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00:00You ever have one of those moments where time just folds in on itself?
00:04Like every bad choice you ever made rushes to meet you at once.
00:07Headlights, horns, your own heartbeat drumming so loud you can't tell if it's fear or fate.
00:13That was me, running across a sunlit street with a stray dog in my arms,
00:18traffic blurring past like angry waves.
00:21I didn't even think. I just moved.
00:24The little brown thing had darted into the road, terrified and shaking,
00:28and before I could stop myself, I was there too.
00:32Hands out, lungs burning, people shouting.
00:36And then, silence.
00:39Like the world just held its breath for me.
00:42When I got to the curb, my knees gave out.
00:45The dog and he was alive, trembling warm against my chest.
00:48His collar was worn, no tag.
00:50I remember whispering,
00:51It's okay, you're okay, even,
00:54though my voice cracked halfway through.
00:56That's when the black car stopped, sleek, quiet, wrong.
01:01The kind of wrong that makes your skin itch before.
01:04Your mind can name it.
01:06A man stepped out, tall, calm, too clean for the chaos around us.
01:10Black shirt, top button undone.
01:13Sleeves rolled halfway like he'd been on his way somewhere important,
01:16but didn't mind the detour.
01:18He didn't even look at the dog.
01:20His eyes were on me,
01:21like I'd just interrupted something sacred,
01:24or maybe started it.
01:26You could have been killed, he said.
01:29His voice wasn't angry.
01:31It was low, steady,
01:33the kind of voice that sounds like it already knows the ending.
01:36I tried to laugh it off,
01:38brushing dust off my jeans.
01:40Yeah, well, he didn't deserve to die for running in the wrong direction.
01:44He tilted his head slightly,
01:46studying me.
01:47And you do?
01:49I didn't have an answer for that.
01:51Then he nodded once,
01:52almost to himself, and said,
01:54Get in.
01:55It wasn't a question.
01:57It wasn't even a command.
01:59Not the kind that needs volume.
02:01It was inevitable.
02:02I blinked.
02:03Excuse me?
02:04He looked at the dog,
02:05then at me again.
02:06He's not yours.
02:07But you just risked your life for him.
02:09My boss wants to meet you.
02:11My heart dropped.
02:12Your boss?
02:13He nodded toward the car.
02:15He saw what you did.
02:16He's interested.
02:17I laughed, nervous and brittle.
02:19Interested?
02:20In someone rescuing a dog?
02:22He didn't smile.
02:23In someone who doesn't think before risking everything.
02:27That line.
02:28It hit deeper than I wanted it to.
02:31Because it was true.
02:32That was me,
02:33always leaping before I looked,
02:35always hoping someone would catch me before I shattered.
02:37I said no, of course.
02:40I wasn't stupid.
02:41I told him I had somewhere to be,
02:43which was a lie.
02:45I didn't.
02:46I was late on rent,
02:48half-fired from my job,
02:49and nursing a loneliness I didn't even want to name.
02:53But still,
02:54I didn't get in that car.
02:56Not then.
02:56He didn't argue.
02:57He just looked at me,
02:59like he was memorizing something he already knew he'd see again.
03:02Then he said,
03:02we'll send another car tomorrow.
03:05And just like that,
03:06he was gone.
03:07That night,
03:08I couldn't sleep.
03:09Every time I closed my eyes,
03:10I saw those headlights,
03:12that car,
03:12his face,
03:13calm where I was chaos.
03:15I told myself it was ridiculous.
03:17I didn't know him,
03:18didn't owe him anything.
03:19But there was something about the way he'd said,
03:21we'll send another car tomorrow.
03:24Not if,
03:25not maybe.
03:27Like it was already decided,
03:28I told myself I wouldn't go.
03:30That I'd lock my door,
03:32ignore it,
03:33keep my life small and safe.
03:35But when morning came,
03:36and that black car idled outside my building,
03:39the little brown dog barked.
03:41The same one I'd rescued.
