"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." ~ Maya Angelou
The group had scattered, curled up on blankets everywhere around the place, their faces soft in sleep. The laughter and music of the night had faded into the quiet hum of early morning.
Selina lay awake, her eyes fixed on the ceiling of her room. Sleep wouldn't come. Feelings she couldn't name swirled inside her, restless and unfamiliar.
She tossed the blanket aside and got up.
Michael had slipped away somewhere early in the morning. The terrace was empty when he arrived, the world still wrapped in the grey-blue light that comes just before dawn. He stood at the low wall with his camera in hand.
He loved this hour. The stillness before the world woke. The way the light shifted from darkness to something brighter. He loved these quiet moments alone.
His camera was ready to capture the beauty of nature.
Selina wandered through the house, her steps soft on the cold floors. She checked Michael's room first. It was empty. A strange ache bloomed in her chest. She wanted to see him. To hear his voice. To be near him, even if they said nothing at all.
She pulled out her phone and called.
He answered on the second ring. "Selina?"
"Where are you?"
"The terrace."
She climbed the stairs quickly, her thin jacket doing little against the chill that seeped through the walls. When she pushed open the door to the terrace, the cold wind hit her face, and she shivered.
He was leaning with his back against the wall, with his camera raised toward the horizon. His hair was loose. He looked like he belonged here in the quiet, blending with nature.
She walked to his side.
"Why are you up so early?" She asked.
He turned to look at her. "I wanted to see the sunrise."
She glanced at him. His profile was soft in the dim light, his expression peaceful. "Do you like it that much?"
"Yeah." A small smile tugged at his lips. "I like watching the sun rise."
"Is it because it's beautiful? Do you like sunsets too? I didn't know you liked nature so much."
He laughed softly. "I love being outside. I used to dream about living in a treehouse in the forest when I was a kid."
The image caught her off guard: Michael as a boy, wild-haired and dreaming of the woods. She laughed, the sound bright in the quiet morning. "I can't picture that."
"It's true."
They stood in comfortable silence, watching the sky shift from grey to pink. Selina shivered again, and Michael noticed. He looked at her thin shirt, then shrugged off his own, jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
"Why did you come out in such thin clothes?" He frowned, but there was concern beneath it.
"I didn't think about it." She tried to hand it back. "Take it. You'll be cold."
"I like the cold." He kept his hands in his pockets. "And it's almost sunrise now."
She pulled the jacket around her with a hint of shyness. It smelled like him, clean, like woodsmoke and something else she couldn't name.
The sky was turning pink, the clouds edged with gold. The sun was beginning its slow climb over the horizon, painting the world in shades of amber and rose. Selina watched it, but her eyes kept drifting back to Michael's face.
He was watching the sunrise with an expression she had never seen before. His grey eyes sparkled with the light.
"Is it really so beautiful?" she asked quietly.
He turned to look at her, surprised by the question. "Of course."
"Why?" She kept her voice low, as if speaking too loudly would break the spell. "Why do you love it so much?"
He was quiet for a moment, considering. Then he looked back at the horizon, where the sun was now fully visible, a sphere of gold rising through the pink and purple.
"The sun rises so gracefully," he said slowly, "even though it knows it has to set. It shines as brightly as it can, for as long as it can, even if it's only for a moment. It doesn't hold back just because the ending is certain." He paused. "I think that's beautiful. To give everything you have, even when you know it won't last."
Selina stared at him. The words settled into her chest, deeper than she expected.
Even if it's only for a moment. Even if it won't last.
She looked at the sunrise again, and for the first time, she understood why he loved it.
They stood together in silence, watching the sun climb higher, the cold forgotten, the jacket still wrapped around her shoulders. The world was waking up around them, but here, on the terrace, time seemed to have frozen.
Selina didn't look at the sunrise. She looked at Michael, at the light catching in his hair.
And for the first time, she let herself feel what had been growing in her chest without pushing it away.