The summer air was thick with warmth, the kind that wrapped around you like a familiar embrace. The sky stretched endlessly above the quiet countryside, painted in shades of deep blue and gold as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Sienna sat on the hood of an old truck, her bare feet dangling over the edge, watching as the first fireflies of the night began to flicker in the tall grass. She had always loved this time of year—the way the world felt slower, softer, as if time itself was holding its breath.
But tonight felt different.
Because she wasn’t alone.
Liam stood a few feet away, hands tucked into his pockets, his gaze fixed not on the fireflies, but on her.
“You still do that,” he said, a small smile tugging at his lips.
Sienna glanced at him. “Do what?”
“Watch fireflies like they hold the meaning of life.”
She smirked, tilting her head. “Maybe they do.”
Liam chuckled, stepping closer. The sound of cicadas filled the silence between them, their song weaving into the hum of a summer night that had always felt like home.
It had been three years since she had last seen him. Three years since the boy who had once been her whole world had packed up and left, chasing a dream she had never wanted to stand in the way of.
But now he was here.
And Sienna wasn’t sure what to do with the way her heart still knew him, even after all this time.
Liam ran a hand through his hair, hesitating before finally saying, “I thought about this place every night.”
Sienna swallowed hard. “Did you?”
He nodded. “And about you.”
Her chest tightened, memories rushing back like waves against the shore.
Late-night drives with the windows down, his laughter echoing in the wind.
Falling asleep under the stars, his heartbeat steady beneath her ear.
The promise he had made the night before he left.
“I’ll come back for you.”
She had stopped believing in that promise a long time ago.
Sienna looked away, her fingers tracing patterns on the truck’s hood. “Why are you here, Liam?”
He exhaled, stepping closer until he was right in front of her. “Because I finally realized something.”
She braced herself. “And what’s that?”
“That no matter where I went, no matter how much I tried to pretend I belonged somewhere else…” He reached for her hand, his fingers brushing against hers. “You were always my home.”
Sienna’s breath hitched.
The fireflies danced between them, their golden light flickering like tiny stars.
Liam’s voice was barely a whisper. “Tell me it’s not too late.”
Her heart pounded in her chest, years of longing and unsaid words caught in the space between them.
Maybe she should have been angry. Maybe she should have told him that love wasn’t something you could walk away from and expect to find waiting for you when you decided to return.
But then she thought about all the nights she had spent looking at these fireflies, wishing he were beside her.
She thought about how, even after all this time, he still looked at her like she was the best thing he had ever seen.
And maybe… just maybe… some love stories were meant to find their way back.
Sienna let out a slow breath, then laced her fingers through his.
“It was always you, Liam,” she whispered.
A slow smile spread across his face—the kind of smile that felt like forever.
And as the fireflies lit up the summer night, she realized that maybe, just maybe, forever had been waiting for them all along.
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