The city outside was drenched in twilight, its glass towers glowing like silent sentinels beneath a bruised sky. Inside the cramped hospital room, shadows stretched long and dark, the air thick with unspoken words and the scent of antiseptic.
Maya sat by the window, fingers tracing the jagged patterns of rain-streaked glass, lost in memories she had tried to bury. Liam leaned against the doorframe, watching her, his eyes a storm of regret and longing.
"Do you remember the night we first met?" Maya asked quietly, her voice almost swallowed by the hum of machines.
Liam smiled, a ghost of warmth flickering in his gaze. "How could I forget? You were wearing that red jacket — the one you said made you look like trouble."
She laughed softly, the sound fragile but real. "I was trouble. Still am."
He stepped closer, the space between them charged with a tension that was both familiar and terrifying. "We were different then. Naïve. We thought we could outrun the past."
Maya's eyes darkened, the weight of their shared history pressing down. "But the past doesn't let go that easily."
Suddenly, the room seemed colder, the shadows creeping closer. Liam's hand brushed hers — tentative, searching — and for a moment, the world outside faded.
But then the phone on the bedside table rang sharply, shattering the fragile silence. Maya jumped, her heart pounding in her chest.
Liam answered quickly, his face draining of color as he listened. When he hung up, his jaw was set, eyes hard.
"That was from the clinic," he said. "They've found something. Something about the treatment... it's not just experimental. It's unstable."
Maya's breath hitched. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Liam said slowly, "that our time might be even shorter than we thought. The disease is evolving — or maybe the treatment is."
The room seemed to tilt, the walls closing in. Maya gripped the edge of the bed, fighting to keep herself steady.
"We have to fight," she whispered, eyes blazing. "No matter what."
Liam nodded, a fierce determination burning in his gaze. "Together."
Outside, the city lights flickered against the darkening sky, a reminder that their story was just beginning — a dance on the edge of hope and despair, love and survival.