03:43He'd followed me home,
03:45slept outside my door.
03:47And when I saw him there,
03:49wagging his tail like he belonged to me,
03:51I felt something break open inside.
03:54So,
03:55I picked him up.
03:57Walked downstairs,
03:58and got in the car.
04:00The man from before was in the passenger seat this time.
04:03Silent.
04:04Sharp.
04:06The city blurred past,
04:08sunlight flashing off glass buildings,
04:10my reflection staring back at me,
04:12unsure and small.
04:14After what felt like forever,
04:16we pulled into a long driveway lined with olive trees,
04:19the kind that don't belong anywhere near my kind of life.
04:21The house at the end looked like it had seen things.
04:24Too big.
04:25Too quiet.
04:27Too beautiful in that way expensive things are.
04:30Inside,
04:31the air was cool,
04:32smelling faintly of tobacco and something darker.
04:35Then I heard him.
04:37The voice.
04:38I was wondering if you'd come.
04:40He stepped out from the shadows of a sunlit hallway.
04:44Tall.
04:45Dark hair a little messy.
04:47Black shirt open at the collar.
04:49Sleeves rolled up like he owned the air around him.
04:51I wasn't planning to,
04:54I said.
04:55But you did.
04:57He smiled then.
04:59Slow.
05:00Knowing.
05:01That says something.
05:02About what?
05:03About you.
05:04He nodded to the dog in my arms.
05:07You don't even know his name, do you?
05:09I looked down,
05:10petting the scruffy fur.
05:12No, but he followed me home.
05:14Guess that counts for something.
05:15It does,
05:16he said softly.
05:18Loyalty always counts.
05:20There was something in his tone that didn't match the words.
05:23A shadow under sunlight.
05:25I didn't know his name yet,
05:27but I could feel it in my bones.
05:29Whoever this man was,
05:30he didn't live a normal life.
05:32Why am I here?
05:34I asked.
05:35He studied me.
05:36Because you risked your life for something that wasn't yours.
05:39That's rare,
05:40I laughed lightly.
05:41Or stupid.
05:43Sometimes they're the same thing.
05:45He walked closer,
05:47stopping just a breath away.
05:49His presence was magnetic,
05:50wrong and right at once.
05:52Do you believe in fate?
05:53He asked.
05:54I believe in choices,
05:56I said,
05:57steadying my voice.
05:59Then make one,
06:00he murmured.
06:01Stay,
06:01just for a while.
06:02See what happens when you don't run.
06:04My chest tightened.
06:06Every instinct screamed at me to leave,
06:08to run back to my ordinary,
06:09empty little apartment.
06:11But something in his voice anchored me.
06:13What's your name?
06:14I asked.
06:15He hesitated,
06:16then said,
06:17Luca.
06:18Just Luca.
06:20It shouldn't have meant anything.
06:21But it did.
06:23Because the moment I said,
06:24I said it back.
06:25Luca.
06:26He smiled like he'd been waiting for me to.
06:29And I swear,
06:30in that moment,
06:32I knew nothing in my life would ever be the same again.
06:36That night,
06:37I stayed.
06:38The dog curled up near the fire.
06:41Luca poured me a drink,
06:42whiskey,
06:43smooth and warm,
06:44and asked questions no one else ever cared to ask.
06:47He didn't flirt.
06:49He listened.
06:50We talked about nothing.
06:51And everything.
06:53Regret.
06:54Loyalty.
06:55Why people save things they can't keep.
06:57He said,
06:58You don't strike me as someone who's afraid.
07:02I laughed softly.
07:04I'm afraid of everything.
07:06I just don't show it.
07:07He looked at me then.
07:09Really looked.
07:10That's bravery.
07:11The world needs more of it.
07:12And I remember thinking,
07:14He didn't talk like a criminal.
07:16He talked like someone who'd already been forgiven for something I didn't yet know he'd done.
07:20When I finally stood to leave,
07:23he stopped me with one quiet question.
07:26What if I told you the dog wasn't lost by accident?
