Chapter One:COLLISION

Tiana had always known Lagos was too small to avoid him forever.

She had spent the last three years making all the right choices—focusing on her goals, keeping her head down, and refusing to dwell on things that no longer mattered.

And Zayden Knight?

He no longer mattered. At least, that's what she told herself. 

But standing in the middle of The Nook, her favorite bookstore café, with her fingers gripping a hardcover novel she wasn't even reading, she knew she had been wrong.

Because there he was.

Zayden.

Not a memory. Not a ghost. A real, breathing presence standing just a few feet away.

His back was turned, but she knew him instantly.

The way he tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something in the distance. The familiar slouch of his shoulders, casual but always ready, as if he expected life to throw something at him

Her stomach twisted.

She should leave. She should turn around and walk out before—

Too late.

He shifted, his fingers tapping absently against the counter, and in one effortless movement, he turned.

Their eyes met.

Tiana felt the air rush from her lungs.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then something flickered across his face—recognition, then something deeper. His expression remained unreadable, but his lips quirked at the edges, almost like a smirk.

Just like that, she was back there again.

************************************

Flashback: Three Years Ago

"You never take anything seriously," Tiana huffed, arms crossed as she stood in front of Zayden's beat-up car, the summer air thick with humidity.

He leaned against the hood, cigarette dangling lazily from his lips, his dark eyes watching her with something unreadable.

"I take some things seriously," he countered.

She scoffed. "Name one."

A pause. Then, he blew out a slow stream of smoke, studying her.

"You."

Her breath caught.

But before she could respond, a car honked nearby, snapping her back to reality.

That night was supposed to be different.

She had trusted him that night. She had let herself believe that maybe—just maybe—Zayden was someone she could count on.

But she had been wrong.

And by the time summer ended, so had everything between them.

*************************************

Present Day

Tiana blinked, the past dissolving as quickly as it had surfaced.

Zayden was still watching her.

For a second, she thought he might say something. That he might acknowledge the weight of the years that had passed between them.

Instead, his lips curved—not quite a smile, not quite a smirk. "Didn't take you for the bookstore type."

Tiana forced herself to breathe. "And I didn't take you for the type to still exist in my world."

His eyebrows lifted slightly, amusement flickering in his gaze. "Harsh."

"Realistic."

The tension between them settled into something neither of them could define.

And then, as if the universe wasn't already laughing at her, the barista called out, "Order for Tiana!"

Zayden's smirk deepened. "You still drink caramel macchiatos."

She grabbed the cup quickly, ignoring the way her fingers trembled slightly around it. "And you still act like you know me."

A challenge.

Zayden didn't take the bait.

Instead, he stepped back, lifting his own coffee cup. "See you around, T."

He walked past her without another word.

And even though she told herself not to, she turned.

She watched as he disappeared out the door, heart hammering against her ribs.

Because despite everything—despite the years, the pain, the history—she knew this wasn't the last time their paths would cross.

And that terrified her.