Sunlight spilled softly across the unfamiliar room. At first, I didn't open my eyes. The warmth of the morning wrapped around me, gentle and quiet, but something felt different. The bed beneath me was softer than anything I had ever slept on, the sheets cool and smooth against my skin. For a moment, I simply lay there, half-awake, half-dreaming. Then slowly, I opened my eyes.
The ceiling above me was tall and elegant, painted in a soft ivory shade that caught the morning light beautifully. Large curtains swayed gently beside a wide window, and through the thin gap between them, sunlight poured into the room.
I frowned slightly.
This wasn't my room.
Back home, the ceiling above my bed had a tiny crack in one corner that Julia always joked looked like the shape of a bird. This ceiling was flawless. I sat up slowly, my heart beating faster as I looked around. The room was spacious, decorated in calm neutral tones, with sleek furniture and polished wooden floors that reflected the light like glass.
And beyond the tall window. A city stretched endlessly into the distance. My breath caught. For a moment, I genuinely wondered if I was dreaming. Then memory returned all at once.
The phone call.
Three weeks had passed since Sebastian left Willowbrook. Three weeks of quiet days in the bookstore, helping my grandmother, laughing with Emilia, and pretending that everything was exactly the same as it had always been. But it wasn't. Because every night before sleeping, my eyes drifted to the small card he had left behind.
Sebastian McGrey.
His number printed neatly beneath his name. For days, I told myself I didn't need to call. That my life was already full. That Willowbrook was enough. But something inside me had already changed. And one night, sitting alone on my bed while the house above the bookstore fell quiet, I finally picked up my phone. My hands trembled slightly as I dialed the number.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Then a calm voice answered.
"Hello."
Even through the phone, his voice carried that same quiet confidence.
I swallowed.
"Sebastian… it's Selena."
There was a small pause, followed by a soft chuckle.
"I was wondering when you'd call."
"You expected me to?"
"I hoped you would."
My heart fluttered unexpectedly.
"I've been thinking," I said quietly. "About what you said."
"And?"
I looked around my room, at the familiar walls that had held my whole life.
"I think I want to see it."
"See what?"
"Your world."
Silence lingered for a moment before he spoke again.
"Then let me show it to you."
"How?"
"I'll come get you tomorrow morning."
The next morning arrived far too quickly. A sleek black car waited outside Ashton Park as the sun rose over Willowbrook. The quiet street suddenly felt smaller than it ever had before. Sebastian stood beside the car, looking exactly the same as the last time I saw him calm, composed, and somehow completely at ease in a place that clearly wasn't his world. When he saw me walking toward him with my small suitcase, a faint smile touched his lips.
"You came."
"You asked."
The drive out of Willowbrook felt surreal. The small town slowly faded behind us the bookstore, the café on the corner, the quiet streets lined with old trees. Everything that had once felt like my entire universe. Soon the roads widened, the landscape changed, and the horizon began to shift.Then, in the distance, I saw it.
Aurelia City.
At first it appeared as a faint outline against the sky. But as we drove closer, the buildings rose higher and higher, until glass towers filled the skyline like giants made of steel and sunlight. I leaned closer to the window, unable to look away. Sebastian occasionally pointed out landmarks, but mostly left me to stare in awe.
I had never seen a city like this. Not in pictures, not in books. Willowbrook had been my whole world, simple and quiet, and now….Aurelia City sprawled endlessly before me, vibrant and alive, yet humming with a quiet tension I didn't fully understand.
When we arrived at his Penthouse. I could barely breathe. The lobby alone was dazzling, with polished marble floors, soft lighting, and the faint scent of something exotic in the air. He guided me gently inside, silent and patient, as if every step was meant to ease me into this life. And now, here I was, lying in a bed that felt impossibly grand, sunlight streaming across the floor, the city stretched out like a living painting beyond the window. My pulse still raced. The world I had never imagined was real, and I was part of it.
For a moment, I closed my eyes and let the quiet settle over me. The city, Sebastian, the unknown life ahead it all felt overwhelming, yet impossibly thrilling. I was here. I had taken the first step. And the rest… was waiting for me to discover.