Morning traffic crawled slowly through the narrow streets as Aeris walked toward the bus stop, her camera bag resting against her hip. The air carried that familiar mix of car fumes, roasted corn from a roadside vendor, and the distant hum of the city waking up. She had walked this route so many times it had become muscle memory. Left past the bakery. Across the uneven pavement. Then straight down toward the bus stand.
Her phone rang just as she reached the corner. Aeris glanced at the screen. Her face immediately softened.
Missy.
She answered before the second ring.
"Hello?"
"Aeris!" her sister's voice burst through the phone like sunshine. "Finally. I thought you'd forgotten you had a family."
Aeris laughed. "Missy, it's barely morning."
"It's not barely morning," Missy argued dramatically. "It's almost afternoon in the life of responsible married women."
"Is that what you call it now?"
"Yes."
Aeris smiled as she continued walking. Missy had always been the most lively of the three sisters. Even as a child she had talked faster, laughed louder, and loved harder than anyone Aeris knew.
"Where are you?" Missy asked.
"On my way to work."
"Walking?"
"Of course."
Missy clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "One day you'll be rich and still walking everywhere like a stubborn goat."
"I like walking."
"You like suffering."
Aeris laughed again. But Missy's voice softened slightly. "How have you been, though?"
The question lingered in the air for a moment. Aeris looked ahead at the busy road.
"I've been fine."
Missy hummed suspiciously.
"You sound like someone who is not fine."
"I'm fine."
"Did Nyra tell you I called?"
"Yes."
"And you still ignored me yesterday."
"I didn't ignore you."
"You absolutely did."
Aeris sighed playfully.
"Missy."
"Yes?"
"You're exhausting."
Missy laughed. "Good. That's my job as your younger sister."
Aeris shook her head, smiling.
Missy had gotten married a year ago, but nothing about her personality had changed. Not the teasing, Not the loud opinions. Not the way she treated Aeris like she was still the middle child who needed supervision.
"You know," Missy continued, "Ovorrna called me yesterday."
Aeris raised a brow.
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"And what did the great professor say this time?"
Missy snorted.
"She said you're working too much again."
Aeris sighed.
"That sounds like her."
Ovorrna, the eldest of the three sisters, had always been the serious one. Where Missy was fire and laughter, Ovorrna was calm, precise, and thoughtful. She now lectured at a college across the state, teaching literature with the same quiet intensity she had once used to help her sisters with homework.
"She said you haven't visited in months," Missy added.
"I've been busy."
"That's your excuse for everything."
Aeris smiled faintly.
Their family had never been complicated. No grand estates. No luxury dinners. No formal etiquette. Just three sisters and two hardworking parents who had done their best. Their father, Mr. Pete, had spent most of his life working in timber yards. Cutting wood, Loading trucks, Selling lumber to builders and contractors. It was hard work, Backbreaking, dusty, endless work. Their mother, Mrs. Donna, worked beside him, Sorting timber, Negotiating sales, Managing the small business they had slowly built together. They had never been wealthy but they had always lived comfortably.
Their house had always been full of laughter, sawdust, and the smell of freshly cut wood. Dinner tables where everyone talked at once. Arguments that ended in laughter. And parents who worked until their hands were rough but their children never went without.
Missy broke into her thoughts again.
"Anyway," she said cheerfully, "Maudrich says hello."
Aeris smiled.
"Tell him I said hello too."
Missy's voice suddenly turned mischievous.
"So."
Aeris narrowed her eyes instinctively.
"That 'so' sounds dangerous."
Missy giggled. "I heard something interesting yesterday."
Aeris sighed.
"What did Nyra tell you?"
Missy gasped dramatically. "Oh my God, so it's true."
Aeris stopped walking.
"Missy."
"You met a rich man?!"
Aeris closed her eyes slowly.
Of course Nyra had told her.
Of course.
"His name is Caelum, isn't it?" Missy continued excitedly.
Aeris pinched the bridge of her nose. "I knew Nyra couldn't keep quiet."
Missy squealed.
"Tell me everything."
The bus stop was only a few steps away now. Aeris slowed her pace, shifting the strap of her camera bag higher on her shoulder as Missy's excited breathing buzzed through the phone.
"So tell me everything," Missy said again, clearly refusing to abandon the topic.
Aeris sighed softly. "There isn't anything to tell."
"That's impossible."
"It isn't."
"Aeris…"
"We're just friends." The words came out more quickly than she expected, as if she had rehearsed them in her mind long before this moment. Missy fell quiet for a second. Just a second, Then she scoffed.
"Friends?"
"Yes."
