floating. The silence pressed against his ears like a living thing, a hum just below the range of hearing. 

And then he saw her. 

She stood at a distance, her back to him, her platinum hair a beacon in the oppressive dark. Bee. 

"Bee!" he called, his voice small and swallowed whole by the void. 

She turned slowly, and his heart lurched. Her face wasn't her face. Her eyes were bottomless pools, and her smile stretched too wide, sharp like broken glass. She tilted her head and said something he couldn't hear. 

"What?" he shouted, taking a step toward her. 

Her voice echoed in his mind. "Run."

The black water exploded into motion, rising in towering waves, collapsing on top of him, pulling him under. Nze fought against the current, against the cold hands clutching at his ankles, dragging him deeper and deeper. The last thing he saw before everything went dark was Bee's face, her real face, as if she were watching from far above. 

He woke gasping, his chest heaving like he had been holding his breath for hours. The rain lashed against his window, accompanied by deafening thunder and blinding flashes of lightning. He blinked rapidly, trying to ground himself.

Rain? It didn't rain in November. 

That's when he saw it—a figure sitting casually on the windowsill, illuminated by the pale, flickering glow of lightning. 

"You should really be locking your windows at night," she said, her voice low and amused. 

"Bee?" 

She didn't answer, only smiled that half-smile that always made his stomach twist. She was dressed in her usual—tank crop top, ripped baggy jeans—and looked completely at ease, as though they weren't in the middle of an inexplicable storm. 

Nze didn't think. He moved. Every muscle in his body screamed to reach her, to make up for the endless nights of wondering, of waiting. As he crossed the room, the storm's roar faded to nothing. Nothing but her. Her presence, her scent, the weight of the weeks that had slipped by unnoticed in her absence. His heart hammered in his chest. He stopped just in front of her, towering over her as she sat perched on the windowsill. 

"Did you miss me?" she joked, her smile playful, but it disappeared the moment their eyes locked. Her gaze softened, her lips parting slightly as if she was about to speak but couldn't find the words. 

Nze didn't need words. He grabbed her face, his hands trembling, and kissed her with everything he had left. Every question he'd buried in the quiet corners of his mind, every sleepless night spent dreaming of her, and the ache of all the things they never said—he poured them all into that kiss. There was no room for words, just the raw need to finally feel her again. She tasted like rain and something sweet he couldn't name. 

Her hands found his waist, pulling him closer, and then one of them slid upward, tangling in his hair. His fingers moved to her buzzed platinum hair, tracing the soft, sharp texture he had dreamed about too many times. She pulled back just enough to breathe against his lips, "You fucking drive me crazy," before kissing him again, deeper, fiercer. 

Nze's knees buckled slightly, and he stumbled back onto the bed. Bee followed, climbing onto his lap, her legs straddling him as she kissed him with a hunger that left him breathless.

Her scent hit him then—a mix of wild musk and sweat, like the air just before lightning struck. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling deeply, murmuring, "Your scent... God, Bee... it's like I've been starving for something real. Like I've been holding my breath for so long, and now I can finally breathe again. It makes me want to do crazy things." 

She laughed softly, her hands roaming his chest, her touch igniting fires under his skin. "Crazy things, huh?" she teased, her voice thick and low. 

"Yes," he said, his voice hoarse, his lips brushing against her collarbone. "Crazy things." 

"You're such a simp," Bee laughed and tilted his face up to hers and kissed him again, slower this time, as if she was trying to tell him something without words.

Her fingers slid over his shoulders, finding the edges of his pajama pants where they hung loose on his hips. She kissed him deeply, her lips soft but insistent, and Nze couldn't think—couldn't do anything except feel the warmth of her hands against his skin. Slowly, carefully, she tugged at the waistband, her knuckles grazing his stomach, sending sparks up his spine.

He reached for her tank top in response, his hands brushing the bare skin of her sides. The rain outside hammered against the window like a heartbeat, thunder rumbling low in the distance as he pulled the fabric over her head. Her skin glowed faintly in the lightning's fleeting light, her collarbone sharp and perfect like a sculpture.

Bee leaned into him, her breath warm against his neck as she murmured, "You're taking too long," before laughing softly. She kissed his jawline, nipping lightly as her hands found their way to the hem of his shirt, sliding over his shoulders and letting it fall to the floor.

His hands traced the line of her ripped jeans, fingers fumbling slightly as he tried to unbutton them. She smiled against his lips, her laughter low and teasing as she helped him, sliding the denim down her legs. Every move felt deliberate, like time itself had slowed to watch them, to let them savor the spaces between each touch, each gasp, each kiss.

Nze reached for her again, his fingers brushing the curve of her spine, pulling her closer, impossibly closer, as they tumbled back onto the bed together. Her hands found his face, cradling him as if he were something fragile, something worth holding on to.

"Bee..." he started, his voice trailing off as she silenced him with a kiss, her lips moving against his in a way that felt both urgent and timeless, as if the storm outside didn't matter, as if nothing else in the world could touch them.

And for the first time in a long time, Nze let himself believe that was true.

Because nothing else mattered.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚

Drop a vote, leave a comment, and perhaps even share with a friend. ִ ࣪𖤐