Shadows of the Past

Hey guys l am back again thx for waiting 🩷

l really hope so u guys r liking this story also l wrote few poems on moon too go check that out also 🌷✨️🌙

Lets start :)

The next few days were torture. Mira found herself caught between two voices—the warmth of Adrian’s presence and the cold sting of the Stranger’s notes.

He isn’t haunted by her. He’s hiding her.

The words replayed like a curse. Every time Adrian smiled at her across the café table, every time his voice softened in a way that made her chest ache, she wondered: What if this is all a mask?

Her rational mind told her to stop coming. To lock her doors at night, to forget Café Serenade and its haunting quiet. But her heart pulled her back. Some force stronger than fear kept drawing her into the midnight hours.

---

One night, Mira arrived earlier than usual, hoping to catch the hooded figure who sometimes left the notes. The café was nearly empty. Nina hummed quietly at the counter, flipping through a gossip magazine. Adrian wasn’t there yet.

But the hooded figure was.

Mira’s pulse spiked. They sat at the far corner, hands folded, head lowered. The shadows hid their face. She hesitated, then forced herself to approach.

“Why are you leaving me notes?” she whispered, standing by their table.

The figure didn’t move. Didn’t answer. Just lifted their head enough for her to see a grin—small, unsettling, knowing.

And then, before she could react, they rose and walked out the door without a word.

Mira’s legs trembled. She wanted to follow, but something in that grin froze her in place.

By the time Adrian entered, she was still standing there, shaken.

“Are you okay?” he asked, instantly alert.

She nodded too quickly. “I—I was just leaving.”

But she didn’t leave. She sat with him as usual, notebook untouched, words locked in her throat.

---

Later that night, when Adrian stepped outside first, Mira made a decision.

She followed him.

It was reckless, stupid, but the notes had planted a seed she couldn’t ignore. If Adrian truly was lying, she needed to know.

Adrian walked with purpose, coat collar raised against the wind. He didn’t notice her footsteps trailing a block behind. The city was quieter than usual, the streets damp from an earlier drizzle.

Finally, he turned down an alley. Mira hesitated, then crept after him.

He stopped in the shadows, facing another man. Broad-shouldered, scarred, his stance aggressive. Mira ducked behind a dumpster, heart hammering.

She strained to listen.

“…you’re supposed to be done with this,” the stranger hissed.

“I am,” Adrian replied, voice low but steady. “I just need to know if he’s still watching her.”

Mira’s blood turned to ice. Watching her?

The other man sneered. “You’re obsessed. Walk away before you get both of you killed.”

Adrian’s silence stretched. Then he muttered, “I can’t.”

Mira’s chest tightened. She wanted to run, but her feet were cemented to the ground.

The two men exchanged something small—papers? money?—then parted ways. Adrian’s shoulders looked heavier than she’d ever seen.

Mira slipped back into the shadows, racing home before he could notice.

-

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