"With a man who bought your best friend a mini island as a wedding gift?"
Aeris rubbed her temple.
"Missy—"
"You expect me to believe that man is just your friend?"
"Yes."
"Please."
Aeris shook her head, stepping aside as a motorcycle sped past her on the road.
"You're exaggerating things."
"Am I?"
"Yes."
Missy made a dramatic humming noise, the kind she used whenever she thought Aeris was being stubborn.
"So he's not rich?"
"He is."
"And he didn't send you flowers?"
Aeris paused. "…he did."
"And he didn't take you to a ridiculously expensive restaurant?"
Aeris exhaled slowly. "…he did."
Missy gasped loudly into the phone. "Then what exactly about this situation is screaming friendship to you?"
Aeris felt warmth creep into her cheeks.
"It's not like that."
"Then what is it like?"
She hesitated.
For a moment, her eyes drifted toward the busy street ahead of her. Cars. Buses. Strangers walking past. A normal morning. Yet the mere thought of Caelum somehow made everything feel slightly off balance.
"He wouldn't take me seriously," she said quietly.
Missy went silent.
Aeris continued walking again. "Our lives are… different," she explained. "Completely different."
"How?"
"Missy."
"Yes?"
"Our tax brackets alone could start a war."
Missy burst into laughter so loud Aeris had to pull the phone slightly away from her ear.
"Oh my God," Missy wheezed. "You sound ridiculous."
"I'm serious."
"You're dramatic."
"I'm realistic."
Missy's laughter slowly faded. "You always do this," she said.
"Do what?"
"Decide something won't work before it even begins."
Aeris frowned slightly.
"That's not true."
"It is."
"No it isn't."
"You're doing it right now."
Aeris didn't respond.
Missy softened her tone. "Aeris," she said gently, "you deserve good things too, you know."
Aeris swallowed quietly. But before the conversation could grow any deeper, Missy suddenly gasped.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
"You forgot."
Aeris blinked.
"Forgot what?"
"Our family dinner."
Aeris stopped walking.
Her stomach dropped.
"…what?"
"This evening," Missy said slowly, as if explaining something to a forgetful child. "At Mom and Dad's house."
Aeris stared ahead blankly.
"Oh no," she murmured.
Missy groaned.
"I knew it."
"I didn't mean to forget."
"You always forget."
"I've been busy."
"With what?" Missy demanded. "Taking mysterious rich men to dinner?"
"That's not what happened."
"Sure."
Aeris sighed, pressing her fingers to her forehead. Family dinners had always been important to their parents. Even now, with all three daughters grown and scattered across different parts of life, Mrs. Donna insisted on gathering everyone together whenever she could. Sometimes once a month. Sometimes twice. Sometimes randomly whenever she simply missed her children. And Aeris rarely missed them.
But today… Between work, Nyra's wedding chaos, and everything involving Caelum, It had slipped her mind. Missy clicked her tongue again.
"Mom already cooked."
That sentence alone carried enormous weight. Mrs. Donna cooking meant:
Rice.
Stew.
Roasted vegetables.
Fish.
Possibly meat pie.
And enough food to feed an army.
"You're coming," Missy said firmly.
"Yes."
"No excuses."
"I said yes."
Missy paused.
Then, suspiciously—
"You're not going to show up late again, are you?"
Aeris sighed.
"I won't."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Missy seemed satisfied.
"Good."
There was a brief pause before Missy's playful tone returned.
"And if you bring that mysterious rich man with you…"
"I am not bringing Caelum to family dinner."
"Coward."
"Missy."
"What?"
"We're just friends."
Missy snorted loudly.
"Sure."
Aeris shook her head.
"Anyway," Missy continued, "be there by seven."
"I will."
"Seven."
"I heard you."
Missy paused again. Then her voice softened slightly. "It'll be nice having everyone together."
Aeris smiled faintly.
"Yeah."
"It's been a while."
"I know."
Missy brightened again instantly. "Okay, I have to go. Maudrich is yelling about breakfast."
Aeris chuckled.
"Tell him I said hello."
"I will."
"And Missy?"
"Yes?"
"I'll be there."
"Good," Missy said warmly.
Then the call ended.
Aeris lowered her phone slowly. For a moment she simply stood there, watching the traffic move past. Family dinner. Her parents. Missy. Ovorrna. The familiar warmth of home. She adjusted her camera bag again and finally stepped onto the bus that had just arrived. But as she found a seat by the window, another thought quietly slipped into her mind. For a brief second, She wondered what Caelum would look like sitting at that dinner table. Then she quickly shook the thought away. Because that world and hers, Were never meant to collide.