"Across the ocean ".
The sky was gray, the kind that made the city feel quiet, almost intimate.
London stretched outside the cab window—red double-decker buses, winding streets, sharp architecture. It was beautiful in that old-European kind of way, like everything had a secret.
And I was about to step into one of them.
"You are gonna have a really good time ?" Mom said sitting beside me, scrolling through a text from Mira. Should we get a gift for Ace .Its his 22 nd birthday ?"Mom said again "No I already I have something for him .He takes u as a little sister so u can talk to him about everything alright.l Remember when he used to carry u in his arms when u were little.
I looked out the window. "That was a long time ago."
But my heart thudded anyway.
Because I remembered.
I remembered summer nights in the backyard, water fights, secrets whispered under blankets. I remembered how the twins and I always got in trouble for staying past bed time . Katie was a year younger than Zoey but their mom treated them as twins called them twins and even bought the same clothes most times.
And now, after all this time, I was about to walk into their house.
We pulled up to a tall brick home with a black door and flower boxes in the windows. Mira burst through the front door like she'd been waiting at the window for hours.
"Siya !" she cried, rushing down the steps. "You've grown up into such a beauty—my god, your mom must be so proud!"
I barely had time to respond before her arms were around me, warm and scented like rose perfume. Behind her, two girls popped their heads out the doorway, giggling.
Mia and Dia . They looked older, more stylish—Zoey in a leather jacket, Katie with silver rings on every finger. They were still twins, but not the little girls I remembered.
Omg SIYA we have missed u so much . Zoey said , wide-eyed.
"You're taller than Ace now," katie joked.
Ace.
I looked past them—and there he was.
Leaning casually in the doorway. Hands in his pockets. Same dark curls, just a little longer. Black hoodie, jeans. That same unreadable expression.
My stomach flipped.
He looked straight at me. No smirk. No teasing. Just this steady, quiet gaze.
"Hey," he said simply.
I swallowed. "Hey."
The silence between us said everything our words didn't. It felt like we were both trying to figure out who the other had become.
"You remember your room?" Mira said, pulling me back to reality. "Top floor. Same one you had when you were little. Ace right across the hall."
Of course he was.
I followed her inside, past photo frames of the twins, their vacations, birthdays—and there, tucked in one frame, a picture of Eli and me as kids. Sitting in a pile of leaves. He had his arm around me.