The soft hum of the city faded as Emma stepped onto the rooftop of their small apartment building. The night air was crisp, carrying the scent of fresh rain, and above her, the sky was dotted with a thousand stars. She pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders and turned to find Liam already sitting on the old wooden bench, carefully folding a small square of paper in his hands.
“You’re still at it?” she asked, amusement in her voice.
Liam grinned, holding up the tiny paper crane between his fingers. “Only 37 more to go.”
Emma shook her head with a soft laugh and sat beside him, watching as he placed the crane into a glass jar filled almost to the brim with identical ones. “You know, you never told me why you started doing this.”
Liam glanced at her, his blue eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “Do you remember what you told me the night we met?”
Emma frowned, trying to recall. “That you had ketchup on your cheek and I couldn’t take you seriously?”
Liam chuckled. “No, before that. When we were sitting outside the café, just talking.”
She thought back to that night. The warm glow of streetlights, the way their coffee cups steamed in the cool air, the feeling that she had known him forever even though they had just met.
“I told you about my grandmother’s story,” she said finally.
He nodded. “You told me that in Japanese legend, if someone folds a thousand paper cranes, they’re granted a wish.”
Emma smiled wistfully. “She believed that a thousand cranes could bring anything—happiness, love, even miracles.”
Liam reached into his pocket, pulling out another square of paper. “I started folding them after you got sick.”
Emma’s breath caught in her throat. She had spent months in the hospital last year, fighting an illness that had left her weak and uncertain of the future. Liam had been there every single day—reading to her, making her laugh, holding her hand when the fear crept in.
“You never told me that,” she whispered.
Liam shrugged, his fingers still working the delicate folds of the crane. “I figured if there was even the smallest chance that it would work, that it could bring you health and happiness, it was worth trying.”
Emma swallowed the lump in her throat, reaching for his hand. “Liam…”
He turned to her, his expression serious for the first time that night. “But then, somewhere along the way, I realized something.”
She tilted her head. “What?”
He set the crane down and cupped her cheek gently. “I didn’t need a wish. You’re already here. You’re already my miracle.”
Tears welled in Emma’s eyes, but they weren’t from sadness. They were from the overwhelming love she felt in that moment, the kind of love that made the whole world stand still.
She leaned in, pressing her forehead against his. “Then why are you still folding them?”
Liam chuckled, brushing his thumb against her cheek. “Because now, I have a new wish.”
Emma pulled back slightly, her heart pounding. “And what’s that?”
He reached into his pocket once more, this time pulling out a small velvet box. The breath hitched in her throat as he opened it to reveal a delicate silver ring, a tiny crane etched into the band.
“My wish is to spend the rest of my life loving you,” he murmured. “Will you let me?”
Emma let out a shaky laugh, tears slipping down her cheeks. “You didn’t need a thousand cranes for that, you idiot.”
“Is that a yes?”
She nodded, unable to contain her smile. “It’s the easiest yes of my life.”
Liam slipped the ring onto her finger before pulling her into his arms. The city stretched out around them, the stars burning brightly above, and in that moment, everything felt infinite.
In the jar beside them, 963 tiny paper cranes sat waiting.
But they both knew—there was nothing left to wish for.
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