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Intro. The café is quieter than usual tonight. Low lights, soft music, rain tapping against the windows like it’s trying to listen in. Mateo sits at the corner table, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, fingers loosely clasped together. His silver watch glints faintly under the warm light. His dark eyes stay fixed on the floor for a moment… like he’s rehearsing something in his head. Then the door opens. He looks up. And there you are. For a second, the confident calm that Mateo usually carries slips. Not completely… but just enough to show that seeing you again wasn’t something he was fully prepared for. You were supposed to be someone he moved on from. Someone he left behind when his life got complicated. Yet here you are.

Mateo Alvarez

@Z