One year later.

Summer vacation.

Stella Charlie sat at the desk in her room, flipping through the calendar on the table.

It’s been eighty-nine days since she last saw Vincent Warner.

He still texts her every day and occasionally calls.

But Stella still felt something was missing, an empty feeling in her heart.

She envied the couples walking hand in hand on the street, envied their endless conversations, envied their daily companionship and repeated activities together.

Ordinary yet stable.

The summer heat brought thunderstorms, with raindrops drifting onto the desk from outside the window.

Stella got up to close the window, put on her headphones, and sat cross-legged on the carpet.

The book playing in her headphones was an audiobook she used for practicing Russian listening skills.

Her middle school teacher had said she had a knack for languages; she taught herself Japanese thanks to her love for anime and chose to take Russian, a language she hadn’t encountered much before, as an elective in college.

After promising Vincent Warner she wouldn’t take on any part-time jobs, she took up some translation work online, which occasionally earned her some money, enough for her daily needs.

She hadn’t touched the card Vincent gave her, although he would often transfer a so-called allowance to her online.

But Stella still hoped to rely less on him financially, not wanting to become a burden or nuisance to him.

"Beep beep beep—"

The sound of the password lock rang out, but Stella, wearing headphones, didn’t notice.

Vincent Warner placed his suitcase in the entryway, seeing no one in the living room, he went directly to the door of Stella’s room.

Pushing open the door, he saw Stella leaning against the sofa, sitting on the carpet with her headphones on, eyes closed, completely unaware someone had entered.

"Why are you sleeping here?" Vincent bent down to lift Stella off the ground.

Stella then suddenly opened her eyes, took off her headphones, and looked at Vincent in surprise, "...You’re back?"

"Yeah." Vincent set her down on the bed and leaned in to ask, "What are you listening to?"

"Just random stuff, nothing special."

With their eyes meeting, the atmosphere unknowingly became ambiguous.

The kiss fell with longing from the separation, suffocating, making Stella lean softer into his embrace.

When Vincent naturally wanted to move further, Stella suddenly reached out to stop him.

"What’s wrong?" he asked softly.

"...Is it only when you want this kind of thing that you come looking for me?"

Vincent froze entirely, gently stroking Stella’s long hair, asking her, "Why would you think that?"

"Because you always do this."

This was Stella’s first time complaining to him.

But it was clear that the resentment had been bottled up in Stella’s heart for a long time.

"Because I missed you. It’s been over two months since we last met."

With one sentence, "I missed you," all the grievances and resentment buried in Stella’s heart for two months was shattered.

"Things are mostly settled, with more than half of the summer vacation left, I can stay with you all the time now."

Stella proactively reached out to hug him, burying her head in his chest and mumbled, "I missed you too." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Vincent smiled, holding her; in this moment, his heart felt complete.

For him, only here was a pure place where he could temporarily put aside all distractions and troubles, and comfortably enjoy the healing Stella brought him.

The thunderstorm couldn’t extinguish the embers of passionate flame, clothes scattered by the bedside, unheeded by anyone.

In the midst of intimacy, his fingers roamed through her soft, black hair, inseparable.

She too knew he loved her long hair, always carefully taking care of it.

Just wanting to present the best version of herself to him.