I gasp, my eyes squeezing shut against the sudden assault of brightness. I blink rapidly, waiting for the world to come back into focus—
And I freeze.
The apartment isn't dark anymore. It isn't even the same apartment.
Fairy lights drape across every wall, soft and golden, their tiny glow casting a warm, intimate haze over everything. Candles flicker on every surface—the coffee table, the kitchen counter, the windowsill—their flames dancing like living things.
Red petals blanket the floor, a path of velvet leading somewhere my eyes haven't found yet. Roses. Dozens of them. In vases I've never seen before. Their scent fills the air, thick and sweet and intoxicating.
It's like stepping into a dream. Like stepping into the pages of every novel I've ever read, every scene I ever imagined late at night in my tiny, cheap apartment, believing I'd never have anything like this.
Never.
