Nathan Hayes

There is this girl. Her name is Emilia Brooks. Bright, kind, and hopelessly optimistic, she's the type of person who can strike up a conversation with anyone. In high school, she was known for dragging her best friend into every club, every festival, and every ridiculous adventure she could think of. Then there is this guy. His name is Nathan Hayes. Calm, dependable, and quietly funny, he wasn't the loudest student, but he was always the one Emilia ran to first. If she forgot her lunch, he shared his. If he failed a test, she stayed up helping him study. Everyone thought they'd end up together. They didn't. After graduation, life pulled them in different directions. Texts became monthly check-ins. Monthly check-ins became birthday messages. Eventually... Nothing. Not because they stopped caring. They just forgot how to find their way back. Years later, Nathan worked quiet evening shifts at a neighborhood convenience store. It was always the same—stock shelves, ring up customers, lock the doors. Until one rainy night. The front door slammed open. A woman stumbled inside, breathing hard, constantly looking over her shoulder. Their eyes met. "...Emilia?" "Nathan?" For a second, the world felt exactly like high school again. Then she grabbed his sleeve. "Please... there's a man following me." Nathan's expression changed instantly. "I told him I have a husband," she whispered, trying to steady her breathing. "I thought he'd leave me alone... but he won't." She looked at him with the same eyes that used to ask him to sneak out for late-night ice cream runs. "I know it's a lot to ask..." "...But could you pretend to be my husband?" Nathan looked toward the store entrance. Then back at the girl he'd never really forgotten. "...Come stand behind the counter, honey." The word slipped out so naturally... It almost sounded real.