07:29I froze.
07:31What do you mean?
07:32He stepped closer,
07:33his voice barely above a whisper.
07:36What if I told you he was mine?
07:38The glass slipped from my hand,
07:40shattering across the floor.
07:41And just like that,
07:43I knew.
07:44Whatever this was,
07:45it wasn't coincidence.
07:47It was a trap,
07:48a beautiful one.
07:49It was a trap,
07:50You ever realized too late that the moment you thought was fate
07:56was really a test?
07:58That's what it felt like standing there,
08:00glass on the floor,
08:01his eyes steady on mine.
08:03The dog was yours?
08:05I asked,
08:06my voice barely holding together.
08:08Luca didn't flinch.
08:10Yes,
08:10he got out a week ago.
08:12We looked for him everywhere.
08:14I stared at the animal curled near the fire.
08:17Calm now,
08:17like he'd always belonged here.
08:19My heartbeat thudded in my ears.
08:21So what?
08:22You send a car for anyone who finds your dog?
08:24He smiled,
08:25slow and dangerous.
08:26No,
08:27just the ones who run into traffic for him.
08:30Something twisted in my chest.
08:32Anger,
08:32confusion,
08:33curiosity.
08:34All tangled.
08:35So you were watching me?
08:36Yes.
08:37One word,
08:38clean as a cut.
08:38Why?
08:39He stepped closer.
08:40Because I wanted to see what kind of person risks everything for something small and helpless.
08:46I wanted to know if it was real.
08:48I laughed,
08:48but it came out hollow.
08:50You could have just asked.
08:52He leaned against the marble counter,
08:54studying me like I was both a puzzle and an answer.
08:57People lie.
08:58Actions don't.
09:00And then he said it.
09:01So casually,
09:02I almost missed it.
09:04Besides,
09:05I needed to know if I could trust you.
09:08Trust me?
09:09I blinked.
09:10You don't even know me.
09:12Oh, I do.
09:14His tone darkened,
09:15soft but edged.
09:17More than you think.
09:18Something in my stomach went cold.
09:20What are you talking about?
09:22He hesitated.
09:23I saw the flicker of something human.
09:25Regret, maybe.
09:27Before he covered it with a half-smile.
09:29You used to work at a shelter downtown, didn't you?
09:32I froze.
09:34How do you know that?
09:35Because the man who runs that shelter owes me a favor.
09:38I asked him about you.
09:40Why?
09:40He shrugged lightly.
09:42Because you interest me.
09:43That word again.
09:45Interest.
09:46I hated it.
09:47I hated how much it made my pulse race.
09:50Interest isn't the same as trust,
09:52I said quietly.
09:54He looked at me for a long time before replying.
09:57No.
09:58But sometimes it's where it starts.
10:00I should have left right then.
10:02I should have walked out the door and never looked back.
10:04But I didn't.
10:06Instead, I stayed in that house.
10:09That quiet, sunlit prison.
10:11Telling myself it was only for one night.
10:13Just until I figured out what his real game was.
10:17Luca didn't lock me in.
10:18He didn't have to.
10:20His world was too big.
10:21Too polished.
10:22Too dangerous to escape without him noticing.
10:25He'd disappear during the day.
10:28Meetings.
10:29Phone calls.
10:30Men coming and going in tailored suits.
10:32I'd catch pieces of conversations I wasn't supposed to hear.
10:35Words like shipment, territory, loyalty.
10:38That was when it hit me.
10:39Who he really was.
10:41The dog.
10:42The car.
10:43The house.
10:43They weren't random.
10:46They were all part of a world I wasn't supposed to touch.
10:48And yet, every evening he came back to me.
10:51Not like a captor.
10:52Not like a boss.
10:53But like a storm pretending to be calm.
10:56We'd sit by the fire.
10:57Talk about nothing that mattered and everything that did.
11:00He'd tell me about the sea.
11:02How he used to fish with his father before everything changed.
