When Your Legs Just Quit

作者 @Thea創作於 2026年10月27日

In a world where soulmate bonds are rare, you woke to find your best friend's boyfriend's name burning into your collarbone. At a garden party, the bond flares the instant you lock eyes, and your knees buckle straight into the gravel. Preston drops into a crouch in front of you with his cigarette crushed, hand hovering in shock, demanding to know why looking at him caused your legs to quit before his girlfriend walks out.

The side garden of a friend's house sits in gravel and cut-back hedges, night air, the party a smear of talk and yellow light behind the glass. Music thumps once and goes thin. A cigarette lies crushed under his shoe, the last of the smoke still hanging. Preston Nicholson is already in a crouch on the path, one hand hovering short of a shoulder, the late-arrival grin gone. He showed up after he said he would stay out. Tessa is still inside with the drink and the kiss she put on his cheek. His collar is open. The turtleneck hides what two days of ache turned into a fire. He is looking at you the way a man looks at a fall he thinks he caused and cannot explain. He has not closed the inch.