PROLOGUE

ELLIOTT

The coffee gets colder as I stir it in clockwise motion. I've been sitting for an hour here in the café but I can't seem to just take one sip.

Is it possible to request for gravity to leave me alone? I'm afraid of constantly staying on the ground.

Forrest Creek is still the same old town we've left five years ago. The same old pawnshop stands at the cul-de-sac, storing the remnants which tell secret stories. There is still the playground where children enjoy the problem-free stages of life. There's still the school I ruled when I was an immature teen. There's still this old coffee shop I go to every single time I feel so down.

I belong to a well-off family. All my life I have been provided well. My father's a hotshot lawyer while my mother's a well-respected doctor. I have a brother and a sister and both are so much better than I am. My sister, Mia is a year younger than me. At 22, she excels so damn well in law school. My older brother, Christian is a very successful doctor.

He is 33 but he still hasn't settled down. I don't know what's up with him. I seriously don't get how he thinks wearing lab coats and stethoscopes is fun.

We moved out of this town and moved to Los Angeles a week after my high school graduation. It was painful to say goodbye especially to my estranged best friend, Anastasia Steele. I wonder how she's doing now. I wonder if she really achieved her dream of owning a flower shop. I wonder how I would respond if she asks me the same thing, if she asks, "Elliott, did you try to be a musician?"

Oh Ana, me? I dropped off college to pursue a career in music but it didn't work out.

My first album was such a flop. It was EDM and I thought the beats were fun and it could make people dance, but I was wrong. Again, it didn't work out.

I was about to get married to the woman of my dreams—a woman named Katherine Kavanaugh, but as predictable as it seems, the next four words haunt me: it didn't work out.

Now, I think of her. I think of Kate and her golden blonde hair. I think of the first time I saw her crossing in the street. I think of the times she would brush my fingers through my hair every time we finish sex. I think about the way she holds my hands when they tremble because of writer's block.

Before I know it, I'm the black hole of reminiscing. Screw this! There's no way I'm getting over her.

Suddenly, a light flickers in me and I have the urge to write. I grab a pen from my pocket and used the tissue paper to scribble on. I take a sip of cold coffee and thought of Kate.

I don't know where we went wrong

Was it a game for you all along?

Didn't you feel it?

Didn't you see how our hands fit?

Please come home to me

Every time you are not in my arms, I feel homesick

I could make a tune and this will be a song. I raise my head and try to think of new words to add, but I am immediately surprised as I see the person I've been longing to talk to for years. I see the person who didn't ever try to reach out to me. I see the person I was mad at for forgetting. But damn all the times we were strangers. Right now, I just need her. I just need my best friend. I need Ana.

She's walking and her smile is too bright. It's always been. Her hair is longer and she's wearing a black coat. I run towards her and call out, "Ana?!"

She doesn't hear me at first.

"Ana?" I call out again and this time she turns around.

We mirror the same expression. It's like both of us have seen ghosts. We couldn't fathom the sight before us.

"Elliott?" She gasped, too shocked to see me here unannounced.

While I am breathless too. Not because of all the years of not talking but because of the small hand she's holding. It's the small hand of a little girl who looks about three years old. She's so small, so pure of innocence.

She looks like Ana but I've known them all my life to know that she's my niece.

She's Christian's.

Ana has some explaining to do.

Three years. It's been three years since I have visited Fanfiction. It actually took time for me to do this, but this is pre-written so despite my busy schedule, I will find time to upload every day. I am so sorry for the private messages that weren't answered.

Thank you!

Anyway, there goes the prologue. What do you think?