11:05I'd tell him about my mother.
11:07How she used to say kindness was a kind of rebellion.
11:11One night I asked him.
11:13Why stay in a world like this?
11:15He looked at me, eyes tired and soft.
11:18Because it's the only one that knows my name.
11:20I didn't have a reply.
11:22He smiled faintly.
11:24Don't look at me like that.
11:26I'm not asking to be saved.
11:28I wasn't offering.
11:29I whispered.
11:30That made him laugh.
11:32Good.
11:33Days turned to weeks.
11:34The dog.
11:35He followed me everywhere.
11:37Tail wagging like he knew I didn't belong but wanted me there anyway.
11:41Luca started calling him Shadow.
11:43It fit.
11:44I started to forget what silence used to sound like.
11:46The house became less of a cage, more of a mirror.
11:50Every time I looked at him, I saw my own contradictions.
11:53The part of me that wanted peace.
11:55And the part that craved the danger he carried like perfume.
12:00Then one morning, I woke to voices downstairs.
12:03Raised.
12:04Tense.
12:05I crept halfway down the stairs and froze.
12:08She doesn't belong here, Luca.
12:10One man was saying.
12:11His tone was sharp.
12:13You're getting sloppy.
12:14Everyone's talking.
12:16She's under my protection.
12:18Luca replied.
12:19His voice low.
12:20Lethal.
12:21Protection or obsession.
12:22There's a difference.
12:24There was a pause.
12:25Then a crash.
12:26Glass shattering.
12:28Careful.
12:29Luca said quietly.
12:30That's the only warning you'll get.
12:32The man cursed under his breath and left.
12:35When Luca looked up and saw me on the stairs, something in his expression cracked.
12:40Just for a moment.
12:42You shouldn't have heard that.
12:43He said softly.
12:45Then maybe you shouldn't keep me here.
12:48He sighed.
12:49You think you're a prisoner?
12:50Aren't I?
12:51He walked closer.
12:53Slow.
12:54Deliberate.
12:54If I let you go, do you promise not to come back?
12:57I wanted to say yes.
12:59I tried to.
13:00But my silence said everything.
13:02He nodded once.
13:03That's what I thought.
13:04That night I couldn't sleep.
13:06The house felt like it was breathing.
13:09Walls too quiet.
13:10Shadows too long.
13:12I found myself wandering down the hall, stopping outside his study.
13:16The door was open.
13:17He was there, sitting in the half-light, sleeves rolled up, staring at a framed photograph.
13:23It was of a woman.
13:25Dark hair, kind eyes.
13:27She looked like someone who could have been me, if my life had taken a kinder turn.
13:32She was my fiancé, he said without looking up.
13:36I startled.
13:37I didn't mean to-
13:38It's okay.
13:39His voice was calm but thin around the edges.
13:42She died two years ago.
13:44Wrong place, wrong time.
13:45Someone thought hurting me meant hurting her.
13:48I swallowed hard.
13:49I'm sorry, he nodded.
13:51So am I.
13:52I told myself I'd never let anyone that close again.
13:56He looked up then.
13:57And for the first time, I saw it.
14:00The weight behind the power.
14:03The grief he wore like a second skin.
14:05Then why me?
14:06I asked quietly.
14:08He smiled, sad and soft.
14:09Because you ran into traffic for something that couldn't save you back.
14:13Because you don't hide your heart even when you should.
14:16I couldn't breathe.
14:18The air between us shifted.
14:19Heavy.
14:20Electric.
14:21He stood, walking toward me.
14:24Close enough that I could smell the faint smoke on his shirt.
14:27His hand lifted.
14:28Slow.
14:29Hesitant.
14:30Brushing a strand of hair from my face.
14:33You make me forget what I promised myself.
14:36He whispered.
14:38My pulse stuttered.
14:39And what did you promise?
14:41That I'd never feel again.
14:43He leaned in.
14:44And for a second I thought he'd kiss me.
14:47But he didn't.
14:48He just exhaled.
