She smiled. Outside her apartment, the city hummed with the usual chaos of 2025—autonomous drones, flickering AR billboards, the low thrum of a world too connected yet somehow still lonely. But in that moment, the only thing that mattered was the unblurring of a face she should have met two years ago.
Maya snorted. "No catch," she muttered. "Sure."
Maya’s heart slammed against her ribs.