“Summer Evening” by Edward Hopper.

Before the Lights Came On

Prologue

The mall was too bright for a Thursday evening.

White artificial lights reflected endlessly across polished floors while music from the atrium downstairs bled into overlapping conversations, coffee machines, and microphone testing from a brand event still being set up near the center stage.

People moved constantly. Couples. Office workers. Groups of students still wearing campus jackets.

And somewhere in the middle of all that noise, Finn stood looking completely detached from it.

Black rolled sleeves. Office ID hanging loose against his chest. Cold coffee forgotten in one hand.

He looked like someone already halfway swallowed by adulthood: tired eyes, measured movements, the kind of calm that only comes from learning how to function while exhausted.

Three months into internship, Finn had gotten good at disappearing into work.

Meanwhile across the floor, Sasha looked painfully alive.

Laughing beside Mia over unfinished lunch plates while Ben stole fries directly off her tray like usual.

She still talked too much with her hands. Still leaned too close when listening. Still looked younger than everyone around her whenever she laughed too hard at something stupid.

And somehow — even after three months of silence — Finn noticed her immediately.

Which would’ve been easier if she looked miserable.

Unfortunately, Sasha looked fine.