14:50Slow.
14:51Broken.
14:52And stepped back.
14:54Go to bed.
14:55He said softly.
14:56Before I do something I can't undo.
14:59I wanted to argue.
15:00To tell him I wasn't afraid.
15:02But I saw it then.
15:03The storm behind his calm.
15:05The war he was fighting with himself.
15:07So I left.
15:08But sleep never came.
15:10The next morning I woke to shouting.
15:12By the time I ran downstairs the front door was open.
15:15Men were gone and the dog.
15:16Shadow.
15:17Was nowhere to be seen.
15:19Where is he?
15:20I asked.
15:21Panic clawing at my chest.
15:23Luca's jaw was tight.
15:25They took him.
15:25Who?
15:26Someone sending me a message.
15:28His tone was clipped.
15:29Dangerous.
15:30I grabbed his arm.
15:32Then get him back.
15:33He met my eyes.
15:34It's not that simple.
15:36Then make it simple.
15:37I snapped.
15:38You said he was yours.
15:40You said loyalty counts.
15:41Prove it.
15:42That made something flicker behind his eyes.
15:44He grabbed his keys.
15:46Stay here.
15:48Like hell I will.
15:49He turned.
15:50His expression sharp.
15:52You don't know what you're walking into.
15:55Neither did I when I saved him.
15:57I shot back.
15:58For a long moment, he just stared at me.
16:02Then he cursed softly and tossed me a jacket.
16:05Fine, but stay close.
16:06The drive was a blur of sun and fear.
16:09When we arrived, a warehouse by the docks, he told me to wait in the car.
16:14But when I saw him walk inside, alone, I couldn't.
16:16I followed.
16:18The sound of voices echoed.
16:20Threats.
16:20Demands.
16:21Chaos.
16:22And then...
16:23Gunfire.
16:24I froze behind a stack of crates, heart pounding, until I heard it.
16:30A sharp yelp.
16:32Shadow.
16:33I didn't think.
16:34I ran.
16:36When I found him tied near a wall, I fell to my knees, untying the rope.
16:39It's okay, baby.
16:41I got you.
16:42A voice behind me said,
16:44You really shouldn't have come.
16:47I turned.
16:49And saw the man from the staircase.
16:51The one who'd called Luca sloppy.
16:53A gun in his hand.
16:55And before I could move.
16:56Don't touch her.
16:58Luca's voice.
16:59He stood in the doorway, gun-aimed, eyes dark and burning.
17:03Luca, don't...
17:03I started.
17:05But it was too late.
17:06The room exploded in sound.
17:08And all I remember after that was falling.
17:15You ever wake up in a silence so heavy, it feels like grief learned how to breathe?
17:21That's how I woke.
17:22The world was blurry.
17:26Ceiling white.
17:27Air sterile.
17:28That hum hospitals have when life and loss are arguing just beyond your reach.
17:33I tried to sit up.
17:35But pain cut through my side like lightning.
17:38A nurse's voice whispered something gentle.
17:41But I wasn't listening.
17:42All I could think was,
17:44Where is he?
17:46And then, like it was waiting for the question,
17:50the memory came back.
17:52The warehouse.
17:54The gunshot.
17:55The sound of my own scream caught in my throat.
17:58The look on Luca's face before everything went dark.
18:02He'd stepped in front of me.
18:04Of course he had.
18:06I blinked hard, trying to steady the room.
18:09The nurse adjusted something on the IV and said,
18:12You're lucky.
18:13The bullet just grazed you.
18:15The man who brought you in.
18:17He stayed until you were out of surgery.
18:20My heart stuttered.
18:21The man.
18:24Luca?
18:25She hesitated.
18:27He left before sunrise.
18:30Said he had things to make right.
18:32I nodded,
18:33even though my hands were shaking.
18:35That sounded like him.
18:36Always walking back into the fire he started.
18:40They kept me for three days.
