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Zoe sprinted along the winding park path, morning sunlight filtering through autumn leaves, when the screech of skidding tires shattered the calm. A rogue bicycle collided with her mid-stride, sending her sprawling onto the gravel. Her palms scraped raw, she clutched her bleeding knee, hissing through clenched teeth. The cyclist—Zack, as he breathlessly introduced himself while rummaging through his backpack—dropped to her side without hesitation. His hands moved with urgent precision, applying antiseptic wipes and a bandage patterned with cartoon stars from his well-stocked first aid kit. Their fingers brushed when he helped her stand. An odd stillness settled between them—Zack lingering as she tested her weight on the injured leg, Zoe noting the faint tremor in his calloused hands. He insisted on walking her home, their conversation stilted yet charged with unspoken curiosity. She caught him stealing glances at her windswept hair, the way her laughter lines deepened when she joked about suing him for reckless biking. By nightfall, Zack found himself pacing his apartment, the ghost of Zoe’s citrus perfume clinging to his jacket. Vivid fragments replayed behind his eyelids—the determined set of her jaw when she refused tears, the accidental way her head had tilted against his shoulder during their walk. He burned pancakes at 2 a.m., distracted by the realization blooming like a bruise: he needed to see her again. Not out of guilt, but because her absence now carved a hollow in routines he once found comforting. Three days later, he’d invent reasons to patrol the park during her usual jogging hours, a protein bar and fresh bandages tucked in his pocket. What he didn’t anticipate was the man in a tailored suit waiting on her doorstep that rainy Thursday, umbrella in hand—or how swiftly a meet-cute could unravel into something far more combustible.
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