Frozen dew sparkled on the exposed conduits overhead, nature’s jewelry adorning the city’s metallic veins. Early commuters flowing around like a well-choreographed dance, their breath visible in the cold air, creating a fog that mixed with the steam rising from maintenance grates.
The historic district’s older buildings stood as the spiritual roots of the modern towers, their weathered stone facades telling stories of a city constantly reinventing itself. Buzz - a message “Good, you needed to say something 💗”
Oh look, my emotional support human is also a mind reader
I caught sight of her blonde curls bouncing through the early morning crowd, her stride purposeful and annoyingly energetic for this hour. She grinned as she fell into step beside me.
“Hey, thanks for coming,” I managed, already regretting suggesting this.
“You better thank me, bringing me to a gym like this,” she laughed, the warmth in her voice taking any sting out of the words. We both knew her usual haunts were several tax brackets above this place.
An unsheltered man huddled in a doorway caught my attention, his worn jacket pulled tight against the morning chill. I reached into my bag, the familiar motion of offering help something I’d learned from my mother.
“This city still has a few things to iron out,” Sophia observed quietly as we passed.
No kidding. Including whatever’s going on with Daniel and me.
His words from the courtroom still echoed in my mind, the hurt and confusion etched into every syllable.
I couldn’t shake the memory of his face when I walked away, the way his eyes seemed to shatter like the trust between us.
She started to say something about work - I caught Daniel’s name and immediately tuned out, my focus shifting to the scaffolding ahead that seemed to stretch endlessly upward into the low clouds.
The metal framework disappeared into the morning haze, its temporary skeleton clinging to the building’s glass skin. Steam from the heating system created shifting curtains of white that made the whole structure seem to float, untethered from the ground below.
What I didn’t realize was how it looked from the outside -