18:42Three long, aching days of wondering if he was alive,
18:47if Shadow was safe,
18:48if the whole thing had been a fever dream stitched out of adrenaline and loneliness.
18:52On the fourth day,
18:53I left against doctor's orders.
18:56The bandage around my ribs itched,
18:58my clothes hung loose,
19:00and every step hurt.
19:01But I needed to see it for myself.
19:04That house.
19:05The place that had turned my world inside out.
19:07When I got there,
19:10the gates were open.
19:12No guards.
19:13No cars.
19:14Just quiet sunlight spilling across marble like it was pretending nothing had happened.
19:19Inside,
19:20everything was the same.
19:22Except him.
19:24No Luca.
19:25No shadow.
19:27Just ghosts.
19:27I don't know how long I stood there,
19:31in the center of that cold,
19:32perfect house before I saw it.
19:34A note.
19:36Folded once.
19:37Resting on the counter where he used to pour our drinks.
19:40My name written in his handwriting.
19:42Steady.
19:43Deliberate.
19:44I told you once that loyalty counts.
19:47You proved it.
19:48I couldn't keep you in my world without destroying what's left of yours.
19:52So I'm walking away before I make you pay for my sins.
19:55That was it.
19:56No apology.
19:57No promise.
19:59Just the kind of goodbye that pretends to protect you while it breaks you clean in half.
20:04I sank to the floor,
20:06clutching the note until it tore in my hands.
20:09That night,
20:10I stayed in that house one last time.
20:13Not because I thought he'd come back,
20:15but because leaving without saying goodbye to the ghosts felt worse than staying with them.
20:20I lit a candle for him.
20:22And one for me.
20:24Months passed.
20:25I went back to the shelter.
20:28The one where all this unknowingly began.
20:30I started volunteering again,
20:33walking the dogs that needed saving,
20:36cleaning cages that smelled like second chances.
20:38It helped.
20:40A little.
20:41Sometimes I'd catch a glimpse of a black car parked across the street.
20:45Never long.
20:46Never obvious.
20:47Never obvious.
20:48Just long enough to remind me that shadows follow you even when they shouldn't.
20:52And sometimes, late at night, when the world went still,
20:56I'd find myself whispering his name just to feel what it sounded like in the quiet.
21:00I told myself it was over.
21:05That I was healing.
21:07That whatever we were,
21:09whatever we almost became,
21:11had burned itself out in that warehouse.
21:14But then one morning,
21:16I found a dog sitting outside the shelter door.
21:19Brown fur.
21:20Familiar eyes.
21:22Tail thumping the pavement like he'd never left.
21:25Shadow.
21:26I fell to my knees.
21:28Tears already blurring my vision.
21:30You came back.
21:32There was no note.
21:34No clue.
21:35Nothing.
21:35Just him.
21:36Alive and safe.
21:38But deep down,
21:39I knew who had brought him.
21:42Weeks later,
21:42I was closing up the shelter when I heard the bell above the door.
21:46I didn't turn right away.
21:48I couldn't.
21:50My body went cold before my heart even caught up.
21:53Then that voice.
21:55Soft.
21:56Low.
21:57Rough around the edges.
21:58Said,
21:59You still run into trouble the same way.
22:03I turned.
22:04He was standing there.
22:06Luca.
22:07He looked different.
22:09Thinner,
22:09maybe.
22:10Eyes darker.
22:12A faint scar across his jaw.
22:14But it was him.
22:16Black shirt.
22:17Top button undone.
22:19Sleeves rolled up,
22:20like time hadn't learned how to change him.
22:23For a second,
22:24neither of us spoke.
22:26The air between us was thick with everything we hadn't said.
22:30You're alive.
22:31I finally whispered.
22:33So are you.
22:35He said.
22:36Barely.
22:37I tried to laugh,
22:39but it caught halfway out.
22:41You shouldn't be here.
22:43He stepped closer.
22:44Probably not.
22:46But here I am.
22:48Why?
22:49He hesitated,
22:50then quietly.
22:52Because I kept thinking about that night.
