"I'm glad you're okay," Devin breathed, pulling Allison into a tight embrace.
He braced her weight, his voice a low murmur as he asked if she could walk.
As she pulled back to stand, the rain washed over her face, revealing a thin trail of blood oozing from a cut on her forehead.
Panic flared in Devin's chest. Without a word, he scooped her up and hurried toward the porch, fumbling into his sodden pocket.
Allison watched in stunned silence as he produced a key and unlocked the beach house. That explained it. The reason her kite was inside, pristine and preserved after all these years, suddenly clicked into place.
He carried her straight to the master bedroom, stopping right beneath the window she had tried to climb before she fell. He set her gently on the edge of the mattress, right next to the kite. Wasting no time, he began tending to the wound on her brow.
"Damn it, you fool. Why did you do that?" Devin asked, his voice rough with suppressed worry.
"Do what? Try the window?"
"No," Devin replied. He secured the bandage with steady fingers, then looked her in the eye. "Disguise yourself as someone else." He wanted to laugh, but all he could manage was a small, relieved grin.
He draped a dry towel over her shivering shoulders and turned to the dresser. "We can't stay. I saw your parents with the police-they're searching the whole coast. If they find us here together..." He trailed off, pulling a change of clothes from a drawer. "Put these on. We need to move."
"Oh, come on," Allison murmured, her disappointment surfacing. "I thought we could stay until morning."
Devin went still, his back to her as he stared blankly into the open drawer. "Allison... we're not kids anymore."
The weight of his words settled heavily between them. Allison looked at his tense shoulders, then looked away. She stood slowly, reaching out to take the clothes from his hand.
Suddenly, a violent gust slammed into the house. A deafening crack of thunder roared across the sky, shaking the floorboards. Before she realized she had moved, Allison was pressed against Devin's side, her arms wrapped around him in a death grip.
Devin didn't pull away. He held her close, staring out at the bruising, angry sky. It felt as though the storm was an answer-a sign that his six years of waiting had led to this exact moment.
"Alright, that's not a good sign," he muttered.
Wrapped in his warmth, the freezing cling of Allison's wet clothes seemed to melt away. As the wind grew into a howl, Devin reluctantly broke the embrace to secure the windows. Outside, the storm swallowed the coastline, trapping them in the glass sanctuary he had built for her. A sudden, fluttering warmth tightened his chest; the silence between them felt more electric than the lightning outside.
"I guess that leaves us no choice," Allison said with a soft sigh, taking the clothes toward the dressing room.
"Yeah," Devin said, his eyes lingering. "We're here until the sun comes up."
When she emerged, swallowed in his oversized clothes, she clutched her wet things. "I need to dry these for tomorrow."
"Let me," Devin offered, reaching out.
"No! I can do it," she insisted stubbornly.
"The laundry is downstairs," he yielded with a sigh. "But let's eat first. You must be starving."
"That sounds good," she replied, her voice laced with a lingering shyness.
Miles away, the world was in chaos. A Signal Number 5 typhoon had forced the search to a halt. In her room, Anna paced like a caged animal, ignoring the relentless glow of missed calls from Sam. "My fault," she whispered, her voice shaking. "Please, just keep her safe."
For Lauren and Alex, history was a cruel loop-plunged back into the same terror they had faced six years ago because their daughter followed her reckless heart.
Yet, inside the beach house, the world was quiet.
"So, tell me about this house," Allison asked, blowing on a spoonful of hot ramen. "It's... dramatic. Poetic. Honestly, words aren't enough."
Devin's chopsticks paused mid-air. "You think so?"
"Mhm." Allison stirred her noodles with a small chuckle. "It looks like the kind of house built by someone planning to get married."
Devin looked her right in the eyes. "I am, Allison."
Her heart performed a wild, erratic flutter. She looked down quickly, heat creeping up her neck. "Oh," she laughed nervously, deflecting. "How I missed my best friend."
Best friend? Devin's stomach dropped, but he forced himself to stay calm. It's just a word, he told himself. It doesn't mean she doesn't feel it.
"The last time we were together was six years ago," Allison continued softly. "That... that really stayed with me."
A soft, understanding smile passed between them. "It stayed with me, too," he replied.
"And I'm so happy you wrote," she whispered. "It meant you hadn't forgotten."
Devin's smile deepened, filled with all the truths he wasn't quite ready to say.