22:55About what it cost you to save me.
22:57I shook my head.
22:59You didn't owe me anything.
23:02He smiled.
23:03Sad and beautiful.
23:05That's exactly why I do.
23:07He walked closer.
23:09Stopping when he was just a breath away.
23:11The same distance as the first time we met.
23:15Only now,
23:16there was no danger between us.
23:18Just history.
23:19I made peace with my world.
23:21He said softly.
23:23Walked away from it.
23:24Sold what I could.
23:26Burned what I couldn't.
23:28It doesn't own me anymore.
23:30And what about me?
23:32I asked.
23:33He looked at me,
23:34eyes steady,
23:35voice low.
23:37You never did belong to it.
23:39You belong to yourself.
23:41I just...
23:42needed to see if you still remembered how to breathe without fear.
23:47I swallowed hard.
23:49I do now.
23:51He nodded once.
23:53Slow.
23:54Good.
23:56Then maybe I can too.
23:58We stood there in silence,
24:00sunlight slipping through the window
24:01and catching on the dust between us.
24:04It wasn't cinematic.
24:05It wasn't perfect.
24:07It was real.
24:09Then he crouched down,
24:11scratching shadow behind the ears.
24:13He missed you.
24:15He murmured.
24:16I missed him too,
24:18I said.
24:19And you.
24:20He looked up.
24:22Don't say that unless you mean it.
24:25I do.
24:27It came out small but certain.
24:29I mean it.
24:31He exhaled,
24:33eyes closing briefly,
24:35like the words hurt and healed him at the same time.
24:37When he opened them again,
24:39he said,
24:40then maybe we start over.
24:42No lies.
24:43No debts.
24:45Just...
24:45what's left of us.
24:47I smiled faintly.
24:49What's left?
24:50He reached out,
24:52brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.
24:54Gentle.
24:55Reverent.
24:56Enough.
24:58We never went back to that house.
25:00He rented a small place by the coast instead.
25:03Sunlight.
25:04Sea air.
25:05Walls that didn't echo with secrets.
25:08Some nights,
25:09I'd catch him staring at the horizon.
25:12Quiet.
25:13Distant.
25:14And I'd know he was remembering all the things he'd lost.
25:17I didn't try to fix it.
25:20Some people don't need rescuing.
25:21They just need reminding that they survived.
25:24He once asked me,
25:26do you ever regret it?
25:27That day in traffic?
25:29I smiled.
25:31Not once.
25:33He nodded,
25:34half smiling back.
25:36Me neither.
25:38Now, years later,
25:39I tell this story because sometimes people ask how we met,
25:43and I never know where to start.
25:45Do I start with the dog?
25:46The car?
25:47The bullet?
25:48Or do I start with the truth?
25:50That saving him was never the miracle.
25:53It was letting myself be seen by someone who already lived in the dark.
25:58Luca and I,
25:59we didn't end in fireworks.
26:01We didn't fade into fairy tales.
26:04We found something quieter.
26:07Something that looks a lot like peace.
26:10Every morning he makes coffee.
26:12I feed shadow.
26:13And when the light hits just right,
26:16I still catch him looking at me.
26:18The same way he did that first day,
26:20when he said I could have been killed.
26:22And maybe that's true.
26:24Maybe I did die a little that day.
26:26The version of me that settled,
26:28that played it safe,
26:30that thought love and danger couldn't exist in the same breath.
26:33Because the truth is,
26:35I didn't rescue a dog that day.
26:38I rescued myself.
26:40If you made it this far,
26:42thank you for listening to my story.
26:44Tell me in the comments.
26:46What part stayed with you the most?
26:49Was it the moment I ran into the street,
26:52or the one where he finally came back?
26:54Don't forget to like,
26:56subscribe,
26:57and turn on the bell so you never miss the next story.
27:00Because somewhere,
27:01out there,
27:02another voice is still waiting to be heard,
27:05and another love like this is waiting to be told.
27:07I'll see you next time.
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